A R O W A K S I N THE P R E H I S T O R Y O F S U R I N A M

by D .C. Geijskes (Paramaribo)

INTRODUCTION

The area situated between the Orinoco and the Amazone is usually referred to as the Guyanas. Surinam forms the central part of i t , with British Guyana on the West and French Guyana on the East.

The study of the oldest inhabitants of Surinam has only been taken up intensively during the last ten years. Incidental ly a few important archaelogical finds have been, published. Thus stone tools such as implements and mortars or f i g u ­rines of jade have been described (Ten Kate 1889; De Goeje 1932). The scienti f ic expeditions into the interior have provided data on rock-cut basins or grinding grooves and petroglyphs of the Indians in former times, which are st i l l to be found on the rocks (Hering 1899; Kifyser 1911; Stahel en Gonggrijp 1921, 1922, 1926). In thé neighbourhood of Paramaribo, but also elsewhere on the coastal zone, repeatedly ancient Indian graves have been found in the so-called shell-rîdges (reefs), ancient sea-shore walls that were also dwel l ing areas (Hering 1899, Goethals 1953; Feriz 1957, 1959; Geijskes 1959, 1961).

Unt i l recently archeological research was left to an incidental lover, w h i l e t h e mater ia l , either described or not , found its way into the museums in Holland or elsewhere in Europe and the U . S . A . , or got lost in a private co l lec ­t ion . With the establishment of the Surinam Museum in Paramaribo, in 1954, this came to an end. During the great economic development in the last decennium con­siderable archaelogical finds have been made, of which many data have been se­cured and worked up by this museum. By the rebuilding and expansion in and around Paramaribo as wel l as by the bui lding of new roads and the opening up of new land on behalf of agr icul ture, forestry and mining, ancient Indian settlements have been hit upon in numerous places. In many cases the investigation that en ­sued, was of necessity, but ît resulted into a more systematic study of the archae-logy of Surinam.

From pottery, the skeletons, the stone implements, the petroglyphs and the rock-cut basins which part ia l ly by my own investigation have been co l lec ­ted , even in the remotest spots of Surinam, a pattern begins to show up, compara­ble with data from neighbouring countries in so far as these are avai lab le . Thus we are enabled to get some insight into the pre-Columbian inhabitation that the coun­try must have had for many centuries previous to the West-European settlement. Unt i l a short time ago this area belonged to the countries where archaelogy is a

dubious matter, there being the feel ing that nothing special is l ike ly to be found. The discoveries of the last few years have proved, however, that such is by no means the case and that in the northern part of the South-American continent Surinam constitutes an important l ink with the Caribbean area.

Lately two groups of Indians are to be distinguished archaeologi-ca l l y , v i z . the Carib and the Arowak. The former are to be looked upon as the real inhabitants of this large area. Most of the places of discovery as regards former inhabitation have bearing on this group. Archaeological ly we have been able to determine four types of Caribbean material and two of the Arowak. Among the existing Indians of this country the Carib are also found in four distinct types

vs. a single one wi th the Arowak. The Warau, who have of late occasionally i n ­habited the western part of Surinam, have now withdrawn again up to British Guyana. It is possible that one of the types indicated as Arowak has actually belonged to the Warau. The four types among the Car ib, however are not to be put on the same footing with the groups that have become known in the f ie ld of archaeology.

In the coastal area of Surinam there are two clearly distinct types of old Indian pottery. We consider one type as belonging to the Koriabo phase o? the Car ib, the other to the Arowak, because the decoration of the latter type shows a great resemblance with that found on the Ant i l les part icular ly of the Tainan culture of the Big Ant i l les (Fewkes 1907, 1922; Loven 1924, 1935; Roust 1939; Barton 1953; Bullbrook 1953).

