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Preceramic Connections between Yucatan and the Caribbean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Samuel M. Wilson ,
Harry B. Iceland  and
Thomas R. Hester
Samuel M. Wilson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712
Harry B. Iceland
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712
Thomas R. Hester
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712
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Abstract

Archaeologists have long noted similarities between the lithic artifacts of the first colonists of the Greater Antilles (ca. 3500-2000 B.C.) and those from the eastern Yucatán Peninsula. Recent archaeological work in northern Belize has provided additional archaeological information on the characteristics and dating of the mainland assemblages. New findings by Caribbean archaeologists also have contributed to a clearer picture of the circumstances surrounding the first human migration to the Greater Antilles. A Yucatecan origin for the first Caribbean migrants is now considered probable.

Hace mucho tiempo que los arqueólogos han notado las similitudes entre los artefactos líticos de los primeros colonizadores de las Antillas Mayores (aproximadamente 3500-2000 a.C.) y los de los habitantes tempranos de la costa oriental de la península de Yucatán. Los resultados de excavaciones arqueológicas recientes en el norte de Belize ofrecen nuevos datos acerca de las características y fechas de los artefactos líticos de Yucatán. Investigaciones adicionales por arqueólogos en las islas del Caribe han contribuido también a crear una visión más clara de las circunstancias de la primera migración humana a las Antillas Mayores. Un origen yucateco para estos primeros inmigrantes caribeños actualmente se puede considerar como el más probable.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 1998 , pp. 342 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1998

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