From Beads to Biographies: a Microwear Study of Late Pre-Colonial Ornaments from the Dominican Republic

Summary

Bodily ornaments are found throughout the Greater Antilles and have been generally regarded as items belonging to high-status individuals. Many studies have focused on their iconographic designs, meaning, and exchange among so-called "Taíno" societies (AD 1200-1500). However, much of the biography of stone and shell ornaments is poorly known, as raw materials, technologies of production, systems of attachment, and modes of deposition have not received comparable attention. This is partially because only recently such artefacts have been recovered from secure archaeological contexts. The present paper focuses on the biography of ornaments, as part of a larger research project that aims to generate a more dynamic and plural picture of the societies that occupied the Dominican Republic during the colonial encounter. Emphasis is given to the site of El Flaco in the north-western region where almost 200 ornaments were found. Each ornament is studied through microwear analysis, in order to reconstruct its production sequence and use life. Raw material availability and properties, as well as contexts of deposition are also taken into account. The systematic study of ornaments from recently excavated sites will generate for the first time an understanding of how these objects operated within and also between different settlements.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Adornment, Personal Ornamentation, and the Construction of Identity: A Global Archaeological Perspective   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 13281