Archaic Era Vertebrate Faunal Remains from Cuba

Summary

The broad patterns of Archaic or pre-ceramic subsistence adaptations are not well known for the broader Caribbean region partly due to the ecological variability among the islands and limited quantified faunal data from sites of appropriate age. The state of knowledge for Cuba is hampered by a limited number of radiocarbon dated archaeological sites. In this paper we present quantified vertebrate faunal data and radiocarbon dates from three Cuban sites, Las Obas, Vega del Palmar, and Los Caracoles. These sites are all considered Archaic in age although Vega del Palmar contains ceramics of the Pre-Arawak Pottery Horizon type. The three faunal assemblages are similar in exhibiting a diversity of taxa and habitats and in the importance of various species of hutia. However, the taxonomy of these capromyd rodents varies among the sites and the proportions of other taxa also vary by site. In addition to abundant hutia, the site’s occupants exploited an array of fish, birds, reptiles and other mammals, including manatee. In this paper we compare the three sites’ faunal assemblages and discuss their ecological 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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