c.
HT-CBCO-000303
c. AD 800 – 1400 (Settlement Planning): The Golden Rock site on St. Eustatius serves as a model for understanding Troumassoid-period village organization. Large-scale excavations revealed a planned community with massive communal houses (malocas) arranged around a central space. The discovery of internal burials and specialized refuse areas within this layout suggests that social life was highly structured and that the village was intended to be a long-term, stable residence. This architectural evidence supports the idea that northeastern Caribbean societies were developing complex forms of communal living well before the rise of the large-scale chiefdoms found further west.
Source · HT-CBCO-000303
Keegan & Hofman, 274 / Bates: HT-CBCO-000303 [Ref: Versteeg & Schinkel 1992]