Food for thought: Exploring the Cultural and Ecological Significance of Greater Antillean Fisheries

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Greater Antilles is an archipelago of islands in the Northern Caribbean (e.g., Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). These islands are host to a melting pot of unique cultural identities and ecological biodiversity. It is well known that the long-term harvest of marine fishes greatly shaped human cultures and marine ecosystems in the region. Scholars have previously reported on the cultural and ecological importance of fishes to indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles during the Caribbean Ceramic Age (~500 B.C.-1500 A.D.). Scholarly discussions on the topic of marine fish harvest in the Greater Antilles range greatly from — conversations on the environmental implications of exploiting fish to examining the symbolic and ceremonial importance of fishes within Taíno traditions. I broadly synthesize archaeological findings, ethnohistoric accounts, and ethnographic data to analyze current knowledge pertaining to how the harvest of marine fishes influenced diet, fishing technology, and strategy, ritual/ceremonial practices, as well as marine ecology. Additionally, I comment on trends related to contemporary fishing in the region. I then discern potential future directions in research relevant to multiple facts of the topic described previously.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38408.0