New Data for Old Problems: Recent Approaches to Archaeological Research at Caribbean Lowlands
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)
The region historically and geographically considered as Caribbean Lowlands encompasses a great diversity of terrestrial and aquatic environments and diverse socio-political processes as well, from the early agricultural societies until the occupation of Spanish colonial settlements. This symposium proposes to discuss the theoretical and methodological contributions made by lithic analysis, zooarchaeology, paleoethnobotany, archeometry and historic archaeological studies, referring specifically to aspects such as, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, subsistence economies, and human managing aquatic environments, among others. In this context, we aim to unite a group of presentations that project specific investigations, in search of comparative patterns of the use fauna, flora and environment from the formative around 6000 yeas B.C. to 18th century. The ultimate goal of the symposium is to realize a balance that permits to identify strengths, weaknesses and perspectives, in the archaeology of the Caribbean lowlands. With this goal, we are trying to establish bases to build regional inventories of the sites where traces of human-environment interaction have been found, and to promote comparative studies.
Other Keywords
Geoarchaeology •
Zooarchaeology •
Spatial Analysis •
Paleoethnobotany •
Middens •
Ridged Fields •
Site Formation Processes •
Caribbean •
Formativo •
Morphometrics
Geographic Keywords
Caribbean •
South America
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)
- Documents (8)
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Acercamiento a las Opciones Técnicas en la Elaboración de Cerámicas Tempranas del Caribe Colombiano: Estudio Tecnológico de los Sitios Puerto Hormiga y Monsú (2016)
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Las cerámicas tempranas del Caribe Colombiano (5000 a 1000 a.C.), las más antiguas del continente, son importantes en la formulación de hipótesis sobre origen y producción de alimentos en América. Esta investigación plantea un estudio tecnológico de cerámicas de Puerto Hormiga y Monsú desarrollando tres actividades. Primero, se determinaron las propiedades físicas y mineralógicas mediante técnicas de laboratorio (RX, petrografía, SEM, y DRX). Segundo, se comprobaron hipótesis sobre su función....
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Análisis de Subsistencia y Selección de Recursos en Punta de Pájaro: Un Posible Yacimiento del Formativo Temprano en la Ciénaga del Guajaro Atlántico (2016)
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Esta investigación busca determinar la importancia de los recursos faunísticos para una población del Formativo Temprano en el norte de Colombia (6000-1000 A.P). Los seres humanos que habitaron el sitio arqueológico de Punta de Pájaro en la Ciénaga del Guajaro Atlántico utilizaron una gran variedad de recursos faunisticos para complementar una dieta a base de plantas. Contrario a lo que se planteo en la teoría arqueológica para el norte de Colombia en los primeros años de investigación, este...
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Ceramic Classification and Social Process (2016)
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Sir Flinders Petrie revolutionized archaeological ceramic analysis in 1904 by developing ‘sequence dating’ —the relative dating of strata, buildings or tombs based on changes in formal and stylistic attributes of vessels overtime as determined by seriation. Since the efficacy of sequence dating is directly related to the quality of the typology upon which it is based, stylistic typologies and classification of ceramic have been the norm for the last century, despite their manifold limitations....
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El Consumo de Plantas en el Caribe Colombiano durante el Formativo Temprano (7000-3000 A.P.): Una Evaluación Paleoetnobotánica de la Subsistencia a partir de Almidones (2016)
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En el norte de Colombia, el Formativo Temprano se ha considerado un período transcendental para entender el paso de una economía de caza y recolección a la experimentación con plantas. Nuevos aportes efectuados en los sitios arqueológicos de Puerto Hormiga, Monsú y San Jacinto 1, ubicados en el departamento de Bolívar ha permitido la recuperación e identificación de gránulos de almidón de varias plantas (entre ellas la yuca, el maíz y el ñame) obtenidos del interior de varios fragmentos líticos,...
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Sediments as Artifacts: Geoarchaeological Analyses for the Understanding of Social Processes and Subsistance Strategies (2016)
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Caribbean and Lowland Neotropical archaeology has emphasized the importance of human relations with their environments, from plant and animal domestication to ceramic production, agriculture, and settlement patterns. However, in most excavations, sediments have often been overlooked and simply discarded without further consideration. Sediments hold the micro and macroscopic evidence of human behavior in the past. By ignoring them, we ignore important pieces of the puzzle that can help us ask and...
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Spatial Analysis of Anthropogenic Landscapes, A Research Tool for Natural and Cultural Heritage Protection: San Jorge River Valley as a Study Case (2016)
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The archaeological research on San Jorge has focused on the identification and characterization of the various structures comprising hydraulic adjustment systems such as canals, ditches, ridges and mounds. Such identification has been accompanied by the spatialization of their features most significant and the interpretation of historical and cultural processes that have accompanied the construction, use and abandonment of such structures. However, this work has also neglected the study of the...
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Subsistence, Environment, and Ceramic Technological Variability at Puerto Hormiga and Monsú, Early Pottery Sites of the Caribbean Colombia (2016)
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Archaic to Formative transitions in the Intermediate Area of Latin America have been discussed in terms of the timing of agriculture, population growth, sedentism and mobility, use of coastal resources, and the appearance of pottery. The Caribbean Colombia has among the earliest dates for pottery in the New World. Sites such as Puerto Chacho and Puerto Hormiga, shell middens near the coast, were occupied by ca. 5,000 B.P., during the wet period. Monsú, a mound in the riverine environment, was in...
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Use of Aquatic and Stone Tools at Three Colombian Caribbean Sites near Canal del Dique (2016)
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This work derives from research in the ongoing research project "Evaluation of Zooarqueológica de Concheros cerca al Canal del Dique". We present the preliminary results of the archaeological research of three sites sampled near Canal del Dique: Monsú (5000 a.C.), Puerto Hormiga (4000 a. C), and Leticia (a shellmound from the 12th century A.D.). Samples of animals remains were recovered from 1/8 inch mesh screening. These samples were analyzed for taxonomic, taphonomic, and quantification...