Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T20:07:00.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Pre-Arawak Pottery Horizon in the Antilles: A New Approximation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Reniel Rodríguez Ramos ,
Elvis Babilonia ,
L. Antonio Curet  and
Jorge Ulloa
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos
Affiliation:
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Utuado, P.O. Box 2500, Utuado, Puerto Rico 00641 (renielrodriguez@graail.com)
Elvis Babilonia
Affiliation:
Programa Doctoral, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, Apartado 9023970, San Juan, 00902-3970. Puerto Rico
L. Antonio Curet
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605
Jorge Ulloa
Affiliation:
Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Avenida Los Próceres, Apartado 342-9, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pottery in contexts that predate the entrance of Arawak societies to the Antilles (500 B.C.) by at least one millennium demand a reassessment of the introduction of this technology to the islands. We summarize the available evidence of what we term the Pre-Arawak Pottery horizon and address the social implications of the introduction of such technology to the insular Caribbean, based on the role of pots as tools. We show that this early pottery is more widespread than originally thought, extending from Cuba to Hispanola and perhaps to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles as well. We argue that the paucity of early ceramic contexts discovered thus far could have resulted from the consideration of pottery as intrusive in Pre-Arawak contexts and because of its technological and stylistic overlap with wares associated to the Ostionoid series (A.D. 600-1500) of the Greater Antilles. Based on this evidence, we conclude by suggesting that some of the post-Saladoid manifestations that have been identified in the islands could have resulted from a multifocal development of these pre-Arawak cultures rather than simply from the divergent evolution of Saladoid societies as has been argued thus far.

Resumen

Resumen

El hallazgo de cerámica en contextos anteriores a la entrada de sociedades Arahuacas a las Antillas (500 a.C.) demanda la revisión de su introducción en las islas. Presentamos la evidencia disponible para lo que denominamos el horizonte Ceramista Pre-Arahuaco y analizamos las implicaciones sociales que tuvo esta tecnología en dichas sociedades. Demostramos que la presencia de esta cerámica temprana es de mayor amplitud espacial que la que se había pensado originalmente, extendiéndose desde Cuba hasta la Española y, quizás también, hasta Puerto Rico y las Antillas Menores. Argumentamos que una de las posibles razones por la cual se han identificado tan pocos contextos cerámicos tempranos antillanos ha sido el carácter intrusivo que se le ha sido asignado a su presencia en depósitos Pre-Arahuacos;.así como a la superposición tecnológica y estilística que estos complejos tienen con los asociados a la serie Ostioniode (600-1500 d.C.) de las Antillas Mayores. Sobre la base de tales similitudes, proponemos que algunas de las manifestaciones post-Saladoides que han sido identificadas en las islas pudieron haber resultado de un desarrollo multifocal en estas sociedades pre-Arahuacas en vez de la simple divergencia evolutiva de sociedades Saladoides como ha sido argumentado hasta el momento.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 47 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

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

References Cited

Alegría, Ricardo 1965 On Puerto Rican Archaeology. American Antiquity 31:246–249.Google Scholar
Allaire, Louis 1984 A Reconstruction of Early Historical Carib Pottery. Southeastern Archaeology 3:121–133.Google Scholar
Atiles, Gabriel, and López, Adolfo 2005 El sitio arqueológico “La Punta de Bayahibe”: Primeros agricultores tempranos de las Antillas asentados en la costa sureste de la isla de Santo Domingo. Electronic document, http://bayahib.blogspot.com/, accessed October 22, 2006.Google Scholar
Ayes, Carlos M. 1989 Angostura: un campamento Arcaico temprano del Valle del Manatuabón. Revista Universidad de América 1(2):24–37.Google Scholar
Barnet, William K., and Hoopes, John W. (editors) 1995 The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Braun, David P. 1983 Pots as Tools. In Archaeological Hammers and Theories, edited James A. Moore and Arthur S. Keen, pp. 108–134. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brito, Jorge, and Pereira, Oscar 2001 Guía bibliográfica del protoagrícola. Caribe Arqueológico 5:124–128.Google Scholar
Brown, James A. 1989 The Beginnings of Pottery as an Economic Process. In What’s New? A Closer Look at the Process of Innovation, edited by Sander E. van der Leeuw and Robin Torrence, pp. 203–224. Unwin Human, London.Google Scholar
Bullen, Ripley B., and Sleight, Frederick W 1963 The Krum Bay Site: A Preceramic Site on St. Thomas, United States virgin Islands. The William L. Bryant Foundation, American Studies, No. 5, Orlando.Google Scholar
