Radiocarbon dates from Curaçao’s oldest Archaic site extend earliest island 
settlement to ca. 5700 cal BP

Kraan, Claudia T.; Kappers, Michiel; Lowe, Kelsey M.; Maezumi, S. Yoshi; Giovas, Christina M.

doi:10.1080/15564894.2024.2321575

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Radiocarbon dates from Curaçao’s oldest Archaic site extend earliest island settlement to ca. 5700 cal BP

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Maezumi, S. Yoshi
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Kraan, C. T., Kappers, M., Lowe, K. M., Maezumi, S. Y., & Giovas, C. M. (2024). Radiocarbon dates from Curaçao’s oldest Archaic site extend earliest island settlement to ca. 5700 cal BP. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2321575. doi:10.1080/15564894.2024.2321575.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-0749-8

Abstract

Due to its proximity to coastal South America and settlement during the early phase of insular Caribbean occupation, Curaçao’s archaeological record offers potential evidence for early overwater exploration and regional interaction. Here, we report new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates on charcoal from C-1426 at Saliña Sint Marie, an Archaic rockshelter site that extends Curaçao’s occupation back to 5735–5600 cal BP, some 290–850 years earlier than the established settlement chronology. This finding makes the C-1426 rockshelter Curaçao’s earliest known archaeological site and among the oldest in the insular Caribbean. We describe the site and the archaeological context of dating and conclude by considering the implications of Curaçao’s revised occupation chronology for initial Caribbean settlement.