Journal of Caribbean Archaeology

Copyright 2010
ISSN 1524-4776

CROSSING THE CARIBBEAN SEA:

TOWARDS A HOLISTIC VIEW OF
PRE-COLONIAL MOBILITY AND EXCHANGE

Corinne L. Hofman
Faculty of Archaeology
Leiden University
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
[email protected]

Alistair J. Bright
Kaiserstraat 10
2311 GR Leiden
The Netherlands
[email protected]

Reniel Rodríguez Ramos

Universidad de Puerto Rico
Recinto de Utuado
Programa de Ciencias Sociales
PO Box 2500
Utuado, Puerto Rico 00641-2500
[email protected]

Abstract
Pre-Colonial Caribbean communities participated in intensive interaction networks of hu-
man mobility and exchange of goods and ideas, guided by their cosmovision, technology,
and socio-political organization. The urge to garner status, which reflected on the group and
the individual, and the desire for access to a myriad of materials and products formed im-
portant motivations for articulating pre-Colonial interaction circuits. Through the adoption
of a multi-disciplinary perspective, this paper seeks to develop a holistic view on the opera-
tion of interaction network(s) across a wide, socio-politically diverse region between 6000
BC and the early Colonial period. The adoption of a diachronic, macro-geographic perspec-
tive will help evaluate the structure through time of these social networks at archipelagic
and pan-Caribbean scales.

Résumé
Guidées par leur vision du cosmos, leur technologie et leur organisation sociopolitique, les
populations préhistoriques de la Caraïbe se sont inscrites dans des réseaux d’interaction de
mobilité et d’échanges de biens et d’idées. Le besoin d’acquérir un statut reflétant l’identité
communautaire et individuelle, ainsi que le désir d’accéder à une grande quantité de maté-
riaux et de produits, ont constitué en soi des motivations importantes. Suivant une approche

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Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

pluridisciplinaire, cet article tente de développer une vision holistique des modalités de
fonctionnement de ce(s) réseau(x) d’interaction au sein d’une vaste région, socialement et
politiquement hétérogène, entre 6 000 av. J.-C. et les débuts de la période coloniale. Le
choix d’une approche macro-géographique et diachronique devrait permettre d’évaluer la
structure de ces réseaux sociaux sur un temps long et à une double échelle, archipélagique
et pan-caribéenne.

Resumen
Los miembros de la comunidad prehistórica caribeña participaron en la red de interacción
de movilidad humana e intercambio de mercancías e ideas, guiados por su cosmovisión,
tecnología y organización sociopolítica. La ansia de obtener estatus, de modo a definir la
identidad del grupo y del individuo, y el deseo de tener acceso a diferentes materiales y
productos, formaron motivaciones importantes para articular circuitos de interacción
precolonial. A través de adoptar una perspectiva multi-disciplinaria, este artículo intenta
desarrollar una perspectiva holística a la funcionamiento de la red o de las redes de
interacción a través de una ámplia región de diversidad sociopolítica entre 6000 a. C. y el
comienzo del período colonial. La adopción de una pespectiva geográfica ámplia y
diacrónica ayudará evaluar la estructura de estas redes sociales en escalas archipelágicas y
pan-caribeñas a través del tiempo.

Communities in interaction seafaring, were able to move directly

The highly variegated pre-Colonial Car- across the Caribbean Sea and between is-
ibbean (is)landscape, always had a dy- land passages as early as around 6000 BC
namic, inter-connected character thanks to (Callaghan 2001; Febles 1991; Wilson et
the maritime orientation of its native al. 1998). The success of these early migra-
(Amerindian) inhabitants and the region- tions and of later settlement and establish-
wide interaction networks they maintained. ment of interaction networks undoubtedly
It is now commonly accepted that human depended greatly on the maintenance of
islanders were never socially isolated ex- contacts with the ‘homeland(s)’ and be-
cept in very extreme cases, but rather that tween communities throughout the region
the sea likely functioned as an ‘aquatic mo- (Hofman et al. in press). These linkages or
torway’, a plane that the islanders would ‘lifelines’ would have acted as a safety net,
have traversed frequently, despite its occa- crucial in times of environmental or social
sional unpredictability (e.g., Boomert and hazards, by ensuring that demographically
Bright 2007; Broodbank 2002; Fitzpatrick unstable fledgling colonies would have suf-
(ed.) 2004; Rainbird 2007). Seen from this ficient access to suitable marriage partners
perspective, the Caribbean Sea actually (Keegan 2004; Kirch 2000; Moore 2001).
linked communities instead of separating Upon first contact in 1492, the native
them, encouraging (micro-)regional mobil- inhabitants of the Caribbean astonished the
ity and exchange (e.g., Berman and Europeans with their voyaging skills and
Gnivecki 1995; Hofman et al. 2007; the elaborate interaction networks they
Keegan and Diamond 1987; Watters and maintained. Moreover, the Europeans were
Rouse 1989). Indeed, the pre-Colonial peo- impressed by the high speed at which ex-
ples of continental regions of Central and change objects were introduced into and
South America, having learned the skill of circulated within these networks. As Chris-

