Dietary Change and Human Population at Indian Creek, Antigua

Abstract

The midden at Indian Creek, Antigua, is very probably a nearly complete record of the animal food consumed by the inhabitants over about 1,100 years of occupation. During that time the resource exploitation pattern changed in a number of major and minor ways. The most obvious change, when crab gave way to bivalve mollusks as an important dietary element, has been examined in some detail and the possible causes for the change discussed. Although the data presented here could be used for a variety of theoretical models it seems likely that no single model is sufficient to explain all the changes. The faunal remains obtained from the excavation have been used to calculate the amount of protein represented and this in turn used to calculate the approximate mean human population over the period of occupation. The figure obtained is between 21-53 depending upon the criteria adopted. The possible sources of error in the calculations are identified and discussed.