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The earliest burial from the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua: the Angi shell-matrix site

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2018

Mirjana Roksandic ,
Bill Buhay ,
Donald Byers ,
Leonardo Lechado Ríos ,
Harly Jean Clair Duncan  and
Ivan Roksandic
Mirjana Roksandic*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, R3B 2E9, Winnipeg MB, Canada Caribbean Research Institute, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, R3B 2E9, Winnipeg MB, Canada DFG Center for Advanced Studies ‘Words, Bones, Genes, Tools’, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, Room 603a, Tübingen, Germany
Bill Buhay
Affiliation:
Caribbean Research Institute, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, R3B 2E9, Winnipeg MB, Canada Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, R3B 2E9, Winnipeg MB, Canada
Donald Byers
Affiliation:
BICU-CIDCA University, Iglesia Morava, 2 Cuadra Sur, Bluefields, Nicaragua
Leonardo Lechado Ríos
Affiliation:
National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, UNAN-Managua, Managua, Nicaragua
Harly Jean Clair Duncan
Affiliation:
Community of Monkey Point, Nicaragua
Ivan Roksandic
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, R3B 2E9, Winnipeg MB, Canada Caribbean Research Institute, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, R3B 2E9, Winnipeg MB, Canada DFG Center for Advanced Studies ‘Words, Bones, Genes, Tools’, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, Room 603a, Tübingen, Germany
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: m.roksandic@uwinnipeg.ca)
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Abstract

The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua has witnessed relatively little archaeological research. In the last decade, however, there has been a substantial effort to record regional archaeological sites. First excavated in the early 1970s, the Angi shell-matrix site has been subject to new investigations, which have identified the first burial to be recorded on the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast. Although collagen preservation was insufficient for direct radiocarbon dating, samples obtained from surrounding deposits date the burial to c. 3900 BC. This represents both the earliest archaeological feature recorded to date on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and the oldest-known human remains from the region.

Keywords

NicaraguaMonkey PointAngishell-matrix sitehuman remainsradiocarbon dating
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 366 , December 2018 , pp. 1478 - 1491
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

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