Coastal resource exploitation during the late ceramic age on Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean

Summary

Leiden University recently initiated a long-term field project on Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean, which focuses on the human exploitation of resources in dynamic coastal environments. The location of the Den Bon site - behind a large inland bay bordered by mangroves and on the edge of a tidal flat – suggests an explicit interest in resources that derive from such environments. Previous research has indicated that island-specific resources were fundamental in the creation of larger regional networks in the Lesser Antilles and wetland resources likely played an equivalent role in producing such networks through exchange. The practices involved in the exploitation, manufacture and exchange of local resources are entwined, producing a web of relations between materials and people. As such, unraveling the complexities of resource exploitation at Den Bon requires a multi-disciplinary approach in which resources, the site context, and its larger regional embedding are analyzed in tandem. This research provides a unique opportunity to explore indigenous realities and ontologies of daily life by focusing on the exploitation of local wetland resources and their regional significance.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Caribbean Environmental Archaeology: New Perspectives on Human Ecodynamics and Social Relations

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