HUMAN MIGRATIONS IN THE ANCIENT ANTILLES

The settlement of the Antilles took place in multiple waves of migration over a period of 8,000 years or more. Indigenous people came from the American mainland starting as far back as the 6^th millennium BCE and never stopped coming until after the Spanish Conquest. The most ancient people (who are referred to as Paleo-Indians) were hunter-gatherers from South, Central and possibly North America. They were followed by waves of “Archaic” people who dabbled in agriculture and even ceramics, alongside earlier, more Paleo-Indian-type subsistence activities. As millennia passed the number and diversity of migrants seem to have increased as multiple waves of Ceramic Age people entered the archipelago. These Ceramic people came primarily from South America, starting in the mid 1^st millennium BCE and moved through the islands in a variety of patterns, but as was sometimes the case, a few may have come from Central America as well. The islands of the Caribbean seem to have been a desirable destination and a sought-after trading partner with mainland peoples near and far.

 

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