Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T09:47:52.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balladares, S. & Lechado, L.. 2016. An archaeological overview of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, in Roksandic, I. (ed.) Cuban archaeology in the Caribbean: 17–32. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2017. Methods for summarizing radiocarbon datasets. Radiocarbon 59: 1809–33. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2017.108Google Scholar
Bruzek, J. 2002. A method for visual determination of sex, using the human hip bone. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117: 157–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.10012Google Scholar
Byers, D. 2013. Informe téchnico: inventario participativo de 10 sitios arqueológicos del territorio indígena Rama-Kriol (rio Indio) y del territorio afro descendiente de Corn Island. Unpublished report: BICU-CIDCA and UNAN.Google Scholar
Byers, D., Serrano, J., Gaitán, G., Balladares, S. & Lechado, L.. 2014. Patrimonio cultural y arqueológico del territorio Rama y Kriol: verificación e inventario. Revista del Caribe Nicaragüense Wani 70: 3–83.Google Scholar
Byers, S.N. 2015. Introduction to forensic anthropology. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Clemente, I., Gassiot, E. & Garcia, V.. 2013. Prehistoric shell middens on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua: food production, structure and site formation, in Bailey, G.N., Hardy, K. & Camara, A. (ed.) Shell energy: mollusc shells as coastal resources: 69–81. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Constenla Umaña, A. 2012. Chibchan languages, in Campbell, L. & Grondona, V. (ed.) The indigenous languages of South America: 391–440. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Del Angel, A. & Cisneros, H.B.. 2004. Modification of regression equations used to estimate stature in Mesoamerican skeletal remains. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 125: 264–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.10385Google Scholar
Drennan, R.D. 1995. Chiefdoms in northern South America. Journal of World Prehistory 9: 301–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02221116Google Scholar
Duday, H. 2009. Archaeology of the dead: lectures in archaeothanatology. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Espinoza, J. 1972. Los conchales de Monkey Point. Managua: La Prensa Literaria.Google Scholar
Ferembach, D., Schwindezky, I. & Stoukal, M.. 1980. Recommendations for age and sex diagnoses of skeletons. Journal of Human Evolution 9: 517–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2484(80)90061-5Google Scholar
Fonseca, O. 1992. Historia antigua de Costa Rica: surgimiento y caracterización de la primera civilización costarricense. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Gaitán, G., Serrano, Y., Byers, D., Balladares, S. & Lechado, L.. 2014. Patrimonio Cultural Arqueológico del territorio Rama y Kriol. Wani 70: 1–72.Google Scholar
Gassiot, E. 2005. Shell middens on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua: prehistoric patterns of mollusc collection and consumption, in Mayer, D.E.B. (ed.) Archaeomalachology: molluscs in former environments of human behaviour. Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Council of Archaeozoology, Durham, August 2002: 40–55. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Haslett, J. & Parnell, A.. 2008. A simple monotone process with application to radiocarbon-dated depth chronologies. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied Statistics) 57: 399–418. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9876.2008.00623.xGoogle Scholar
Hauser, G. & De Stefano, G.F.. 1989. Epigenetic variants of the human skull. Stuttgart: Schweizerbart.Google Scholar
Healy, P.F. 1974. The Cuyamel Caves: Preclassic sites in northeast Honduras. American Antiquity 39: 435–47. https://doi.org/10.2307/279432Google Scholar
Hoopes, J.W. 2001a. Early Chibcha, in Peregrine, P.N. & Ember, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of prehistory volume 5: 100–15. New York: Kluwer Academic. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0525-9_8Google Scholar
Hoopes, J.W. 2001b. Late Chibcha, in Peregrine, P.N. & Ember, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of prehistory volume 5: 239–56. New York: Kluwer Academic. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0525-9Google Scholar
Hoopes, J.W. & Fonseca, O.. 2003. Goldwork and Chibchan identity: endogenous change and diffuse unity in the Isthmo-Colombian area, in Quilter, J. & Hoopes, J.W. (ed.) Gold and power in ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia: 49–90. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.Google Scholar
Kerr, N.W. 1988. A method of assessing periodontal status in archaeologically derived skeletal material. Journal of Paleopathology 2: 67–78.Google Scholar
Lange, F. 2001. Nicoya, in Peregrine, P.N. & Ember, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of prehistory volume 5: 328–45. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0525-9_23Google Scholar