-ooOoo-—-

HERTENRITS M OUN D

Not only in the sand and shell ridges have settlements been found (among other places near Paramaribo), but also in the clay swamps. The best known and best investigated example is the so-called "Hertenrits" by Wageningen in the western district of N i cke r i e . Here a clay mound which appeared to be an old settlementof former Indian inhabitantsof the coast was discovered by Engineer H.Dost in 1956 during the exploration of the soil for the extension of the rice polders of Wageningen. The area covers about 4 hectares, while the ground has been raised to 3 meters with clay from a circular ditch and from the surrounding swamp grounds. A first investigation of the mound was carried out by the Surinam Museum in 1957, In anticipat ion of detailed descriptions, we herewith state the outstanding par t i ­culars.

rtertenrits now projects 2.5 meters above the surrounding swamp leve l , but in the profi le pits the heaped-up clay reached a thickness of 3.5 meters. The soil consists of c lay, the mound is more or less round with some f ive inlets, which have presumably served as a mooring place for the boats. The mound was situated in a creek that emptied northward into the sea, and in the south drained the large surrounding rush swamps. Supposedly this point lay on the border of sal? and fresh water. I t now lies at a distance of 8 kilometers from the present coast-l ine .

- - - -ooOoo

- 59

The excavations carried out in October 1957 for the archaeologi­cal research of the Hertenrits consisted in the making of a radîaire groove of 75 meters long, 2 meters broad and 1/2 meter'deep, and in the digging of 7 profi le holes with a surface of 3 x 4 meters to a depth of 2.50 to 3.80 meters down to the original swamp surface.

The mound appeared to have been bui l t from various clay layers which especially in the lower half alternated with peat layers, The anthropogene act iv i ty is evident from the irregular situation of the layers and especially from the presence of potsherds down to the bottom-most layers. Considering the depth and the situation with regard to one another and the quantity of the potsherds, presuma­bly 4 zones or horizons may be indicated. The second zone (the last layer being the surface) is the least developed. The thick peat layers alternating with the lowest clay layers may be considered as upper layers which have been applied to render the mound inhabi table. In between and below there is the remainder of camp-wood (poles), but no root-stubs, nor remainders of the trees once grown there.

ooOoo

In the bottom layers the potsherds lie scattered, but in the upper ones there Is a concentrat ion, for instance on the surface and at a depth varying from 60 to 130 cm. Only in the upper layer down to a depth of 60 cm human skele­tons and funeral urns have been found. The potsherds of the lowest layers (2.00 to 2.70) are remnants of simple undecorated pottery such as shallow bowls, the rims of which are connected to the bottom with a stump angle. In the second horizon (1.50 to 2.00 m) we find rims with notches and simple decorations l ike pits or dents by finger t ips. The third and the fourth horizons (0.60 to 1.30 and surface to 0.50 m respectively) show a very rich development of ornamentation of the pot ­tery such as pi ts , f igures, shadings in almost right angles above one another, ver­t ical stripes constituting a horizontal line on the outside of a pot under the r im, knurled edges on elevated borders, e tc . Appliqué is also found, as figures of snakes, undulating l ines, arms with l i t t le hands and figures of frogs.

ooOoo

In the upper horizon there is plenty of zoomorphic and anthropo­morphic pottery. These figures or heads were f ixed to the inside of the pots as grips, sometimes to extended elevated parts of the rim of the pot. Not seldom were such grips seen wi th two figures or l i t t le faces, looking to the left and to the right across the rim of the pot or both directed tö its centre. The figures of animals or heads Include : frogs, monkeys, t igers, dog- l ike animals (raccoon) etc . Also fragments of two l i t t le human figures baked in clay have been found with the arms resting on the chest.

Characteristic of the kitchen utensils are the pot ears : there are two types, v i z . pot ears constructed of two to f ive and more vert ical clay rol ls , and single f la t ears of which the rims are somewhat convex and may moreover be

6C

decorated with a crenature or with sharp projections. Pot lids consist of round f la t clay discs wi th a diameter of approximately 10 cm,a nipple-shaped grip ii the middle or a nipple that has been pinched f lat and may then consist of two tops. These pot lids have no doubt served as covers for water pitchers.

