ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN


are various radiocarbon dates which must be considered in attempt-
ing to answer this question.
 There are four locations in or near northeastern Venezuela pro-
ducing pottery of the Saladoid series and pertinent to the introduc-
tion of pottery into the Caribbean Islands (Cruxent and Rouse
1958: 15, 53-55, 119-121). First is the lower Orinoco River valley
where the earliest dated Saladoid deposits have been found. Here
there are three radiocarbon dates extending approximately from
900 to 600 B.C. Next is the site of Punta Gorda on Cubagua
Island off the north coast of Venezuela where Cruxent found
Saladoid ceramics in the top of an otherwise preceramic shell heap.
Third is the site of El Mayal at the base of the Peninsula of Paria
with a radiocarbon date of about A.D. 165. The Peninsula of
Paria extends towards Trinidad and would form a logical path
for man and pottery to have moved into Trinidad and the Lesser
Antilles. Last is the Cedros site on Trinidad. We have no radio-
carbon dates for either Cedros or Punta Gorda.
 Comparison of Rouse's (1947) and Cruxent and Rouse's (1958:
Pls. 7, 44, 89) illustrations of specimens from these sites indicate
a close similarity between Cedros, Punta Gorda, and the early
Orinoco Saladero series. El Mayal, as mentioned by Cruxent and
Rouse (1958: 120-21, P1. 44) and as illustrated in their plates is a
little more complicated and elaborate in decoration.
 Using the Orinoco Saladoid dates (900-600 B.C.) and following
Cruxent and Rouse (1958: 16, 26), we have to allow time for
migration from the Orinoco valley northward, for the establish-
ment of settlements near the Peninsula of Paria and on Trinidad,
and then for migration up the Lesser Antilles to the island of St.
John. Once they made the first step from Trinidad, movement up
the island chain would probably be fairly rapid. However, we
should not expect ceramics at the Coral Bay site until around the
time of Christ at the earliest.
 If we use the El Mayal date of around A.D. 165, we have to
remember, I believe, that the El Mayal ceramics are a little more
complicated and may, therefore, be a little later than the Cedros of
Trinidad. Hence, the Cedros style might have been established
on Trinidad about 200 years earlier or around 40 B.C. Either line
of reasoning would tend to put ceramic people into the Lesser