MINERALOGICAL AND PETROLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF PREHISTORIC CERAMIC SHERDS FROM THE ISLAND OF ANGUILLA IN THE NORTHERN LESSER ANTILLES ISLAND CHAIN OF THE CARIBBEAN

Pottery found on the islands of the Lesser Antilles island chain is composed of local clay/sand material and volcanic rock and carbonate (rock or shell) fragments. Each island has a unique geologic composition that varies from eastern volcanic island chain to the western carbonate island platforms. This study used petrographic microscope techniques to identify the mineralogical components of 45 pottery sherds from the carbonate platform island of Anguilla in the northern Lesser Antilles island chain. The Late Ceramic Age (post - Saladoid) sherds were separated into four groups using carbonate fragments, volcanic to shallow intrusive igneous rock fragments, rare sedimentary rock fragments, and grog. The carbonate material within the pottery is mostly shell material, however it has been highly altered by the firing process. The igneous rock fragments vary mineralogically and may allow correlation with specific volcanic islands in the chain. Abundant minerals within the sherds are feldspars (plagioclase and K-spar), quartz, biotite, epidote, and amphibole. A small number of sherds contained igneous rock fragments with small tourmaline crystals. The grog appears as red to red-black subrounded clasts with quartz, plagioclase, and amphibole mineral fragments. This petrologic analysis will allow for further interpretation of the material culture of the post-Saladoid people.