The pots and bowls of which the shape could be recognized, or which could be restored, were simple open bowls with a high or low r im. Some­times the rim was slightly bent inward. Rim thickenings are rare; however a neck-piece of a water jug was found that was elegantly bent outward. The belly of some l i t t le round pots with a small mouth show bumpy (6) or nipple-shaped outgrowths ( 4 ) , but they posses no further ornamentation.

Among the potsherds a striking amount of very coarse pottery was found that turned out to belong to the so-called "potstands". These are supports which were used to rest the pots on over the fire or to put them aside in order to prevent their toppling over. There are two models : solid cyl indrical clay pieces with three feet on the one side, being part ial ly f lat on the other, and hollow cylindrical pottery, the rims of which are curved outward, both upward and downward, as with a vase. Both models are approximately 10 to 12 cm high, the latter having besides a diameter of at the most 12 cm. On the outer part of the hollow potstands pot ears or pot grips have been found, the latter with the shape of a nose, around which were impressed two eyes, whi le a mouth had been applied underneath in the same manner.

A remarkable crock was a part of a l i t t le boat with a slightly broadened front or rear side in a cano-shaped type of boat. Presumably it repre­sents the type of boat such as was used for their navigation over creeks and swamps. Besides the aforementioned objects of pottery there are stamper-l ike shapes of clay which at the upper end may be decorated with two animal heads or a half globe into which a hole has been dr i l led . May be they have been weights that were used during the spinning of cotton.

—"—ooOoo- - - -

In Hertenrits there were also many pieces of natural stone, which pearly a l l showed signs of having been tooled. Undamaged stone objects were found by way of exception; they were stone axes, a hammer-stone, a polishing-stone, a dril l ing-stone and a figurine of green stone. The axes belong to a single petaloide type, without notches on the sides, and to the winged type. They are made of a fine green stone, of dioriet and of a fine grey.granite. The hammer-stones and remnants of rubbing- stones are made of fine grey granite . The undama­ged sample of a hammer-stone also has shallow hollowings-out on the f lat sides (to take hold of it with thumb and index) .

A number of coarse white pieces of quartz have not been tooled and were perhaps brought along to cut objects out of them. An occasional piece is polished smooth and might have served as a polishing-stone or rubbing-stone.

- si

Whetting-stones in the shape of larger f lat pieces of granite are often found. On one side or sometimes on both sides the surface is polished smooth and hollowed out s l ight ly .

On a few "beach stones", a sub-recent silicious lime stone, sometimes found along the coast, are long straight grooves, in which objects with the shape of a s late-penci l have been ground. Sometimes these grooves are in a perpendicu­lar position on each other, sometimes they intersect under a sharp angle. So far there is no indication whatever, what kind of objects have been ground in them.

As polishing-stones, are to be considered oblong, more or less globular,white quartz cobbles of approximately 5 cm long, which have been used in the manufacture of pots to polish the wal ls.

An unusual model of a spindle-shaped hard grey stone tapering into a sharp point on either side might have served as a dr i l l ing-stone. Such stones were made to turn with the string of a bow (Ahlbrinck 1960).

The frog figures made out of fine lack-lustre green-stone are to be looked upon as amulets.Of these some samples were found by Mr.R.Alberts at Wageningen.They have undoubtedly been worn as charms.