Magnus, R. 1974a. The prehistory of the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua: a study in cultural relationships. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Magnus, R. 1974b. The prehistoric cultural relationship of the Miskito coast, in Actas, 41. Congreso Internacional de Americanistas (volume 1): 568–78. Ciudad: UNAM.Google Scholar
Magnus, R. 1975. La secuencia cerámica de la costa atlántica y zona central de Nicaragua. Boletín Nicaragüense de Bibliografía y Documentación 4: 1–10.Google Scholar
Magnus, R. 1976. La costa atlántica de Nicaragua. Vínculos 2: 64–74.Google Scholar
Magnus, R. 1977. La costa atlántica de Nicaragua. Boletín Nicaragüense de Bibliografía y Documentación 16: 1–6.Google Scholar
Martínez Cervantes, B.R. 2004. El Cascal de Flor de Pino y Centroamérica 800 cal AC–450 cal DC. Unpublished MSc dissertation, UNAN Managua.Google Scholar
McCafferty, G., Amador, F.A., Salgado Gonzáles, S. & Dennet, C.. 2012. Archaeology of Mesoamerica's southern frontier, in Nichols, D.L. & Pool, C.A. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of Mesoamerican archaeology: 83–105. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mickleburgh, H.M. & Hoogland, M.L.P.. 2015. Bodies of science: testing archaeothanatological assumptions through a forensic taphonomic observational study of human decomposition. Paper presented at the 26th Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology (IACA), St Maarten, 19–25 July 2015.Google Scholar
Pagan Jiménez, J.R., Rodríguez, M., Chanlatte Baik, L.A. & Narganes Storde, Y.M.. 2005. La temprana introducción y uso de algunas plantas domésticas, silvestres y cultivos en las Antillas precolombinas. Una primera revaloración desde la perspectiva del ‘arcaico’ de Vieques y Puerto Rico. Diálogo Antropológico 3(10): 7–33.Google Scholar
Peregrine, P.N. 2001. Introduction, in Peregrine, P.N. & Ember, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of prehistory volume 5: xix–xxii. New York: Kluwer Academic. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0525-9Google Scholar
Pestle, W. J. & Colvard, M.. 2012. Bone collagen preservation in the tropics: a case study from ancient Puerto Rico. Journal of Archaeological Science 39: 2079–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.03.008Google Scholar
Raymond, J.S. 2008. The process of sedentism in northwestern South America, in Silverman, H. & Isbel, W.H. (ed.) The handbook of South American archaeology: 79–90. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J. et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, R. 2013. Isthmo-Antillean engagements, in Keegan, W.F., Hofman, C. & Ramos, R. Rodríguez (ed.) The Oxford handbook of Caribbean archaeology: 155–70. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Roksandic, M. 2002. Position of skeletal remains as a key to understanding mortuary behaviour, in Haglund, W.D. & Sorg, M.H. (ed.) Advances in forensic taphonomy: method, theory, and archaeological perspectives: 99–117. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press.Google Scholar
Roksandic, M. 2016a. The Nicaraguan interoceanic canal and heritage protection. Anthropology News 57(5): e42–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-3502.2016.570516.xGoogle Scholar
Roksandic, M. 2016b. The role of the Nicaraguan Rise in the early peopling of the Greater Antilles, in Roksandic, I. (ed.) Cuban archaeology in the Caribbean: 7–16. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.Google Scholar
Roksandic, M. & Armstrong, S.. 2011. Using the life history model to set the stage(s) of growth and senescence in paleodemography. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 145: 337–47. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21508Google Scholar
Roksandic, M., Mendonca de Souza, S.M.F., Eggers, S., Burchell, M. & Klokler, D.. 2014. The cultural dynamics of shell-matrix sites. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Roksandic, M., Buhay, W.M., Chinique de Armas, Y., Rodríguez Suárez, R., Peros, M., Roksandic, I., Mowat, S., Viera, L.M., Arredondo, C., Martínez Fuentes, A. & Smith, D.G.. 2015. Radiocarbon and stratigraphic chronology of Canímar Abajo, Matanzas, Cuba. Radiocarbon 57: 755–63. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_rc.57.18313Google Scholar
Serrano, Y. 2013. Patrimonio Arqueológico del Territorio Rama y Kriol (Río Indio). Wani 68: 33–44.Google Scholar
Steckel, R.H., Larsen, C.S., Sciulli, P.W. & Walker, P.L.. 2006. The global history of health project: data collection codebook. Available at: https://www.uv.es/paleolab/Codebook-08-25-051%5B1%5D.pdf (accessed 22 October 2018).Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J.. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 351: 215–30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200013904Google Scholar
Veloz Magiollo, M. 1993. Panorama histórico del Caribe precolombino. Santo Domingo: Banco Central de la República Dominicana.Google Scholar
Wasterlain, S.N., Cunha, E. & Hillson, S.. 2011. Periodontal disease in a Portuguese identified skeletal sample from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 145: 30–42. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21464Google Scholar
Wood, J.W., Milner, G.R., Harpending, H.C. & Weiss, K.M.. 1992. The osteological paradox: problems of inferring prehistoric health from skeletal samples [and comments and reply]. Current Anthropology 33: 343–70. https://doi.org/10.1086/204084Google Scholar