Castellanos, Nilecta, Rodriguez, Milton Pino, Díaz, Gerardo Izquierdo, and González, Guillermo Baena 2001 Estudio arqueológico del sitio La Escondida del Bucuey, San Luis, provincia de Santiago de Cuba. Caribe Arqueológico 5:96–105.Google Scholar
Chanlatte, Luis, and Narganes, Ivonne 1980 La Hueca, Vieques: nuevo complejo cultural agroalfarero en la Arqueología Antillana. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology, 501–523. Basseterre.Google Scholar
Conrad, Geoffrey W., Foster, John W., and Beeker, Charles D. 2001 Organic Artifacts from the Manantial de la Aleta, Dominican Republic: Preliminary Observations and Interpretations. Journal of Caribbean Archaeology 2:1–20.Google Scholar
Curet, Luis A. 2003 Issues on the Diversity and Emergence of Middle-Range Societies of the Ancient Caribbean: A Critique. Journal of Archaeological Research 11:1–42.Google Scholar
Curet, Luis A. 2005 Caribbean Paleodemography: Population, Culture-History, and Sociopolitical Processes in Ancient Puerto Rico. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Dacal, Ramón 1984 Arqueología Aborigen de Cuba. Editorial Gente Nueva, La Habana Google Scholar
Dacal, Ramón 1986 Playita: Un Sitio Protoagrícola en los Márgenes del Río Canimar, Matanzas, Cuba. Editora de la Universidad de La Habana, La Habana.Google Scholar
Dávila, Ovidio 1981 Cueva Los Gemelos: Un Yacimiento Arcaico de Morovis, Puerto Rico. Unpublished Masters thesis, Estudios Puertorriqueños, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, San Juan.Google Scholar
DeBoer, Warren R. 1975 The Archaeological Evidence for Manioc Cultivation: A Cautionary Note. American Antiquity 40:419–433.Google Scholar
Espenshade, Christopher T. 2000 Reconstructing Household Vessel Assemblages and Site Duration at an Early Ostionoid Site from South-Central Puerto Rico. Journal of Caribbean Archaeology 1:1–22.Google Scholar
Fortuna, Luis 1980 El maíz en la dieta indígena. Boletín del Museo del Hombre Dominicano 13:159–169.Google Scholar
García, Osvaldo 1998 Proposal for the Analytical Studies and Final Report for the Paso del Indio Archaeological Site, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Manuscript on file, Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office, San Juan.Google Scholar
Godo, Pedro P. 1997 El problema del protoagrícola de Cuba: discusión y perspectivas. Caribe Arqueológico 2:19–30.Google Scholar
Guarch, José M., and Payarés, Rodolfo 1964 Excavacién en el Caney del Castillo. Comisión Nacional de la Academia de Ciencias de la República de Cuba, La Habana.Google Scholar
Harrington, Mark R. 1921 Cuba Before Columbus. Indian Notes and Monographs, part 1, vol. 2. National Museum of the American Indian, New York.Google Scholar
Hayden, Brian 1994 Competition, Labor, and Complex Hunter-Gatherers. In Key Issues in Hunter-Gatherer Research, edited by Ernest S. Burch, Jr. and Linda J. Ellanna, pp. 223–239. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hayden, Brian 1995 The Emergence of Prestige Technologies and Pottery. In The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies, edited by William. K. Barnett and John W. Hoopes, pp. 257–265. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Herrera Fritot, René 1970 Exploración arqueológico inicial en Cayo Jourajuría, Matanzas. Serie Antropológica No. 6, Departamento de Antropología, Academia de las Ciencias, Matanzas.Google Scholar
Hoopes, John W. 1995 Interaction in Hunting and Gathering Societies as a Context for the Emergence of Pottery in the Central American Isthmus. In The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies, edited by William K. Barnett and John W. Hoopes, pp. 185–198. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Im Thurm, Everard F. 1967 Among the Indians of Guiana, Being Sketches Chiefly Anthropologic from the Interior of British Guiana. Dover Publications: New York.Google Scholar
Jouravleva, Irina 1995 Estudio comparativo de la tecnología de la cerámica de los sitios de Matanzas. Manuscript on file, Departamento de Arqueología, Centro de Antropología, Habana.Google Scholar
Jouravleva, Irina 2002 Origen de la alfarería de las comunidades protoagroalfareras de la región central de Cuba. Caribe Arqueológico 6:35–43.Google Scholar
Jouravleva, Irina, and Gonzílez, Noemí 2000 Las variaciones climáticas y la reutilización del espacio habitacional a través de la alfarería aborigen. El Caribe Arqueológico 4:35–39.Google Scholar
Kozlowski, Janusz K. 1974 Preceramic Cultures in the Caribbean. Zeszity Nauknowe, vol. 386. Sumptibus Universitatis lagellonicae, Krakow.Google Scholar
Krieger, Herbert W. 1931 Aboriginal Indian Pottery of the Dominican Republic. Smithsonian Institution Bulletin, no. 156. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Lundberg, Emily R. 1989 Preceramic Procurement Patterns at Krum Bay, Virgin Islands. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Marshall, Ivonne 2006 Introduction: Adopting a Sedentary Lifeway. World Archaeology 38:153–163.Google Scholar
Martínez, Felipe 1997 Los Aborígenes de la Cuenca de Santiago de Cuba. Ediciones Universal, Miami.Google Scholar
