Eastern West Indies (7,821–6,094 BCE) Early Holocene — Densifying Forager Lattice

Geographic and Environmental Context

Eastern West Indies includes eastern Haiti and most of the Dominican Republic (excluding the northern fringe), Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Lesser Antilles (Anguilla → Aruba), and Trinidad & Tobago

Anchors: Vega Real–Santo Domingo valleys; Puerto Rico (Cordillera Central & coastal plains); Virgin Islands passes; Leewards/Windwards (Guadeloupe–Dominica–Martinique–St. Lucia–Barbados–St. Vincent–Grenada–Aruba); Trinidad & Tobago at the Orinoco gate.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Fisher-foragers established seasonal hamlets along reef-protected bays; turtle , fish, shellfish staples; inland fruit-root rounds.

Technology & Material Culture

• Bone hooks, nets, shell adzes; dugouts.

Corridors

• Short inter-island hops via Virgin/Leeward passages; Trinidad supplies Orinoco contacts.

Symbolism & Adaptation

• Ancestral middens; storm-season moves; diversified diets.

Transition

• Stable archaic networks across the entire Antilles.