People from different areas of the insular Caribbean and the coastal zone of mainland South Ameri... more People from different areas of the insular Caribbean and the coastal zone of mainland South America moved in and out of the Lesser Antilles throughout the archipelago's history before the European invasion. Successive migrations, the development of networks of human mobility, and the exchange of goods and ideas, as well as constantly shifting inter-insular alliances, created diverse ethnic and cultural communities in these small islands. We argue that these processes of alliance-building and ethnicity can be best understood through the concept of creolization. We examine this idea first in terms of the cultural interactions reflected in the pottery traditions that emerged among the Windward Islands before colonization, and second by analyzing the historiographical and emerging archaeological information available on the formation of the Indigenous Kalinago/Kalipuna and Garifuna identities from the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries. Finally, we discuss the colonia...
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entitie... more The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entities throughout most of their colonial history. This situation was prefigured by the two islands' prehistoric past following the Saladoid epoch of pan-Caribbean cultural unity. The Saladoid convergence disintegrated rapidly after the establishment of the Arauquinoid series in Trinidad by about AD 700/800 as simultaneously Tobago appears to have been drawn into the Troumassoid interaction sphere of the Windward Islands and Barbados. This paper discusses the patterns of Amerindian interaction and communication across the Galleons' Passage between Trinidad and Tobago during Ceramic times and attempts to appreciate the post-Saladoid cultural realignment of the two islands and its consequences. Résumé Durant la majeure partie de leur histoire coloniale, les îles de la Trinité et de Tobago ont formé des entités sociopolitiques, économiques et culturelles séparées. Le passé préhistori-que ...
... Aboriginal Trinidad in the sixteenth century. Florida Anthropologist 33:152159. Harris, PO 1... more ... Aboriginal Trinidad in the sixteenth century. Florida Anthropologist 33:152159. Harris, PO 1976. ... 4763. Harris, PO 1991. Amerindian Trinidad and Tobago. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology; Cayenne, French Guiana; 1987. ...
The history of Tobago is undoubtedly one of the most chequered and dramatic of any island in the ... more The history of Tobago is undoubtedly one of the most chequered and dramatic of any island in the West Indian archipelago. During the seventeenth century Tobago was fought over by the Spanish, Dutch, Couronians (Latvians) and Carib Indians while the French and British ...
This paper charts the academic development of "island archaeology" from its roots in Da... more This paper charts the academic development of "island archaeology" from its roots in Darwinist and anthropological island studies through island biogeography to processual and post-processual archaeology. It is argued that the rarely made explicit yet fundamental premise of island archaeology that insular human societies show intrinsic characteristics essentially dissimilar from those on mainlands is false. The persistence of this misconception is due in part to the emphasis on islands as ideal units of analysis. It is suggested that island societies should be studied at the level of the archipelago and/or mainland coastal setting within their maritime cultural framework, ultimately leading up to an archaeology of maritime identity.
The geographical setting of the Southern Caribbean made this region play an active role in the un... more The geographical setting of the Southern Caribbean made this region play an active role in the unfolding of historical trajectories relating to the movement of people, goods and ideas between the South American continent and the insular Caribbean. In this chapter, we discuss current knowledge on the causes, dynamics and timing of the processes involved in the transition from Archaic Age gatherer-fisher-hunter economies to horticulture-based farming in the Southern Caribbean. We present geo-environmental background information as well as offer a brief overview of the earliest signatures of human presence in this study region. From such a longue durée perspective, we focus on particular case studies and explore the different processes of transition to horticulture in the region and their timing. This paper not only provides astonishing results of sophisticated technologies, but it also pinpoints persistent gaps in our knowledge of the southern Caribbean. Finally, we propose some avenu...
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entitie... more The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entities throughout most of their colonial history. This situation was prefigured by the two islands’ prehistoric past following the Saladoid epoch of pan-Caribbean cultural unity. The Saladoid convergence disintegrated rapidly after the establishment of the Arauquinoid series in Trinidad by about AD 700/800 as simultaneously Tobago appears to have been drawn into the Troumassoid interaction sphere of the Windward Islands and Barbados. This paper discusses the patterns of Amerindian interaction and communication across the Galleons’ Passage between Trinidad and Tobago during Ceramic times and attempts to appreciate the post-Saladoid cultural realignment of the two islands and its consequences. Résumé Durant la majeure partie de leur histoire coloniale, les îles de la Trinité et de Tobago ont formé des entités sociopolitiques, économiques et culturelles séparées. Le passé préhistorique de ces de...
People from different areas of the insular Caribbean and the coastal zone of mainland South Ameri... more People from different areas of the insular Caribbean and the coastal zone of mainland South America moved in and out of the Lesser Antilles throughout the archipelago's history before the European invasion. Successive migrations, the development of networks of human mobility, and the exchange of goods and ideas, as well as constantly shifting inter-insular alliances, created diverse ethnic and cultural communities in these small islands. We argue that these processes of alliance-building and ethnicity can be best understood through the concept of creolization. We examine this idea first in terms of the cultural interactions reflected in the pottery traditions that emerged among the Windward Islands before colonization, and second by analyzing the historiographical and emerging archaeological information available on the formation of the Indigenous Kalinago/Kalipuna and Garifuna identities from the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries. Finally, we discuss the colonia...
