INTRODUCTION


 In the fall of 1958 the William L. Bryant Foundation instigated
an archaeological survey of St. Thomas, American Virgin Islands.
Field work was done by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh N. Davis, then of
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Subsequently, an agreement was
made between the Foundation and the National Park Service for
an archaeological survey with test excavations of the neighboring
island of St. John. Field work under this contract was done in
April, 1960, by Frederick W. Sleight of the Central Florida Museum,
Orlando, Florida, and the author representing the Florida State
Museum, Gainesville, Florida; after a rapid preliminary survey in
the spring of 1959 by Sleight and John W. Griffin, Regional Arche-
ologist, National Park Service. We were assisted in the field by
Robert H. Steinbach, then a graduate student at Florida State
University, Tallahassee, Florida.
 In 1959 and 1960 Adelaide K. Bullen and I surveyed Water and
Hassel Islands in St. Thomas Harbor and investigated the site at
Botany Bay on St. Thomas. We appreciate the several courtesies
extended to us by Mr. Walter Phillips, owner of the Water Island
Hotel and Beach Club.
 In 1960, before working on St. John, Sleight and I excavated
at Krum Bay, the only preceramic site in the Virgin Islands, and
made a stratigraphic test at Magens Bay, both on St. Thomas. The
work at Krum Bay will be the subject of a separate monograph
and will not be referred to here. However, pottery found by Gud-