Reimagining Creolization: the deep history of cultural interactions in the Windward Islands, Lesser Antilles, through the lens of material culture

Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)Archaeology of the America

Black pitch, carved histories: radiocarbon dating, wood species identification and strontium isotope analysis of prehistoric wood carvings from Trinidad's Pitch Lake

We report on the results of a multi-disciplinary project (including wood identification, radiocarbon dating and strontium isotope analysis) focused on a collection of pre-Columbian wooden carvings and human remains from Pitch Lake, Trinidad. While the lake's unusual conditions are conducive to the survival of organic artefacts, they also present particular challenges for analysis. There is a loss of any contextual association beyond that of the lake, and specific methodologies are required to deal with pitch contamination. A surprising taxonomic range of woods was employed for the various utilitarian and ceremonial items recovered. The 14C results range from ca. 3200 BCE to ca. 700 CE, and include the earliest known wooden carvings in the entire Caribbean. The strontium isotope results - interpreted with the aid of an isoscape developed for the project, based on extensive samples of modern trees across Trinidad and Tobago - indicate that most carvings are consistent with the site's immediate environs; however, a ‘weaving tool’ came from a more radiogenic region that is unlikely to be found on Trinidad, suggesting links with the South American mainland

Dog Burials Associated with Human Burials in the West Indies during the Early Pre-Columbian Ceramic Age (500 BC-600 AD)

Across the Caribbean, the widespread presence of canine remains at archaeological sites from the Saladoid period raises questions about the role of “man’s best friend.” Dog (Canis familiaris) remains have been found located in both refuse middens and burials adjacent to human graves in a number of sites in the French Antilles and Barbuda, West Indies. This paper will critically examine dog remains and discuss the varied duality of the dog’s role in the Saladoid world: from food source to lifelong companion. The importance of dogs within Amerindian sites from Saint Martin, the Guadeloupe archipelago, Martinique and Barbuda will be explored from a zooarchaeological perspective, concluding with a critical discussion of changes in cultural patterns, as seen through the decline in dog remains during the Troumassoid and Suazoid period at the sites in the French Antilles. Résumé Sépultures de chiens associées à des sépultures humaines dans les Petites Antilles à l’Âge du Néoindien ancien (500 av. – 600 ap. J.-C.). Dans les Antilles, la présence généralisée de restes de chiens sur les sites de la période céramique ancienne Saladoïde soulève des questions sur le rôle de ce « meilleur ami de l’homme ». En effet, des chiens (Canis familiaris) ont été trouvés aussi bien dans des zones de rejets, qu’enterrés aux côtés de sépultures humaines dans un certain nombre de sites des Petites Antilles. Ce document examinera ces restes de chiens de façon critique et décrira les morphologies particulières des chiens des sites amérindiens de l’île de Saint-Martin, l\u27archipel de la Guadeloupe, la Martinique et de l’île de Barbuda, dans une perspective archéozoologique. Une discussion critique portera sur l\u27évolution des changements des modèles culturels, comme celui de la chute drastique des chiens enterrés pendant les périodes archéologiques plus tardives, Troumassoïde et Suazoïde, des sites des Antilles françaises. Enfin, la discussion portera sur la dualité du rôle du chien dans le monde Saladoïde, à la fois source de nourriture et compagnon de vie

Resilience in Pre-Columbian Caribbean House-Building: Dialogue Between Archaeology and Humanitarian Shelter

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10745-015-9741-5This paper responds to questions posed by archaeologists and engineers in the humanitarian sector about relationships between shelter, disasters and resilience. Enabled by an increase in horizontal excavations combined with high-resolution settlement data from excavations in the Dominican Republic, the paper presents a synthesis of Caribbean house data spanning a millennium (1400 BP- 450 BP). An analysis of architectural traits identify the house as an institution that constitutes and catalyses change in an emergent and resilient pathway. The ?Caribbean architectural mode? emerged in a period of demographic expansion and cultural transition, was geographically widespread, different from earlier and mainland traditions and endured the hazards of island and coastal ecologies. We use archaeological analysis at the house level to consider the historical, ecological and regional dimensions of resilience in humanitarian actionThank you to the Museo del Hombre Dominicano for collaboration on the site of El Cabo, to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University for supporting the archaeological research. Kate Crawford?s post-doctoral post at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at University College London was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Rostain, S. — Les champs surélevés amérindiens de la Guyane

Boomert A. Rostain, S. — Les champs surélevés amérindiens de la Guyane. In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 79, 1993. pp. 300-302

Dubelaar, Cornelis N. — The petroglyphs in the Guianas and adjacent areas of Brazil and Venezuela : an inventory with a comprehensive bibliography of South American and Antillean petroglyphs.

Boomert A. Dubelaar, Cornelis N. — The petroglyphs in the Guianas and adjacent areas of Brazil and Venezuela : an inventory with a comprehensive bibliography of South American and Antillean petroglyphs.. In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 75, 1989. pp. 239-243