Northern West Indies (6,093–4,366 BCE) Middle Holocene — Estuary Villages, Upland-Lowland Circuits

Geographic and Environmental Context

Northern West Indies includes the Outer Bahamas (Lucayan archipelago), the Turks & Caicos Islands, and northern Hispaniola — northern Haiti (Cap-Haïtien, Massif du Nord) and the Cibao/north coast of the Dominican Republic (Santiago de los Caballeros, Puerto Plata).

Anchors: Andros–Abaco–Eleuthera–San Salvador–Exuma banks, Turks & Caicos banks and passes, Cap-Haïtien–Massif du Nord, Cibao–Puerto Plata–Santiago river valleys and coastal shelves.

• Coastal passes fixed; mangroves stabilized leeward lagoons.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Continued Holocene warmth; storms reworked passes without collapsing fisheries.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Northern Hispaniola semi-sedentary coastal hamlets; upland excursions into Massif du Nord/Cibao for tubers/fruit.

• Bahama–Caicos remained without permanent settlements.

Technology & Material Culture

• Grindstones, net weights; shell beads; refined bone hooks.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Canoe shuttles among north-coast inlets; occasional cross-bank ventures for turtle/salt.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Coastal shrine-stones; feasts mark turtle seasons.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Stored smoked fish and shellfish; diversification into upland fruit–root rounds.

Transition
By 4,366 BCE, coast–upland economies on Hispaniola were entrenched.