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The Pre-Arawak Pottery Horizon in the Antilles: A New Approximation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Reniel Rodríguez Ramos ,
Elvis Babilonia ,
L. Antonio Curet  and
Jorge Ulloa
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos
Affiliation:
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Utuado, P.O. Box 2500, Utuado, Puerto Rico 00641 (renielrodriguez@graail.com)
Elvis Babilonia
Affiliation:
Programa Doctoral, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, Apartado 9023970, San Juan, 00902-3970. Puerto Rico
L. Antonio Curet
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605
Jorge Ulloa
Affiliation:
Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Avenida Los Próceres, Apartado 342-9, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
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Abstract

Pottery in contexts that predate the entrance of Arawak societies to the Antilles (500 B.C.) by at least one millennium demand a reassessment of the introduction of this technology to the islands. We summarize the available evidence of what we term the Pre-Arawak Pottery horizon and address the social implications of the introduction of such technology to the insular Caribbean, based on the role of pots as tools. We show that this early pottery is more widespread than originally thought, extending from Cuba to Hispanola and perhaps to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles as well. We argue that the paucity of early ceramic contexts discovered thus far could have resulted from the consideration of pottery as intrusive in Pre-Arawak contexts and because of its technological and stylistic overlap with wares associated to the Ostionoid series (A.D. 600-1500) of the Greater Antilles. Based on this evidence, we conclude by suggesting that some of the post-Saladoid manifestations that have been identified in the islands could have resulted from a multifocal development of these pre-Arawak cultures rather than simply from the divergent evolution of Saladoid societies as has been argued thus far.

Resumen

Resumen

El hallazgo de cerámica en contextos anteriores a la entrada de sociedades Arahuacas a las Antillas (500 a.C.) demanda la revisión de su introducción en las islas. Presentamos la evidencia disponible para lo que denominamos el horizonte Ceramista Pre-Arahuaco y analizamos las implicaciones sociales que tuvo esta tecnología en dichas sociedades. Demostramos que la presencia de esta cerámica temprana es de mayor amplitud espacial que la que se había pensado originalmente, extendiéndose desde Cuba hasta la Española y, quizás también, hasta Puerto Rico y las Antillas Menores. Argumentamos que una de las posibles razones por la cual se han identificado tan pocos contextos cerámicos tempranos antillanos ha sido el carácter intrusivo que se le ha sido asignado a su presencia en depósitos Pre-Arahuacos;.así como a la superposición tecnológica y estilística que estos complejos tienen con los asociados a la serie Ostioniode (600-1500 d.C.) de las Antillas Mayores. Sobre la base de tales similitudes, proponemos que algunas de las manifestaciones post-Saladoides que han sido identificadas en las islas pudieron haber resultado de un desarrollo multifocal en estas sociedades pre-Arahuacas en vez de la simple divergencia evolutiva de sociedades Saladoides como ha sido argumentado hasta el momento.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 47 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

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