Pre-Columbian jadeitite artifacts from San Salvador Island, Bahamas and comparison with jades of the eastern Caribbean and jadeitites of the greater Caribbean region

Abstract Four artifacts from San Salvador Island, Bahamas, with affinities to jadeite jade were studied by mineralogical and petrographical techniques and compared to similar studies of jadeite rock (jadeitite) from sources in the greater Caribbean region: Guatemala (both north and south Motagua melange occurrences); the Sierra del Convento Melange, Cuba; and the Rio San Juan Complex, Dominican Republic. Three of the four artifacts are jadeite jade. The fourth is a metavolcanic rock of greenschist facies metamorphism. Each of the three jadeitite objects is distinct in terms of mineral assemblage and microscopic minerals intergrowth textures. One artifact manifests strong similarities with a variety of jadeitite known from Cuba, the closest source geographically to the Bahamas. The other two artifacts display unique characteristics of either mineral assemblage or texture that have not been observed to date in rocks from the known sources. Consequently, search must continue for greater diversity within the documented sources or new sources of jadeite jade that conform to what was observed must be found.