A pétrographie investigation of these bits of natural stone that are completely missing in the neighbourhood has brought to l ight that the Categories of stone to which these samples probably belong, are found in several spots in the interior of Surinam. The lack of typical kinds of stone from the Coppename River, Nicker ie River and Coranti ¡n River,situated on the south of the area, is indicat ive of the fact that these stones have been imported by transport over sea along the coast. l t is also probable that they have not been collected any further than the Guyana Shield.

ooOoo

Utensils, but especially ornaments, have not only been made of stone, but also of shells. For this purpose the biggest sea-snail to be found in the local i ty (on the beach ) has been used, viz MeJLaagejia Melongena (L . ) . For ins­tance, we found a piece of the side-wall of this snai l , which was ground off sharp on one side l ike the slash of a knife and most probably has served as an edged too l . The ornaments have almost without exception been made of the thick central axle of this snai l . The most outstanding are "towel pins" of approximately 5 cm long, which at the errd have been tooled extremely charmingly by carving of l i t t le head decorations. The use of these objects is anything but strange even in our days. Cyl indr ical pieces of shell which on one side show a coin-shaped f lat broadening, have supposedly served as ear-buttons. Other more oblong, though rectangular, smoothly polished pieces equally of some 4 to 5 cm length have been dr i l led on one side of the upper part and i t is therefore assumed that thay have been worn as charms. Also beads have been made of these axles, while f lat round discs with a hole in the centre are likewise supposed to have been worn on a necklace. Rec­tangular and almost four-angled pieces of shel l , which are ground f lat on one side, on the other sloping upwards, have two holes and thus give the impression

of having been buttons. ooOoo

52

Artefacts of bone pieces have also been found. A striking example ¡s a f lute of a deer bone that is open on both sides, but which at one of the extremes has a diagonal groove. There are no scale openings.A short piece of a leg bone of a deer has been cut off and burnished charmingly. It is l ike ly to have been worn as a charm.

Another tooled piece Is a fore- leg bone, presumably of a deer, with on the condyles a cruciform incis ion, thus suggesting a stamp. N o such f i ­gure has been found as an ornament on the pottery.

ooOoo

In Hertenrlts also ample remains of animals have been disco­vered, which were consumed after hunt ing. For example, parts of skeletons of fish were found (among which plenty of skinfish), further of a l l igators, ¡guanas and anaconda snakes;alsobones of birds, and of the mammals,bones of deer, rac­coon and otters were found. In addition to shells of normal swamp-snails (Poma-cea dolioides) there lay sea-shells and sea snails, but refuse piles of shells of consumed sea-molluscs, such as oysters and the l i ke , as those found along the coast, among other places in British Guyana, were not seen here.

ooOoo

In the upper surface layer, down to a 60 cm depth, various graves have been found, in which the human skeletons have been preserved in a rather good condi t ion. The skeletons lay outstreched on their backs, the head turned to the west or south-west. Once the skull was found severed from the body, in a bowl-shaped pot, which was covered by another bigger bowl , l ike the l id of a t i n . Also a skeleton was found of which the skull has been looked for in vain. In two graves we found, likewise in a double set of bowls, two l i t t le dlshes,which, i t is supposed, were f i l led with food in order to accomodate the dead person on his journey to the hereafter.

The length of the skeletons was 160 to 165 cm, the skulls be­longing to the brachycephale type. Dr. J.Tacoma, Head Assistent of the "Anato­misch en Embryologisch Laboratorium of the State University of Utrecht" (Holland) w i l l shortly publish an extensive study of the data on the human skeleton*

— - - o o O o o - - - -

A G R I C U L T U R E

Hertenrlts has been used as a dwel l ing area for a long t ime. On the aerial photographs i t is sketched as an isolated piece of forest In the large open rush-swamps. From this spot a number of lines run radial ly up to 5 Km and sivyre into the swamps. They end near irregular pieces of forest. With the breafcine

- 63 -

up of these grounds, owing to the reclamation of the Wagenrngen Project, i t ap ­peared that we were here dealing wi th elevated beds of 10 to 100 m length,around which had been dug a ditch to secure the clay for the e levat ion. The ditches have turned into land, the beds are grown over with bush and trees. It is obvious that agriculture has been practised on these beds, and sweet potatoes, cassavas or other cul t ivated plants have been grown. The long connection lines with Her-tenrits have been either connecting-paths or fairways, which are even in our days to be found as shallow grooves. That i t was the Indians who laid out these beds, appears from finds of pottery and stone axes In the circular ditches which are identical with those found in Hertenrits. The beds l ie together in groups of scores and form curious ground patterns in the reclaimed polders, where by the way they constituted very annoying obstacles for t i l l age .