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Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

topher Columbus noted in the diary of his neo-Indian Antillean cultures. Thus Rouse
first voyage, barely 72 hours after making opposed the concept of a ‘Circum-
landfall in the Americas: Caribbean culture area’, which united the
Caribbean and Intermediate culture areas in
“Monday, October 15 […] terms of parallel socio-political develop-
and while I was between these ments (Steward 1947).2
two islands i.e., Santa María Instead, following a specific framework
[Rum Cay] and this large one of cultural taxonomy, cultural diffusion
which I named Fernandina was envisioned as the outcome of popula-
[Long Island], I met a man tion movement or migration, drawing on a
alone in a pirogue [canoe] combination of archaeological, linguistic
going from the island of Santa and physical anthropological research.
María to Fernandina. He had With the exception of some Lithic and Ar-
with him a small loaf, the size chaic Age peoples, the Caribbean archipel-
of his fist, a gourd of water, ago was determined to have been settled
some red earth ground into from the mainland of South America in a
powder and made into paste, phased, stepping-stone manner (see Curet
and some dried leaves, which 2005 for an extensive review of this issue).
these people must greatly This perspective resulted in a diachronic
prize, for they presented me focus on island settlement instead of a syn-
some of it on San Salvador. chronic perspective on inter-community
He had also a basket made in communication and exchange.
their native fashion in which Various hypotheses were subsequently
he had a small string of glass advanced to understand the motivations
beads and two blancas and mechanisms underlying migrations.
[Spanish coins]. From these Push and pull factors were invoked, with
things I knew that he had warfare and population pressure in the
come from the island of San lands of origin on the one hand and the
Salvador, had touched Santa economic attractiveness of the insular terri-
María, and was now going to tories on the other (Siegel 1991). Oppor-
Fernandina”.1 tunism and flexibility were suggested to be
inherent traits by which people were able
Irving Rouse (1951, 1992), one of the to move into the Antilles through adapta-
founding fathers of Caribbean archaeology, tion to the available resources. Recently, an
advanced the perspective of interacting is- Arawakan diaspora has been proposed
land communities as early as the 1950s. In (Heckenberger 2002). Migration in this
positing that islands are not isolated con- sense is viewed as a unilinear event at the
texts where cultures evolve without exter- macro-scale of cultures or supra-cultures
nal influence, he defined several geo- (known as series and subseries) and not
cultural spaces (so-called passage areas) traceable at the micro-scale of local groups
that acknowledged interaction between identifiable by styles or complexes. Fur-
neighboring islands, yet envisaged little or thermore, the mental template of a sole ori-
no interactions with the adjacent continen- gin for Ceramic Age island populations in
tal regions after Ceramic Age settling with northeastern South America still con-
the exception of northeastern South Amer- strained these contributions, leaving poten-
ica, the supposed Orinocan ‘homeland’ of tial macro-regional connections with other

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 3

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

neighboring continental areas like coastal demographic fitness, permitting access to a

