ABSTRACT
In contrast to ceramics, which have been the cornerstones of most cultural chronologies in the West Indies, lithic artifacts have received relatively little attention from Caribbean archaeologists. Several investigators have attempted to characterize the technology of flaked stone artifact manufacture on different islands (e.g. Davis, 1993, in press; Febles, 1988; Kozlowski & Ginter, 1973; Pantel, 1977; Rives & Febles, 1990; Walker, 1980). However, as Pantel (1988) has noted, published discussions of flaked stone artifacts more often have focused upon the identification of fossiles directeurs, or marker types, for different cultural phases. On the island of St Thomas, Bullen’s (1963) defining publications on the Krum Bay complex exemplify that approach. Moreover, lithic research in the Caribbean has been overwhelmingly concerned with the preceramic or Archaic period. For many parts of the West Indies (including the entire Virgin Island group) there has been virtually no systematic study of lithic industries for the Ceramic Age.