D I S T R I B U T I O N

From the above i t becomes evident that the Inhabitants of Her­tenrits were coastal navigators, who bui l t their dwellings in the marshes on mounds,pracHsing agriculture there as w e l l . Considering the archaeological data of the pottery, they were Indians-belonging to the Arowak t r ibe, probably to the "Marit ime Arowaks" of Loven (1935).

The f ix ing of age after the C-14 method, carried out by the "Natuurkundig Laboratorium" of the State University of Groningen (Holland) has made clear that Hertenrits was inhabited from 1200 to 1050yearsago i . e . at least 150 years.

Hertenrits is not the only settlement of Arowaks in Surinam that has become known. Also In and around Paramaribo in the ridges of Kwatta a good deal of pottery has been discovered that stands comparison with that of Her­tenrits in various respects. The material recently found In the district of Com-mewijne in the sand-ridges between the canal of Matapica and the Motkreek also appears to belong to the Hertenrits type. It is remarkable that in the surround­ing swamp grounds too ground pattern have been found of another type than the one by Wageningen, but likewise resulting from early Indian agr icul ture. Such patterns have been discovered as far as the Marowijne and even in French Guyana. Material comparable with that of British Guyana is absent, unless the Abaryphase of Meggers and Evans (1955) found along the river Abary west of the Berbice River would betray any re la t ion, which is to be doubted. A l l find-spots of this type are closely below the coast, either on a clay-mound in the marshes In the west or In the sand-ridges more eastward of Surinam. To date not a single find-spot has been hit upon In the savannah strip or in the farther inter ior. Detailed descriptions of these archaeological data are st i l l want ing, but i t is to be hoped that the general survey as embodied In this report, w i l l arouse interest for same.

64

L I T E R A T U R E

Ahiur ínck, W. - Een bezoek aan het Museum in Costa Rica. Oudheidkundige verwantschap tussen Mîdden-Amerika en Suriname. De Nieuwe West-Indische Gids f 40 (1), pp .50 -62 , 1960

Barton, G .T . - The Prehistory of Barbados. Advocate Co. L td . Barbados 1953, 88 pag. two maps, P i . I - IX.

Bullbrook, J . A . - On the Excavation of a shell mound at Palo Seco, Trinidad , W . I . , Yale Unlv .Publ . in Anthropology 1953.

114 pag. 13 f igs.

Feriz H. - Verslag van een korte archaeologische studiereid naar Suriname in het voorjaar van 1957, Kon. Inst. v . d . Tropen, Amsterdam, 1957.

Feriz H. - Zwischen Peru und Mexico. Kon. Inst. v . d . Tropen r

Amsterdam. Meded. 134, A f d . Cul t . & Phys. Anthrop. 63, 1959, 220 p a g . , 23 p i .

Fewkes, J . W . - The Aborigines of Porto Rico and neighboring islands. Bur. Am. Ethnology 25 th ann; report, Washington 1907. pp. 5-296, 129 PI .

Fewkes, J . W . - A prehistoric island culture area of America. Bur. of Am. Ethnology 34 th ann. report, Washington, 1922 pp. 35 - 2 8 1 , 69 f igs.

