Dryland or “One-Long Bubby Susan”






     The cave system known as Dryland in Jamaica is described as “a complex cave containing interconnected shafts, passages and chambers” (Fincham 1997, p.161). Fincham adds that it has a depth of 30 metres and a length of 125 metres (Ibid). It is located in a depression to the north of Dog Hole.
     This cave contains a single anthropomorphic Taíno petroglyph referred to as “One-Long Bubby Susan” (Fincham 1997, p. 161). “One Bubby Susan” is a representation of the Taíno Earth Mother, Atabey, the mother of their supreme male deity Yocahu. The Taíno petroglyph at Rock Spring, St. Mary provides an interesting example of how Taíno material culture has been incorporated into Jamaican folklore (Atkinson, personal communication, 2014).
     The petroglyph is called “One Bubby Susan”, as she has only one breast. It is derived from the African folklore of Long/Lang Bubby Susan, who is regarded as a duppy that terrorizes children, identifiable as the “Old Hige/Hag” (Atkinson, 2010).
     This rock art site is also special to Akan, Yoruba and Dagara priests and priestess who treat the image and the cave as a shrine (Erna Brodber, personal communication, 2010). This veneration for indigenous rock art sites is not unique to Jamaica, as in Haiti, these sites are perceived as a source of healing, and incorporated into pilgrimages that take place in the summer (Beauvoir-Dominique, 2009, pp. 85-86).