Central America, Colombia and western range of basic needs and promoting the for-
Venezuela unconsidered (Rodríguez mation and maintenance of socio-political
Ramos and Pagán Jiménez 2006; Wilson alliances through marriage and ritual ser-
2007). vices, exchange is a form of communica-
tion. The exchange of utilitarian wares and
Shifting paradigms socially valued goods would for instance
Recently, a multi-linear, reticulate model frequently be accompanied by the sharing
for island settlement and communication of myths, tales, songs, dances, ritual
networks has been proposed that departs knowledge and experience, embedded in
from the traditional unilinear view of mi- native cosmovision.6 Seen in this light, we
gration (Callaghan 2003; Keegan 2004; would fully expect the maintaining of
Hofman et al. 2007, Fitzpatrick 2009; ‘symbiotic relationships’, initially between
Rodríguez Ramos 2007). In addition, the Archaic and Ceramic Age communities
paradigm has shifted away from establish- and later between Ceramic Age communi-
ing cultural frameworks and pinpointing ties originating from the disparate areas
migration events and large population facing the Caribbean Sea.
movements towards analysing the proc-
esses underlying human mobility and mate- A pan-Caribbean perspective
rial culture distributions (e.g., Boomert Such a new paradigm necessitates the re-
2000; Hofman et al. 2007; Keegan and evaluation of the trans-Caribbean vectors
Maclachlan 1989) as well as focusing on of interaction from a multi-scalar perspec-
social organisation to explain culture tive.7 Archaeological evidence suggests
changes and shifting interaction spheres that we need to view the wider Caribbean
(e.g., Crock and Petersen 2004; Curet and or circum-Caribbean region as potentially
Oliver 1998; Hofman and Hoogland 2004; one large arena within which Amerindians
Siegel 1999).3 In this perspective migration could have established and maintained lo-
is regarded primarily as a continuous proc- cal and regional circuits of mobility and
ess of mobility involving, amongst others, exchange as they traversed water passages
exploratory expeditions, small-scale move- and islands, without downplaying their cul-
ment of local groups and colonization from tural, social, biological, or linguistic par-
various parts of continental America ticularities.8 This pan-Caribbean approach
(Rodríguez Ramos 2007; Ulloa Hung and demands a pan-regional, diachronic, multi-
Valcárcel Rojas 2002)4, activity-driven or scalar and cross-culturally comparative
seasonal mobility and movement between perspective on mobility and exchange be-
communities triggered by marriage alli- tween manifold communities with varying
ances, feasting, and enmity.5 Taken to- forms of socio-political organisation. In the
gether, these multi-scalar forms of mobility following examples focus will be laid on
give rise to complex networks within the diachronic social dynamics and mecha-
which people move, circulate, and ex- nisms at play throughout the larger arena of
change goods and ideas. Exchange can thus the Caribbean Sea. This is not to downplay
be regarded as the reciprocal movement of the importance of the synchronic develop-
(im)material goods through human interac- ments at the local scale of the community
tion embedded in a complex web of symbi- but rather to highlight the overarching set-
otic social relationships and meanings ting in which local communities (inter)
(Hofman et al. 2007). Apart from ensuring acted, forming variably interlocking larger

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 4

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

and smaller networks of mobility and ex- 1993; Valcárcel Rojas and Rodríguez
change. 2003), connections between the Antilles,
the southern Caribbean islands and lower
Archaeological lines of evidence Central America (Rodríguez Ramos 2007;
Increasingly in the last few years, evi- Veloz Maggiolo and Angulo Valdez 1982;
dence has surfaced for a myriad of regional Versteeg 1999) and between the southern
interactions between the Antilles and conti- Caribbean islands and the hinterland of
nental America (see also Figure 1). Contact central Venezuela (Antczak 1998) have all
lines between the Antilles, Colombia, and recently been advanced. These interactions
Central America (Harlow et al. 2006, but also include those between the Antilles and
see García-Casco et al. 2009 for counter northeastern South America and between
arguments; Newsom and Wing 2004; the Greater and Lesser Antilles that were
Rodríguez Ramos 2007), exchanges be- established at an earlier stage (e.g., Allaire
tween the Antilles and lower Central 1999; Boomert 2000; Curet 2005; Helms
America (Rodríguez Ramos 2007; Sued- 1987; Hofman and Hoogland 2004;
Badillo 1979), links between Puerto Rico, Keegan and Maclachlan 1989; Versteeg
the Dominican Republic and Cuba on the 1999; Watters and Scaglion 1994; Zucchi
one hand and Colombia on the other 1991). While these specific studies have
(Cooper et al. 2008; Rodríguez Ramos and provided positive evidence of contacts be-
Pagán Jiménez 2006; Siegel and Severin tween various areas across the Caribbean

Figure 1. The dynamics of mobility and exchange at play across the Caribbean Sea during precolonial and early
Colonial times illustrating the diversity of interaction networks active at multiple scales (object photographs
courtesy of Roberto Valcárcel Rojas, Alice Samson, Alistair Bright, Arie Boomert, Menno Hoogland, map
drafted by Menno Hoogland and Alistair Bright after an original by Corinne Hofman).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 5

