Indian Sites in Haiti

Whilst perusing Moreau de Saint–Méry's well-known Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l'isle Saint Domingue online, we decided to list all the areas of modern-day Haiti he mentioned as containing evidence of the island's indigenous inhabitants, usually bones, pottery, petroglyphs, or tools, or ancient bohio grounds. Several of the areas mentioned by the author are well-known, but, alas, Haiti has not received the degree of archaeological excavations one would like. Below are most of the colonial-era parishes and, when possible, towns or regions in which a pre-Columbian past was evident or deduced by Moreau de Saint–Méry. Needless to say, there were likely other sites not mentioned by the author or unknown to him. Some were possibly located in thr general areas where the Spanish-founded towns in western Hispaniola were established (Yaquimo, Lares de Guahaba, Sabana de Salvatierra, La Yaguana, Puerto Real). For example, a cacique whose named included Miraguana was listed in the 1514 Repartimiento, suggesting the area of Miragoane likely had an Indian population. Furthermore, the area of the lakes east of Port-au-Prince and near the border with the Spanish colony probably hosted a large population in precolonial times. Archaeologists in the 20th century have, of course, identified a number of sites such as En Bas Saline (possibly the site of Guacanagaric's capital) and indigenous villages in La Gonave, Île-à-Vache and Fort-Liberté. 

Plaisance: Indian hatchets, pots, and an indigenous man's head were found in 1727 by Lovet.

Arcahaye: Was a settlement of the Xaragua cacicazgo.

Les Cayes plain: at Habitation Walsh, Indian ceramics found.

Limbé: Petroglyphs carved into a rock described. Indian "fetishes" also sighted near habitation Chabaud.

Vallières: remains of Indian tools found in mountains, as well as the tomb of a cacique identified in 1787 (said to have "hieroglyphics").

L'Acul: Near the Sacquenville sucrerie Indian tombs described, with "fetishes" and shells. 

Aquin: Indian "fetishes" of wood and bones, pots, and shells indicate the presence of a small settlement at Davezac de Castera habitation.

Anse-à-Veau: Caves that seem to have been worked by human hands (ambiguous reference).

Cayes de Jacmel: Peninsula formed by Cascade and La Bioche indicate vestiges of Indian settlements, including tools, cave sites, figures carved out of lambi shell and "fetishes" in the area. Ardouin's geographical work of Haiti also suggests the Spanish worked the mines in this area (iron and copper). 

Grand-Goâve: Habitation Charles had Indian-built retrenchment. A Spanish-period settlement here was destroyed in the 1590s.

Jérémie: Human bones from Indians, Indian remains found in caves. Supposedly an ancient Indian sculpture of stone with 4 women carved in it was discovered as Fonds-Rouges.

Gonaives: Cave site with human bones reported.

Port-à-Piment: vestiges of ancient carbet or Indian home found, with human bones. 

Bainet: Gris-Gris area has evidence of Indian past, human remains found.

Quartier Morin: Indian bones, tools, and fetishes reported. Habitation Duplaa had more.

Léogâne: Fetishes and human figures reported. The French town was founded in the general vicinity of the earlier La Yaguana town of the Spanish colonial period, itself built after the depopulation of Santa Maria de la Vera Paz, the colonial town founded after the destruction of the Xaragua cacicazgo by Ovando. 

Dondon: Voûte-à-Minguet described in detail, site important to indigenous residents.

Petite-Anse: hatchets, Indian "fetishes" found at Bonnet à l'Evêque. Moreau de Saint–Méry believed Guacanagaric's capital was at the site of the town.

Limonade: Indian tools commonly found.

Borgne: Caverns and gorges with human bones, phalluses, vessels and "fetishes" reported. Cave site in area visited by Arthaud in 1777, who took a black cup from the cave site. 

Cavaillon: Morne Bleu cave had "fetishes" from Indian period.

Tiburon: "Fetishes" and caverns with human bones reported in the area.

Saint-Marc: In c.1737, Indian "idols" and tools were found at a plantation at Bas de l'Artibonite.

Port-Salut: "Fetishes" found in the area, as well as other indigenous artifacts.

Charles Arthaud and the "Taino"

Antiquities of the "Taino" in Nicolson's Essai sur l'histoire naturelle de A. Domingue

While perusing works relevant to the topic of the "Taino" again, we came across short pamphlets and writings on the "Taino" by a prominent doctor, Charles Arthaud. The brother-in-law of Moreau de Saint-Mery, Arthaud was also an important member of the Cercle des Philosophes in what is now Cap-Haitien. Some of his writings touched upon archaeological, historical and ethnological questions, such as the indigenes of Saint Domingue. This interest expressed by French and creole intellectuals in the island's indigenous past, just on the eve of the Haitian Revolution, fascinates us for several reasons. Arthaud also seemed to be interested in exploring the role of environment and natural history on human development, often falling back on the perhaps intellectually lazy notion that the environment in which the indigenous population lived was less challenging and therefore the autochthonous peoples did not have the motivation to further develop their society. 

Amazingly, the Cercle in Okap apparently had a collection of Indian antiquities and an audience of readers and listeners who wanted to uncover more of the island's lost indigenous population. Second, Arthaud pushes back against Charlevoix's contradictions to focus on the "Taino" as a people like others of similar stages of development. Thus, they were not savage, indolent, or utterly lacking in industry, agriculture, and the arts. While it is indeed true they lacked iron and advanced metallurgy, Arthaud's Recherches sur la constitution des naturels du pays, sur leurs arts, leur industrie, et les moyens de leur subsistance provides numerous examples of 'Taino" technical and artistic achievement in canoe construction, the fabrication of cemis, the construction of duhos, political organization through caciques and a system of agriculture that provided adequate sustenance for the population. If they were so primitive, lazy, or backwards, why would they have a complex subsistence economy including agriculture, fishing, and hunting? And their religion, dismissed by Charlevoix and early Spanish sources, is seen to be something similar to other peoples in a similar "stage" of development. Another work by Arthaud on the "Taino" even goes so far as to argue that they possessed a cult of the phallus equivalent to the lingam of India or similar rites and ceremonies in ancient Egypt or Greece. Indeed, even the bohitis achieved some degree of knowledge with regards to herbs and plants useful for medicinal purposes.

Of course, our main interest with regard to Arthaud is the "why" behind this interest. Just a scholarly interest related to the general scientific mission of the Cercle and Enlightenment anthropology? Or was it a reflection of the growing identification with Creole-ness by Saint Dominguans by the second half of the 18th century? Was the criticism of Spain's genocide perhaps also, indirectly, related to criticism of France with regard to the autonomist leanings of some in Saint Domingue's white population? One wonders if Arthaud's interest in the relationship between the environment and populations may have motivated his interest in the indigenous population. According to a footnote in Recherches sur la constitution des naturels du pays, he planned to follow that publication with another on the creoles of the island and their constitution in relation to their environment. Although ostensibly related to Arthaud's medical interests, one wonders if his comparison of Creoles and Indian constitutions and their rapports was also partly motivated by a growing Creole self-identification with the land. And though there is no evidence that free blacks or "mulattoes" in the colony participated in or followed this discourse, perhaps it influenced the Creoles of color who may have also appropriated the island's indigenous past to vindicate their own autonomist and nationalist sentiments.