Northern West Indies (28,577–7,822 BCE) Upper Pleistocene II — Deglaciation, Lagoon Formation, and Mangrove Fringes (Sparse/Episodic Use)

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.

• Rapid sea rise flooded benches into back-reef lagoons and pass channels; mangroves expanded on leeward rims; Cibao rivers incised into fertile alluvium.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Bølling–Allerød warmth moistened coasts; Younger Dryas brief cool/dry; Early Holocene stabilized rainfall and reef accretion.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Regional Archaic foragers (Greater Antilles) likely reached north Hispaniola’s river mouths; Bahama/Caicos use was episodic at most (canoe stops, no firm villages yet).

Technology & Material Culture

• Preceramic flake toolkits; shell/stone scrapers; bone points; raft/dugout precursors regionally.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• North coast Hispaniola as an early stepping-stone; bank-edge landfalls on Turks & Caicos during calm seasons.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Shell deposits as feasting traces; simple ornaments in coastal sites (Hispaniola).

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Littoral foraging + riverine resources buffered interannual variability.

Transition
By 7,822 BCE, northern Hispaniola sustained semi-recurrent Archaic camps; Bahama–Caicos remained largely unsettled.