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

Sea, they almost exclusively provide evi- well as information on mortuary practices,
dence for a one-way traffic into the insular palaeopathology, distribution of diseases
Caribbean. As such, the available data are (for example the spread of the Treponema
in many cases too fragmentary and limited bacteria), health conditions and diet pro-
in scope to unravel the intricacies of human vide a solid base for the interpretation of
mobility, regional communication net- social relationships and mobility through-
works and the reciprocal mechanisms un- out the region.
derlying them. Joint consideration of de- Strontium isotopes vary regionally ac-
tailed studies of non-local signatures in hu- cording to a limited number of factors and
man skeletal remains, provenancing of as strontium can often be found in a variety
source areas and raw materials as well as of archaeological materials such as human,
the study of shared iconographic themes faunal, and plant remains this approach has
has the potential to furnish a more compre- widespread utility. A database is currently
hensive, well-founded framework of mo- being created with local signatures ob-
bility and exchange throughout the circum- tained from plant, faunal and geological
Caribbean and possibly, pan-Caribbean samples in order to establish a baseline for
exchanges. This potential will now be the measurements of the human remains
highlighted through the examination of a from assemblages across the Caribbean
number of case studies within the realm of (Laffoon and Hoogland 2009). The Carib-
the three research themes mentioned above. bean coast of Central America remains a
blank spot as not many skeletal assem-
Biogeochemical analysis of human skeletal blages are available from that area to date.
remains Strontium isotope analysis carried out on
In recent decades the development of skeletal remains from the archaeological
various biogeochemical methods has al- site of Anse à la Gourde (AAG), located on
lowed inferring patterns of mobility and the limestone island of Grande Terre, Gua-
migration from the archaeological record. deloupe, has revealed that at least one
Recent studies of ancient-DNA and of mor- fourth of the population was non-local.
phological traits of human skeletal remains The site was inhabited between AD 500
from the Caribbean have proved that mi- and 1400, but the major occupation con-
gratory movements took place from centrates between AD 1000 and 1400.
mainland South America into the Antillean Thus far 24 round and oval house struc-
archipelago and from northwestern Vene- tures have been documented surrounded by
zuela into the southern Caribbean islands, an oval shaped midden (Hofman et al.
as evidenced by a study on recent DNA on 2001; Morsink 2006). The houses vary be-
Aruba (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2003; Toro- tween eight and twelve meters in diameter
Labrador 2003). However, genetic research and the habitation area also served as a bur-
has yet to be refined so as to either include ial ground. Eighty-three burials containing
or rule out other areas of origin of the is- 103 individuals have been found in and
land populations such as Central America.9 around the houses, suggesting the repeated
More recently, studies of strontium iso- interment of ancestors close to and among
topes have also proved to be successful in the living. Burials occur in clusters and
determining past movements, geographic mortuary practices are varied and complex.
origins and cultural affinity (Booden et al. The majority of the burials was inhumed in
2008). Results from biogeochemical analy- a flexed position, which is characteristic of
sis combined with demographic data as Late Ceramic Age burial assemblages. Ma-

