All of them went about naked, even the women. Their forms was well proportioned, their bodies graceful and their features handsome. Their hair was as coarse as the hair of a horse’s tail and short. They wore their hair over their eyebrows, except a little hank behind which they never cut. Some of them paint themselves in black, white or red and wore little ornamentations. Some paint their faces, some other their whole body some their eyes only or noses only. Those that did wear clothing wore only a leaf or a net of cotton over their private parts. This is what Columbus wrote about the people he found in 1492 when he landed on their homeland after one month and a little more after leaving The Canary Islands.
In his attempt to look for a shorter route, little did Columbus know when he spotted the island of San Salvador that he had discovered a New World, for he had expected to reach China and the Far East going west. Instead, he found a tribe called "Lukku-cari" or "island people"; a tribe who, 1500 years ago, inhabited most of what we know as The Bahamas.
Who were the first inhabitants of the Bahamas, and from where did they come from? Whether they are blacks descended from African slaves or white descendants of Adventurers and Loyalists, this is little less than true. One of the theories say that The Lucayans, as we know them now, were cousins of the Neo-Indian Arawaks who came over from the northern parts of Venezuela and the Guineas and settled in Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. These people were forced to move by the pressure of the far fiercer Caribs and were raided by these cannibalistic people by the time they reached the Greater Antilles. Probably some Lucayan men had come into combat as Columbus noted: "I saw some with scars on their bodies and to my signs asking what these meant, they answered in the same manner, that people from neighbouring islands wanted to capture them and they defended themselves".
In their search for peace the Arawaks pushed onward in their canoes reaching Haiti around 200 AD, going on to settle in Jamaica and Cuba. Some time between 500 and 600 AD, they came to the southern and central Bahamas and were wiped out within two decades of the Spanish arrival. "They are very poor in everything", was Columbus’ sad comment in a land without sign of gold he had hoped to find in abundance. Archaeological studies throughout the Bahamas have revealed that this was not the case. "To the contrary," says Richard Rose of the Department of Anthropology of Rochester Museum and Science Centre, New York, "the Lucayans lived in a region of abundant food resources, enjoyed social and economic relationships with other peoples of the Caribbean, and had developed a level of technology that was particularly well adapted to an island ecology".
Certainly, they were excellent farmers, good potters, weavers of cotton fibre, expert divers and skilled navigators in canoes of their own invention. It is likely that they farmed tobacco, yams, sweet potatoes, cassava, corn, chilli peppers, avocados, papayas and pineapples but probably depended more on the gathering of fruits such as guava, mamme, guinep and tamarind. Conch seems to have been an important export commodity and medium of exchange between the Bahamas and the neighbouring islands.
Columbus observed that the Lucayans were keen on exchanging products with him, for the European's own good. "They are so ingenuous and free with all they have. I forbade that they be given things so worthless as bits of broken crockery and of green glass and lacepoints, although when they could get them they thought they had the best jewel in the world". This suggests that the Lucayans were experienced traders and that trade was an important part of their economy. On the other hand, it is astonishing to realise the extent to which these peaceful and ingenuous natives believed the Spaniards were deities coming from the sea and to whom they should give all their valuables.
Their society was based on the "Casique" system, which was a chiefdom, whose importance depended on the size of the area which they were commanded. Its lineage was traced through the mother’s bloodline. The Casique tradition was also observed among the natives of Hispaniola, now Haiti and Dominican Republic, which leads us to believe that the Lucayan society was also based on this system.
The Lucayans practised the flattening of their foreheads by tying them to flat boards. This tradition not only gave a certain distinction to their looks but also the thickened bone was blowproof, always handy during battle. Their faces were broad and almost oriental in appearance. Men and women used ornaments such as necklaces, bracelets and headdresses of shells, bones and feathers.
Lucayan houses were built as either long tents or circular with a conical roof. Although no mud or brick was used their construction was strong enough to withstand the roughest winds. A tall centre pole was set up in the middle, around which shorter and slimmer poles were placed. Interwoven with canes, they formed the wall. The roof was thatched with palm. Hammocks made of cotton where hung out from the poles. Within fifty years European sailors used these hammocks in their ships to sleep on.
They also had a particular belief of the origin of the world and its inhabitants. The sight of the sun was taboo and those who dared to look at it were turned into animals. Thus was the earth filled with living things. They also believed in spirits or "zemmis" who resided in sacred trees, carved images or in the relics of the dead. They were idols carved in stone, wood or clay in celebration of gods and goddesses of nature. It was the personification of spiritual power achieved with the aid of supernatural forces. A Zemi of a parrotfish carved in limestone has been discovered at Pigeon Creek among other effigies of animals at New Providence.
LAST DISCOVERIES One of the most outstanding and recent discoveries has been a 500 year old canoe found on a ledge just 60 feet into the Blue Hole, Andros. First discovered in April 1995, the canoe has an assembled length of a little more than 2 meters, and appears to be made from Madiera wood, a mahogany native to these islands. It is the oldest artefact found in the region at that time.
In Abaco, a very large "permanent" Lucayan village sight has been found. Lothian, who has been doing excavations in Abaco, found a great volume of pottery fragments (125 varieties in all) together with jewellery fragments. This suggests that Lucayans did establish casique residences and villages in the north until the arrival of Columbus. A knife made of conch shell and an entire skeleton of a man believed to be a Lucayan have also been discovered. In spite of all these evidences, experts still could not agree that aborigines had established villages in the Northern Islands.
An excavation site was established at Pigeon Creek, San Salvador, conducted by Richard Rose from the Department of Anthropology of Rochester Museum and Science Centre, New York. This dig is believed to be the largest Lucayan site and probably the earliest one dating back to as far as 1100 AD. The archaeologists found fish and bird bones, needles, dart points of shell and bones, fragments of pottery, polished stone celts and pestles, quartz beads and granite stones.
The most exciting Lucayan artefacts found in the Bahamas in 1988 are three wooden chair-like carvings in the town of Mortimers. These are called "duhos" which were the ceremonial seats for Lucayan Casiques. A replica of these wooden chairs which depicts turtle and iguana heads can be seen at the Department of Archives, Mackey Street, Nassau. Open from Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4:30 pm.
The exhibition at the Department of Archives also contains replicas of hammocks, screens, mats, headdress and trays, all made of botanical fibres by craftspeople living in Lokono Arawak, descended from the same original Amerindian ancestors as the Lucayan Taino of the Bahamas. Finally, there is also a sample of basketry-impressed sherds examined from the Pigeon Creek site dated to 1110-1560 AD. The impressions are located on the bases of griddles and flat-bottomed vessels. The depth and clarity of the impressions on many of the sherds suggest that they were intentionally manufactured. This underlines their importance as cultural expressions.
Although our first inhabitants have totally disappeared from Bahamas, their culture will be preserved as long as their legacy remains with us. In this way, supporting archaeologists and anthropologists play a major supporting role in the better understanding of our ancestors.