Martínez, Roberto 1994 El Yacimiento Arcaico La Tembladera en Morovis, Puerto Rico. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Estudios Puertorriqueños, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, San Juan.Google Scholar
Mills, Barbara J. 1989 Integrating Functional Analyses of Vessels and Sherds through Models of Ceramic Assemblage Formation. World Archaeology 21:133–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Barbara J. 1999 Ceramics and Social Contexts of Food Consumption in the Northern Southwest. In Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction, edited by James M. Skibo and Gary M. Feinman, pp. 99–114. University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Moore, Clark 1998 Archaeology in Haiti. Manuscript on file, Bullen Library, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Ramón 1989 Arqueología Caimanes III. Editorial Ciencias Sociales. La Habana.Google Scholar
Newsom, Lee, and Pearsall, Deborah 2003 Trends in Caribbean island archaeobotany. In People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America, edited by Paul E. Minnis, pp. 347–412. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Ortega, Elpidio, and Guerrero, José 1981 Estudio de 4 Nuevos Sitios Paleoarcaicos en la Isla de Santo Domingo. Editora Taller, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Pagan, Jaime R., Rodríguez, Miguel, Chanlatte, Luis, and Narganes, Ivonne 2005 La temprana introductión y uso de algunas plantas domesticas, silvestres y cultivos en Las Antillas precolombinas: una revaloración preliminar desde el “arcaico” de Vieques y Puerto Rico. Diálogo Antropológico 3(10):7–33.Google Scholar
Pérez, Roberto 1943 “Mounds”, “Caneyes”, “Cerrillos”, or “Lome-tones”. Impresora Pérez Sierra, La Habana.Google Scholar
Pichardo, Felipe 1946 Caverna, costa y meseta. Impresora Marticorena, La Habana.Google Scholar
Rainey, Froelich G. 1941 Excavations in the Ft. Liberté Region, Haiti. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 23. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence 1987 Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence 1999 On the Origins of Pottery. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 6:1–54.Google Scholar
Rímoli, Renato O., and Nadal, Joaquín 1983 El Horizonte Ceramista Temprano en Santo Domingo y Otras Antillas. Editora de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Marisol, and Ayes, Carlos 1997 El Pulguero, Puerto Rico. Hallazgo de Cerémica en el Periodo Arcaico. Paper presented at the XVI International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology. Nassau..Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, Reniel 2001 Lithic Reduction Trajectories at La Hueca and Punta Candelero Sites, Puerto Rico. Unpublished Masters thesis, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, Reniel 2002 Dinámicas de intercambio en el Puerto Rico prehispánico. Caribe Arqueológico 6:16–22.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, Reniel 2005a The Crab-Shell Dichotomy Revisited: The Lithics Speak Out. In Ancient Borinquen: Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Native Puerto Rico, edited by Peter Siegel, pp. 1–54. University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, Reniel 2005b The function of the Edge-Ground Cobble Put to the Test: An Initial Assessment. Journal of Caribbean Archaeology 6:1–22.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Ramos, Reniel 2008 From the Guanahatabey to the “Archaic” of Puerto Rico: the Non-Evident Evidence. Ethnohistory 55(3), in press.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Roberto, and Pagán, Jaime R. 2004 Primeras evidencias directas del uso de plantas en la dieta de los grupos agroalfareros del oriente de Cuba. Paper presented at the IX Simposio Román Piáa Chan, Museo National de Antropología, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Roe, Peter G. 1985 A Preliminary Report on the 1980 and 1982 Field Seasons at Hacienda Grande (12PSJ 7–5): Overview of Site History, Mapping, and Excavations. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology, 151–180. Fort de France.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1941 Culture of the Ft. Liberté Region, Haiti. Yale University Publications in Archaeology, No. 24. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1942 Archaeology of the Maniabon Hills, Cuba. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 26. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1948 The Ciboney. In Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward, pp. 498–505. Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, no. 143, New York.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1952a Porto Rican Prehistory: Introduction; Excavations in the West and North. In Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Vol. XVIII, Part 3. New York Academy of Sciences, New York.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1952b Porto Rican Prehistory: Excavations in the Interior, South, and East; Chronological Implications. In Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Vol. XVIII, Part 4. New York Academy of Sciences, New York.