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 6

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

nipulation of the bones after decomposition chaeometric research (e.g., X-Ray Fluores-
of the weak parts indicates that the graves cence (XRF), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD),
were left open after interment of the dead Inductively coupled plasma Mass Spec-
persons and emphasized the role ancestors trometry (ICP-MS) and Instrumental Neu-
played in day-to-day social life (Hoogland tron Activation Analysis (INAA) has posi-
et al. 1999). tively identified the provenance areas of a
The strontium values of 28% of the number of pre-Colonial artifacts from the
AAG individuals do not match the values Caribbean (e.g., Descantes et al. (eds)
of the island of Grande Terre, indicating 2008; Fitzpatrick et al. 2009a; Harlow et al.
that they spent their childhood in another 2006; Knippenberg 2006; see Hofman et
island (Hoogland and Hofman 2010). On al. 2008 for a summary).
the basis of their strontium isotope hetero- This research implies that raw materials
geneity, it is unlikely that they represent and finished products circulated within a
one single group of migrants. The non- vast network, underpinned by direct pro-
local individuals, randomly distributed curement at the source but also by exten-
over the habitation area, mainly consist of sive exchange of semi-finished or finished
females. This trend may be indicative of a objects. In a number of cases we may also
preference for virilocal residence. It is assume that the communities who had ac-
noteworthy that tools and ornaments manu- cess to certain raw materials became spe-
factured from non-local materials cialized in the manufacture of certain
(greenstone and calci-rudite from St. Mar- goods over others, as has been ethno-
tin and flint from Antigua) were only found graphically documented among many low-
in the grave inventory of non-local fe- land South-American groups (cf. Butt
males. One of the female burials was found Colson 1973). Also, as on the continent,
with more than 1000 shell beads on her social mechanisms aimed at maintaining
pelvis. The beads were manufactured from relationships between communities must
Eustrombus gigas shell, but as no produc- have been an important factor in the ex-
tion debris was found at the site, it is as- change of goods.
sumed that the beads were also imported There is ample evidence that exchange
from another place. The unique occurrence of various materials occurred within the
of non-local females buried with non-local archipelago and also between the Greater
grave goods may offer a rare insight into and Lesser Antilles at different points in
direct transmission, i.e., the transporting of time. We also have confirmation that ce-
material culture directly by the people con- ramics, lithics and guanín (gold-copper al-
cerned as opposed to a down-the-line ex- loy) objects as well as tools and ornaments
change of goods. of coral, shell and bone reached the islands
from continental America and vice versa
Provenancing source areas and raw (Boomert 2000; Cooper et al. 2008;
materials Rodríguez Ramos 2007). There are exam-
The varied geological make-up of the ples of ornaments made of armadillo, opos-
circum-Caribbean region means that the sum, deer and jaguar bone, there are shell
distribution of various natural resources, objects of the Unionidae family (a fresh
such as lithics, clays, pottery temper mate- water mollusk possibly endemic to the riv-
rials, shell, fiber and wood differs from is- erine environments of mainland Vene-
land to island and between the various con- zuela) and a large number of exotic beads
tinental regions. Over the past decades, ar- and pendants are found on the islands made

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 7

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

of semi-precious stones (agate, amber, ern portion of the Lesser Antilles during
amethyst, aventurine, barite, carnelian, the Late Ceramic Age is debated, though
malachite, nephrite, and olivine among oth- they are certainly firmly established by the
ers) not indigenous to these islands early Colonial period, as described in the
(Boomert 2000; Fitzpatrick et al. 2009b; ethnohistorical sources (Allaire 1984;
Grouard 2001; Serrand 2001). In the same Boomert 1986).
vein there is evidence that Eustrombus gi- A last case-study concerns XRF analysis
gas shells (botutos) from the southern Car- on a number of gold and guanín objects
ibbean islands were transported to the hin- from the Greater Antilles. Fragments of
terland of central Venezuela to be ex- hammered ornaments made of a gold
changed with inland communities (Antczak (placer gold) and pendants made of a gold-
1998). copper alloy or guanín are known from
Initially, X-Ray diffraction analysis of Puerto Rico and Vieques from Saladoid
(fragments of) jadeite axes or adzes from times onwards and from the Dominican
the Lesser Antilles suggested that either the Republic and Cuba from the Late Ceramic
raw material itself or objects manufactured Age (see Cooper et al. 2008). Combined
from this material were transported from archaeometric and iconographic analysis
Central America (i.e., Guatemala) into the confirmed the origin of some of the guanín
islands (Harlow et al. 2006). However, the pieces on the South American mainland
recent discovery of jadeite sources in Cuba (Colombia) and they probably reached the
and Hispaniola decreases the likelihood of Greater Antilles via Central America. Two
a Central American connection and rather main areas of origin have been pinpointed
points to a Greater Antillean origin (i.e., for the Cuban guanín in Colombia, namely
García Casco et al. 2009; Rodríguez Tairona and Zenu. A similar piece is
Ramos, this issue). Similar adzes have been known from the Mazaruni river area in
found throughout the Greater and Lesser Guyana (Whitehead 1990) which suggests
Antilles both during the Early and Late Ce- that trade of these objects also took place
ramic Ages suggesting that a vast network along the coast or the rivers of northern
existed in which these objects circulated. South America.
Petrographic analysis also positively It is very likely that the Spanish contin-
identified Guyanese affiliation of the Cayo ued the trade in guanín gold with the Co-
ceramics in the Windward Islands of the lombian ateliers during the early Colonial
Lesser Antilles. Additional confirmation of period. This is best evidenced from the
the South American origin of this pottery is contact site of Chorro de Maíta in Cuba
found in its stylistic affiliations to Koriabo (AD 1400-1600) excavated by Cuban ar-
ceramics of that area of the mainland and chaeologists during the 1980s and currently
in part of it being tempered with caraipe, being analyzed by Roberto Valcárcel
the burned bark of the South American Rojas. Numerous ornaments as well as
‘kwepi’ tree (Licania sp.), which does not European brass objects have been found at
occur on the islands. Cayo pottery in the the site buried as grave goods among the
Windward Islands is dated to the late pre- 120 individuals (Cooper et al. 2008; Val-
Colonial and early Colonial periods and cárcel Rojas and Rodríguez Arce 2005).
has been found from Grenada to Basse
Terre, Guadeloupe. Cayo pottery has been Iconographic analysis of shared themes
correlated with the so-called Kallinago or and ideas
Island Carib, whose presence in the south- A number of iconographic themes are

