Evidence of Human Activity on This Small Caribbean Island 850 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

New research establishes that humans occupied Curaçao between 5735 and 5600 calibrated years before present (cal BP). This finding suggests that the island was inhabited up to 850 years earlier than earlier estimates had indicated.

New research co-led by Simon Fraser University and the National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management (NAAM Foundation) in Curaçao has pushed back the date of the island’s earliest known human habitation by several hundred years, contributing new insights into the history of the Caribbean before the arrival of Columbus.

A team of international partners has been collaborating on the Curaçao Cultural Landscape Project since 2018 to understand the long-term biodiversity change of the island, and its relationship to human activity.