Ce i j skes ,D.C. - Bauxiet en archaeologie. Erts (Maandblad Bil l î ton Bedr.) 11 (2), 1959, pp.1 - 8

Gei |skes,D.C. - Archaeological discoveries In the sandridges near the Commetewane creek (Distr. Commewi¡ne) in Surinam. Berichten Rijksdienst Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, Amersfoort (Hol land), 10, 1961-a (in print)

Gei (skes,D.C. - Archaeological discoveries from the Coppename River (Surinam). Berichten Rijksdienst Oudheidkundig Bodemonder­zoek, Amersfoort (Holland) 10, 1961-b (in pr in t ) ,

Gei jskes,D.C. - Archaeological Investigation of Surinam. A study from the l i terature. Berichten Rijksdienst Oudheidkundig Bodemon­derzoek Amersfoort (Holland) 10, 1961-c (in pr in t ) .

- 65 -

G o e j e , C . H . d e , - Oudheden uit Suriname. Op zoek naar de Amazonen. De West Ind. Gids 13 (14), pp. 449-482 and 497-530,1932.

Goethals, P.R. - An archeological reconnaissance of coastal Suriname. Report of the Yale Univ . New Haven Conn. U.S.A» 1953. (not published).

Gonggr i jp , J . W . - Sporen van voorhistorische bewoners van Suriname. De West Ind. Gids, 2 , pp. 1-16, 1921.

Her ing, C . J . - De Oudheden van Suriname. Catalogus d . N e d . West- lnd. Tentoonstelling te Haarlem, 1 899,pp.54-58.Publ ished by the Kolonial Museum Haarlem.

Kate, H .F .C. ten - On West Indian stone implements, and other Indian rel ics. Bijdrage Taai-Land en Volkenkunde v . N e d . Indië, 38, pp. 153-160,PI . I - V I I I , 1889.

Köyser, C . C . - Verslag der Corantijn Expedit ie. Tijdschr. Kon. N e d . Aardri jksk. Gen . 29 (4), 76 pp. 1912.

Loven, Sven - Uber die Wurzeln der Tainischen Kultur» Teil I Matér iel le Kultur. Göteborg 1924,453 pag. II taf.

Loven, Sven - Origins of the Tainan Cul ture, West Indies. Göteborg 1935, 696 p a g . , 19 P L , one map.

Meggers, B.J . &Cl i f ford Evans - Preliminary results of archaeological Investigations in British Guiana. Timehri N ° . 3 4 , pp. 5 -26 , 2 F i g . , P i . I - V I I , Sept, 1955.

Rouse, I rv ing, - Prehistory in H a i t i , a study in Method. Yale Univ . Publ. in Anthropology 1939, 202 pag. 5 P i .

Stahel, G - Een Indiaansche rotstekening aan de Kabalebo-Rtvier (Coranti jn). De West Ind. Gîds 3, pp. 100-102, 1922.

Stahel, G . - De Expeditie naar het Wilhelmina-gebergte (Suriname) in 1926. Maatsch. t . bev. v«h. Natuurk. Onderz. d . N e d . Koloniën. Bul l . N ° 82 - 86. 1926.

ooOoo

Carte de Suriname

• • f y¿ •

•Rg. I — Oecorafed Arowok pofsherd from Herfenrífs. Tesson arawak décoré, de Hertenrlts.

Nickerie, Suriname. Cod. Surinam Museum.

Fig. 2 — Pot-ear — Anse de vase Arawak, Hertenrits. Nickerie, Suriname

Coll. Surinam Museum.

Fig. 3 — Adorno. Arawak, Hertenrits.

Nickerie, Suriname.

Coll. Surinam Museum.

Fig. 4 — Shell Ornaments. — Ornements en coquillage. Arawak, Herfe irifs. Nickerie, Suriname.

Coll. Surinam Museum.

Fig. 5 — Ground poffern of clay beds used for agriculture by the Arawak of Hertenrits, as seen in the polderland of Wageningen

Dessins formés sur le sol por Fes carreaux de terre qu'utilisaient pour l'agriculture les Arowaks de Hsrtenrits ; ces carreaux se détachent sur les polders de Wageningen.

N/ckerie, Suriname. Photo Rudi Koppel