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 8

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

also clearly shared between the islands and least the endurance of a mental template of
continental America, pointing to the recur- the homeland environment (Boomert 2003;
sive flow of ideas across the region. The Hofman et al. in press; Roe 1989).
circum-Caribbean Amerindian world re- During the Late Ceramic Age, there is a
volved around the circulation of goods and sudden appearance of female figurines or
ideas, from the distribution of raw materi- statue(tte)s in Suazan Troumassoid assem-
als, preforms and finished products to the blages throughout the southern Lesser An-
spread of ideas and social valuables10 by tilles. Petitjean Roget suggests that their
means of exchange and/or gift-giving. Spe- appearance denotes a realignment of soci-
cific pottery objects and items made of ety and potentially traces the roots of this
guanín, semi-precious stones and other phenomenon back to the late Saladoid
rock materials, shell, coral, bone and wood, (Petitjean Roget 1993, 2005). However, it
were imbued with multiple meanings that is more likely that the phenomenon is con-
extended beyond their function. Social nected to that of the sitting or standing fe-
valuables continued to accrue symbolic and male figurines that feature so prominently
codified connotations upon entering net- in the Late Ceramic Age Marajoaroid
works of interaction as items of exchange (Roosevelt 1991), Arauquinoid (Rostain
and communication sometimes becoming and Versteeg 2004) and Valencioid
heirlooms over time (Hofman et al. 2008; (Antczak and Antczak 2006) series that
Fitzpatrick et al. 2009a). These meanings feature across large swaths of coastal
and associations all derived from the natu- north-eastern South America.
ral and cultural surroundings, ultimately Although these examples are likely just
encompassed in Amerindian cosmovision, the tip of the iceberg, research in this field
and expressed in oral traditions transmitted is the least developed of the three avenues
through stories, tales, songs and dances. discussed above, and much work remains
The following cases point to such a re- to be done, particularly in the realms of
cursive relationship between material cul- comparing material culture assemblages
ture and cosmovision. Exotic lithic materi- throughout the circum-Caribbean, com-
als with non-insular iconographic represen- parative mythology and materiality.
tations associated with the Huecoid/Huecan
Saladoid ceramics in Puerto Rico and the Discussion
northern Lesser Antilles have been as- In this paper we have explored different
cribed a Costa Rican and Panamanian ori- strands of multi-disciplinary research that
gin (Rodríguez Ramos and Pagan-Jiménez can be fruitfully drawn together to explore
2006; see also Rodríguez Ramos this is- the circum-Caribbean as a meaningful en-
sue). On the other hand, greenstone frog- tity, whose inhabitants constructed social
shaped pendants (known as Muiraquitã in and trade networks by maintaining exten-
Brazil) and other exotic rock materials sive circuits of mobility and exchange. Evi-
point to connections with the tropical low- dently, over a period of some 6000 years
lands of South America (Boomert 1987). the Caribbean islands witnessed a continual
Furthermore, the mainland iconography of coming and going (i.e., to-ing and fro-ing;
jaguars, king vultures, peccaries and cai- sensu Hofman et al. 2007) of a differenti-
mans on insular Saladoid ceramics, micro- ated flux of populations with a high degree
lapidary work, and ceremonial parapherna- of mobility, with a range of motives, and
lia underscores the continuing affiliations with various origins and destinations. In
with the South American mainland, or at time, people, perishable and non-perishable