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entitie... more The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entities throughout most of their colonial history. This situation was prefigured by the two islands' prehistoric past following the Saladoid epoch of pan-Caribbean cultural unity. The Saladoid convergence disintegrated rapidly after the establishment of the Arauquinoid series in Trinidad by about AD 700/800 as simultaneously Tobago appears to have been drawn into the Troumassoid interaction sphere of the Windward Islands and Barbados. This paper discusses the patterns of Amerindian interaction and communication across the Galleons' Passage between Trinidad and Tobago during Ceramic times and attempts to appreciate the post-Saladoid cultural realignment of the two islands and its consequences. Résumé Durant la majeure partie de leur histoire coloniale, les îles de la Trinité et de Tobago ont formé des entités sociopolitiques, économiques et culturelles séparées. Le passé préhistori-que ...
... Aboriginal Trinidad in the sixteenth century. Florida Anthropologist 33:152159. Harris, PO 1... more ... Aboriginal Trinidad in the sixteenth century. Florida Anthropologist 33:152159. Harris, PO 1976. ... 4763. Harris, PO 1991. Amerindian Trinidad and Tobago. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology; Cayenne, French Guiana; 1987. ...
The history of Tobago is undoubtedly one of the most chequered and dramatic of any island in the ... more The history of Tobago is undoubtedly one of the most chequered and dramatic of any island in the West Indian archipelago. During the seventeenth century Tobago was fought over by the Spanish, Dutch, Couronians (Latvians) and Carib Indians while the French and British ...
This paper charts the academic development of "island archaeology" from its roots in Da... more This paper charts the academic development of "island archaeology" from its roots in Darwinist and anthropological island studies through island biogeography to processual and post-processual archaeology. It is argued that the rarely made explicit yet fundamental premise of island archaeology that insular human societies show intrinsic characteristics essentially dissimilar from those on mainlands is false. The persistence of this misconception is due in part to the emphasis on islands as ideal units of analysis. It is suggested that island societies should be studied at the level of the archipelago and/or mainland coastal setting within their maritime cultural framework, ultimately leading up to an archaeology of maritime identity.
The geographical setting of the Southern Caribbean made this region play an active role in the un... more The geographical setting of the Southern Caribbean made this region play an active role in the unfolding of historical trajectories relating to the movement of people, goods and ideas between the South American continent and the insular Caribbean. In this chapter, we discuss current knowledge on the causes, dynamics and timing of the processes involved in the transition from Archaic Age gatherer-fisher-hunter economies to horticulture-based farming in the Southern Caribbean. We present geo-environmental background information as well as offer a brief overview of the earliest signatures of human presence in this study region. From such a longue durée perspective, we focus on particular case studies and explore the different processes of transition to horticulture in the region and their timing. This paper not only provides astonishing results of sophisticated technologies, but it also pinpoints persistent gaps in our knowledge of the southern Caribbean. Finally, we propose some avenu...
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entitie... more The islands of Trinidad and Tobago formed separate sociopolitical, economic, and cultural entities throughout most of their colonial history. This situation was prefigured by the two islands’ prehistoric past following the Saladoid epoch of pan-Caribbean cultural unity. The Saladoid convergence disintegrated rapidly after the establishment of the Arauquinoid series in Trinidad by about AD 700/800 as simultaneously Tobago appears to have been drawn into the Troumassoid interaction sphere of the Windward Islands and Barbados. This paper discusses the patterns of Amerindian interaction and communication across the Galleons’ Passage between Trinidad and Tobago during Ceramic times and attempts to appreciate the post-Saladoid cultural realignment of the two islands and its consequences. Résumé Durant la majeure partie de leur histoire coloniale, les îles de la Trinité et de Tobago ont formé des entités sociopolitiques, économiques et culturelles séparées. Le passé préhistorique de ces de...
We report on the results of a multidisciplinary project (including wood identification, radiocarb... more We report on the results of a multidisciplinary project (including wood identification, radiocarbon dating and strontium isotope analysis) focused on a collection of pre-Columbian wooden carvings and human remains from Pitch Lake, Trinidad. While the lake's unusual conditions are conducive to the survival of organic artefacts, they also present particular challenges for analysis. There is a loss of any contextual association beyond that of the lake, and specific methodologies are required to deal with pitch contamination. A surprising taxonomic range of woods was employed for the various utilitarian and ceremonial items recovered. The 14C results range from ca. 3200 BC to ca. AD 700, and include the earliest known wooden carvings in the entire Caribbean. The strontium isotope results-interpreted with the aid of an isoscape developed for the project, based on extensive samples of modern trees across Trinidad and Tobago-indicate that most carvings are consistent with the site's immediate environs; however, a 'weaving tool' came from a more radiogenic region that is unlikely to be found on Trinidad, suggesting links with the South American mainland.
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