Guinea Pigs in the Pre-Columbian West Indies

ABSTRACT

In archaeology, human-introduced animals provide clues about social interaction and movement of past peoples. Zooarchaeological records in the Caribbean show that pre-Columbian people introduced several South American mammals to different islands. This article examines all reported pre-Columbian zooarchaeological records of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) in the Caribbean. Thus far, 218 bone fragments have been identified from 18 sites on nine islands. To date, our analysis indicates that guinea pigs were introduced to the islands after AD 500, possibly to the Greater Antilles first. Almost all are recovered from midden contexts. The contexts of guinea pig remains suggest that these animals were consumed as food and not considered an exotic or high-status food source with restricted consumption or other non-food uses such as ritual animals. The spatial and temporal patterns of guinea pigs suggest that the animals may have been linked to social identity and new patterns of trade, interaction, or population movement between the Caribbean and South America during the second half of the Caribbean Ceramic Age. Documenting the distribution and social significance of guinea pigs in the pre-Columbian Caribbean contributes to our understanding of how and why people introduced animals to island settings.

Keywords:

• Caribbean
• guinea pig
• interaction
• West Indies
• zooarchaeology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This synthesis would not have been possible without the help and cooperation of Betsy Carlson, Richard Cooke, Kate Dougherty, Geoffrey DuChemin, Chris Espenshade, Paul Healey, Bill Keegan, Laura Kozuch, Joost Morsink, Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, Lourdes Pérez Iglesias, Winston Phulgence, Irv Quitmyer, Virginia Rivera, Hayley Singleton, Peter Stahl, Erin Thornton, Jeff Walker, and Elizabeth Wing. Nathaniel Royal drafted the location map. We thank the Environmental Archaeology Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History for helping to facilitate data compilation. Comments provided by Betsy Carlson, Christina Giovas, Bill Keegan, Lee Newsom, Dave Steadman, Elizabeth Wing, and three anonymous reviewers helped improve the article.