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 9

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

goods, ideas and information as well as hallé un hombre solo en una almadía que se pasaba
cultural and social practices from numer- de la isla de Sancta Maria a la Fernandina, y traía
un poco de su pan, que sería tanto como el puño y
ous ‘homeland(s)’ amalgamated. This led una calabaza de agua, y un pedazo de tierra
to a growing number of local communities bermeja hecha en polvo y después amasada, y unas
of heterogeneous composition and the ulti- hojas secas, que debe ser cosa muy apreciada
mate diversification within the archipelago entrellos, porque ya me truxeron en San Salvador
in late pre-Colonial times, amounting to d’ellas en presente; y traía un cestillo a su guisa en
que tenía un ramalejo de cuentezillas de vidrio y
what has been called a ‘mosaic of cul- dos blancas, por las cuales cognoscí qu’él venía de
tures’ (Wilson 1993). The plurality of this la isla de San Salvador, y avía pasado a aquélla de
region, mirrored in today’s societies, had Sancta María y se pasaba a la
initially been downplayed by the adoption Fernandina” (Columbus 1992(1):55, according to
of an uni-linear approach, raising the spec- Las Casas).
2. The Caribbean culture area includes eastern
tre of a non-dynamic or rather slow- Venezuela, the coasts of the Guianas, and the Antil-
moving migratory pattern that runs counter les. The Intermediate area encompasses the coastal
to everything we know of how these socie- areas of Central America, west Venezuela and the
ties live in continental America (Hofman islands offshore its coast such as the Dutch Carib-
and Carlin 2010). Goods, ideas, and cul- bean Islands (see Rodríguez Ramos, this volume).
Steward’s framework was adopted by Meggers and
tural and linguistic traits were most likely the group of ‘social archaeologists’. See Fonseca
exchanged through the Caribbean islands at 1988; Meggers 1979; Vargas Arenas and Sanoja
a high speed. Boundaries and alliances 1999; Veloz Maggiolo 1980.
were doubtlessly being constantly shifted 3. Research in this line was also carried out under
and negotiated, adopted and rejected. More the auspices of Hofman and Bright within the Neth-
erlands Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO)-
extensive research into the archaeological funded ASPASIA project ‘Socio-political complex-
and anthropological reflection of cultural ity in the pre-Columbian Caribbean: an integral
interactions should allow the identification approach to inter-insular and inter-regional rela-
of many more contact lines, and the con- tionships’.
textualisation of such nodes as to their po- 4. Recently Archaic Age sites in the Greater Antil-
les have yielded evidence of pottery making inde-
sition within an overarching pan-Caribbean pendent of the later ceramic tradition known as
network system, or within the various lar- Saladoid, which has traditionally been interpreted as
ger and smaller interaction spheres that the earliest pottery of the region introduced by the
constitute it. alleged first ceramic-producing migrants from
northern South America (Rímoli and Nadal 1983;
Rodríguez Ramos et al. 2008; Veloz Maggiolo
Acknowledgments 1974).
We would like to thank Benoît Roux for 5. For different types of mobility, see e.g., Bell-
correcting our French abstract and Alex wood 2004; Curet 2005; Hofman et al. 2006; Kelly
Geurds for correcting our Spanish ab- 1995; Manning 2005; Moch 2003; Moore 2001;
stract. The Netherlands Foundation for Sellet et al. (eds) 2006.
6. This definition of exchange has been adapted
Scientific Research (NWO) is thanked for from Boomert 2000 and Arvelo-Jiménez and Biord
providing the financial support (VICI grant 1994.
#016084621) which made the research for 7. See Nassaney and Sassaman (eds) 1995 for a
this article possible. multi-scalar approach to the archaeology of the
American Southeast.
8. E.g., Bentley 1999; Lewis 1999; Rodríguez
Ramos 2007; Vidal 2003.
1. “[...] y estando a medio golpho d’estas dos islas, 9. Although there is some preliminary data about
es de saber, de aquella Sancta Maria y d’esta central and western Cuban populations being related
grande a la cual pongo nombre la Fernandina, to Central America (Schurr and Sherry 2006).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 10

Crossing the Caribbean Sea Hofman et al

10. See Mol 2007 for this adaptation of the concepts works of Historical Analysis. Geo-
of socially valued goods (Spielmann 2002), social graphical Review 89(2): 215-225.
goods (Siegel pers. comm.) and primitive valuables
(Earle and Ericson 1977).
Berman, M. J., and P. L. Gnivecki
1995 The Colonization of the Bahama
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