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1989 Peoples and Cultures of the Saladoid frontier in the Greater Antilles. In Early Ceramic Population Lifeways and Adaptive Strategies in the Caribbean, edited by Peter Siegel, pp. 383–404. BAR International Series 506. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1992 The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People who Greeted Columbus. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Sassaman, Kenneth E. 1993 Early Pottery in the Southeast: Tradition and Innovation in Cooking Technology. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Saunders, Rebecca, and Hays, Christopher T. (editors) 2004 Early Pottery: Technology, Function, Style, and Interaction in the Lower Southeast. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B., and Skibo, James M. 1987 Theory and Experiment in the Study of Technological Change. Current Anthropology 28:595–622.Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B., Skibo, James M., Boelke, Tamara C., Neupert, Mark A., and Aronson, Meredith 1994 New Perspectives on Experimental Archaeology Surface Treatments and Thermal Response of the Clay Cooking Pot. American Antiquity 59:197–217.Google Scholar
Sellet, Fréderic 1993 Chaîne Opératoire: The Concept and its Applications. Lithic Technology 18:106–112.Google Scholar
Siegel, Peter E. 1992 Ideology, Power, and Social Complexity in Prehistoric Puerto Rico. Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York, Binghamton. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Siegel, Peter E., and Joseph, Joe W. 1993 Archaeological Data Recovery at El Palmar de las Animas (Site VB–27) and the Concrete Well Site (Site VB–32), Río Cibuco Flood Control Project, Municipio de Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Copies available at the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office, San Juan, Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Skibo, James M. 1992 Pottery Function: A Use-Alteration Perspective. Plenum: New York.Google Scholar
Stark, Miriam 2003 Current Issues in Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research 11:193–242.Google Scholar
Tabéo, Ernesto 1991 Proyecto para una periodización cultural de la prehistoria de Cuba. In Arqueología de Cuba y Otras Areas Antillanas, edited by Miguel. A. Rodríguez, pp. 1–8. Editorial Academia, La Habana.Google Scholar
Tabéo, Ernesto 1995 Introducción a la Arqueología de Cuba. Editora de Ciencias Sociales, La Habana.Google Scholar
Tabío, Ernesto, and Guarch, José M. 1966 Excavaciones en Arroyo del Palo, Mayarí, Cuba. Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, La Habana.Google Scholar
Tabío, Ernesto, and Rey, Estrella 1966 Prehistoria de Cuba. Academia de las Ciencias de Cuba, La Habana.Google Scholar
Ulloa, Jorge 2001 La cerámica temprana en el sur oriente de Cuba. In Culturas Aborégenes del Caribe, edited by Ramón H. Seiffe, pp. 243–260. Publicaciones del Banco Central de la República Dominicana, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Ulloa, Jorge, and Valcárcel, Roberto 1997 Las comunidades apropiadoras ceramistas del sureste de Cuba: un estudio de su cerámica. Caribe Arqueológico 2:31–40.Google Scholar
Ulloa, Jorge, and Valcárcel, Roberto 2002 Cerámica Temprana en el Centro del Oriente de Cuba. Viewgraph, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Ulloa, Jorge, Vázquez, José M., Silva, Henna, and Valcárcel, Roberto 2001 La alfarería temprana del Centro-Oriente de Cuba: Un análisis arqueométrico. Caribe Arqueológico 5:34–41.Google Scholar
Valcárcel, Roberto, Rodríguez, Cesar, Pérez, Lourdes, and Guarch, Juan 2001 Un contexto apropiador ceramista temprano: Corinthia 3, Holguín, Cuba. Caribe Arqueológico 5:76–88.Google Scholar
Veloz, Marcio 2001 Los agricultores tempranos en la isla de Santo Domingo. In Culturas Aborígenes del Caribe, edited by Ramón H. Seiffe, pp. 199–201. Publicaciones del Banco Central de la República Dominicana, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Veloz, Marcio, and Ortega, Elpidio 1996 Punta Cana y el origen de la agriculture en la isla de Santo Domingo. In Ponencias del Primer Seminario de Arqueología del Caribe, edited by Marcio Veloz and Angel Caba. Museo Regional Altos de Chavón, La Romana.Google Scholar
Veloz, Marcio, Ortega, Elpidio, and Caba, Angel 1981 Los Modos de Vida Mellacoides y sus Posibles Orígenes. Editora Taller, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Veloz, Marcio, Ortega, Elpidio, and Plinio, Pina P. 1974 El Caimito: Un Antiguo Complejo Ceramista de las Antillas Mayores. Ediciones Fundación García Arévalo, Inc., Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Veloz, Marcio, Vargas, Iraida, Sanoja, Mario, and Luna, Fernando 1976 Arqueología de Yuma, República Dominicana. Ediciones Taller, Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Walker, Jeffrey B. 2005 The Paso del Indio Site, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico: A Progress Report. In Prehistory of Puerto Rico, edited by Peter E. Siegel, pp. 55–87. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar