Caribbean (Geographic Keyword)
326-350 (537 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The shells of Codakia orbicularis clams are common at archaeological sites throughout the Bahama archipelago. These clams were harvested as food, and their abundance indicates that they were processed in habitation areas. Previous studies have suggested that the shells record daily, tidal, and seasonal growth sequences that can be used to determine when...
Mesoamerican Gulf and Caribbean Coastal Adaptations. In: Coasts, Plains and Deserts: Essays in Honor of Reynold J. Ruppe (1987)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
A Methodological Analysis of Vertebrate Remains from Coconut Walk, Nevis, West Indies (2016)
The accelerated pace of Pre-Columbian archaeological research in the Caribbean over the last 20 years has afforded great opportunity to better understand past human-ecosystem relationships in the region and how these have been shaped by natural and cultural processes. In keeping with this research agenda, we report the results from a robust analysis of 18,500+ marine and terrestrial vertebrate remains recovered from a dense midden deposit at the Late Ceramic Age (AD 760-1440) site of Coconut...
Methodological Perspectives in the Search for Maroon Settlements on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the 18th and early 19th century, formerly enslaved Crucians self-liberated and developed a community in St. Croix’s northwest hills. These rugged hills provided an ideal location for self-liberated Crucians (Maroons) to avoid detection and establish settlements. Our recent pilot study survey used a combination of lidar and environmental data to...
Methods to Identify Post-depositional Geochemical Alterations to Ceramics in Submerged Archaeological Sites: a Case Study Using Prehistoric Ceramics from Eastern Dominican Republic (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Geochemical analysis methods such as trace element and stable isotope analyses have been refined in recent years to better address archaeological questions pertaining to clay sourcing as well as ceramic trade and transport. However, these analyses are rarely applied to studies of ceramics from submerged sites due to increased...
Migrations, colonizations, perisferies, and historical divides. An analysis of the construction and deconstruction of the ¨archaics¨ in Cuba and Hispaniola (2016)
The diversity, complexity, and continuity of ¨archaics ¨ communities is one of the most recurrent themes in contemporary Caribbean archeology. Despite this, the tradition of research on this phenomenon goes back more than 40 years in Cuba and La Española, prompting classifications and models under the dominance of four basic theoretical approaches: colonization, difussion, evolution, and transculturation. This paper examines, discusses and compares the treatment and management of archaeological...
Modeling Demographic Change in the Precolumbian Caribbean (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Constructing Chronologies II: The Big Picture with Bayes and Beyond" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A recent synthesis of radiocarbon dates in the Caribbean indicated two major population dispersals that correspond to the longstanding cultural divisions of the region's Archaic and Ceramic Ages. Using the most reliable dates from this dataset, we constructed both region-wide and local summed probability distributions...
Modeling the Past: Using Structure from Motion (SfM) Photogrammetry to Record the Sugar Works of a Statian Plantation (2021)
This is an abstract from the "NSF REU Site: Exploring Globalization through Archaeology 2019–2020 Session, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study utilizes structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry as a documentation tool to understand the layout and usage of Site SE095, a sugar works, on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius. The research goals are to create a spatially referenced 3D model of SE095;...
Modeling Water Routes Through a Divide: Retracing Movement from the Greater Antilles to the Lesser Antilles in the Late Ceramic Age. (2017)
This paper focuses on modeling hypothetical sea routes between islands within the Caribbean Sea to try and redraw the map of social mobility and material exchange that existed during the Late Ceramic Age (A.D. 1250–1400). With the emphasis for modeling canoe pathways more focused on uncovering possible colonization routes, this map has yet to be thoroughly explored. However, analyzing the back and forth of travel between two sites known to be occupied during the same period can open up ideas on...
Modelling Archaic forager mobility: a discussion on the application of agent-based models (ABMs) to forager mobility strategies in the North-Eastern Caribbean Archaic period. (2016)
Diverse types of models have been proposed to shed light to Caribbean colonization process as well as general patterns of mobility, exchange and connectivity. These models have hitherto been narrative, theoretical and statistical and their products have widened our understanding of the archaeological record. Agent-based models (ABMs) represent a promising step forward on the modelling approach to Caribbean archaeology by placing attention to the interactions among agents and agents and the...
Molecular Disease characterization in a pre-Columbian Indigenous population of Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico. (2017)
Skeletal remains belonging to a Late Saladoid population from Punta Candelero site (AD 640-1200), southeast Puerto Rico were used for the detection of Pathogens. Previous studies have established the presence of trace genetic indicators of molecular disease in skeletal remains, such as syphilis and tuberculosis, with associated history or pathology. In this study, we are investigating the presence of various pathogens associated with pre-Columbian Indigenous populations of Puerto Rico....
Monitoring on Main Street: Archaeological Monitoring in the Charlotte Amalie Historic District in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands (2021)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Islands of Time (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. From 2016 to 2019, archaeological monitoring was performed within the Charlotte Amalie Historic District in conjunction with the Main Street Enhancement Project, an infrastructural project in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Extended monitoring and data recovery resulted in the discovery of a range of features and intact deposits associated...
Mortality and Calamity: Catastrophes, Death, and Burials in St. Croix (2022)
This is a poster submission presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. As an island living under colonial rule for almost 400 years, St. Croix has faced many injustices. Its geographical location and climate contribute to a growing list of events, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and epidemics, that have deadly effects on the population. Using burial notices published in the St. Croix Avis, demographic data recorded from graves in Christiansted Cemetery, and...
Mortality profile of the St. Croix Leper Hospital (2022)
This is a poster submission presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Danish government established a leper hospital on the island of St. Croix in 1888 that operated until 1954. This research focuses on the healthcare and mortality of the St. Croix Leper Hospital residents. To establish a mortality profile for the resident population, name, age, and date of death for 240 residents from burial notices published in the St. Croix Avis newspapers from 1889...
Mortuary Patterns of a 18th Century Cemetery on Sint Eustatius (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Exploring Globalization and Colonialism through Archaeology and Bioarchaeology: An NSF REU Sponsored Site on the Caribbean’s Golden Rock (Sint Eustatius)" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Little is known about the mortuary patterns of enslaved and freed Africans during the 18th to early 19th century on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius. Excavation and analysis of burials from a small 18th century cemetery...
Mundus vult decipi: Caribbean Indigenous Art Past, Present, Future (2018)
The 1990s, with quincentenary ‘celebrations’ and two highly influential Taino art exhibits in Paris and New York (the epicentres of the pre-Columbian art market), heralded a seismic increase of indigenous Caribbean art forgeries. But these weren’t the first indications of an emerging market: Caribbean forgeries had been circulating since at least the 1950s. The artistic heritage of the pre-Columbian Caribbean still remains largely understudied, with far smaller-scale production than seen in...
Musket Balls as Fish Net Sinkers: A Biographical Analysis of Material Reuse from the 18th-Century British Virgin Islands (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. When identifying and cataloging artifacts, archaeologists use a variety of techniques to increase the understanding of a site based on the analysis of excavated artifacts. A widely used method is to classify artifacts by their function– although function is often difficult to pinpoint for...
Narratives of the Recent Past: La Playa Slum as a Case Study. (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Primary Sources and the Design of Research Projects" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The slum of "La Playa" in the municipality of Arecibo, northern coast of Puerto Rico, existed from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. This study presents the results of researching this type of site using documentary sources that include maps, plans, photographs, population data and newspaper articles. The objectives of...
Natural vs. Human-caused Extinctions of Terrestrial Vertebrates in the Bahamas (2016)
We report 83 taxa of vertebrates (11 reptiles, 63 birds, 9 mammals) from late Pleistocene bone deposits in Sawmill Sink, Abaco, The Bahamas. These bones were recovered by scuba divers in non-cultural contexts at water depths of 27-35 m. Among the 83 species, 40 (48%) no longer occur on Abaco (4 reptiles, 31 birds, 5 mammals). We estimate that 17 of the 40 losses (all of them birds) are linked to changes during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (~15 to 9 ka) in climate (becoming more warm and...
Nautical Archaeology of Padre Island (1978)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
Near-Surface Geophysical Survey of a 17th/18th century trading factory at LaSoye, Dominica. (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Colonial Encounters on the Caribbean Frontier: Archaeology at LaSoye, Dominica", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 2017, storm surges exposed archaeological deposits near LaSoye Point located on the north-eastern coast of Dominica. A year later, a small-scale excavation—focusing on the exposed coastal features of the site—revealed remnants of a structure, an extramural activity area, and a wide range of...
Networks of the Dead: exploring patterns of homogeneity and diversity in the precolonial Caribbean using network analysis (2017)
The precolonial Caribbean shows great diversity in burial patterns across time and space, making the interpretation of funerary behavior very complex. While some broad trends in funerary practices have been noted, a simple assessment of the frequency of different burial practices in the region reveals a range of body positions and body treatment, as well as burial location, and grave goods. In this paper we use statistical and network explorative approaches to map these variable practices. A...
New Approaches to Study Health and Disease in the Pre-Colonial circum-Caribbean (2017)
The most frequent pathologies found throughout the circum-Caribbean before arrival of the Europeans are dental and periodontal diseases. To date, ancient oral health has been studied using a variety of techniques, and recently ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of dental calculus (calcified plaque) has shown great promise in revealing not only (oral) health and disease, but also diet and the composition of the oral microbiome over archaeological timescales. In this paper, we present ancient metagenomic...
New Insights into the Consumption of Cultigens for "Archaic" Age Populations in Cuba: The Archaeological Site of Playa el Mango, Rio Cauto, Granma (2018)
The use of cultigens and wild plants by pre-historic populations has been well established for many regions of the circum-Caribbean and Greater Antilles. However, in the case of Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, the evidence is scarce. In this paper, we examine the population of Playa El Mango (Cauto Region, Eastern Cuba), traditionally understood by Cuban archaeologists as "fisher-gatherers", to examine subsistence practices using a combination of starch evidence from dental calculus,...
The Nicaraguan Rise and the Problem of Early Peopling of the Greater Antilles (2015)
This presentation examines the patterns of interaction in the Greater Antilles at the time of early migrations, the sources of those population movements and the reasons behind them, with a special focus on the probable links between Lower Central America and the Western Caribbean, in light of recent research results from several academic fields, such as archaeology; aDNA studies; physical anthropology; toponomastics. It investigates developments that made possible such long distance maritime...