The Movement and Exchange of Dogs in the Prehistoric Caribbean: An Isotopic Investigation

This study explores the feasibility of using strontium isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) analyses of enamel from domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) to investigate networks of exchange in the prehistoric Circum‐Caribbean. Dog teeth were obtained from burial and domestic contexts from two prehistoric sites (Anse à la Gourde and Morel) on Grande‐Terre, Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles). Strontium isotope results were compared with local biosphere ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data at the scale of the site, island and archipelago. The isotope results indicate both local and nonlocal origins with three dogs (30%) identified as nonlocal (one from Anse à la Gourde and two from Morel). The variance in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the nonlocal dog teeth is consistent with diverse multiple origins external to the island of Grande‐Terre but consistent with origins from other islands of the Lesser Antilles. The diverse origins of the nonlocal dog samples indicate that the prehistoric circulation of dogs occurred at multiple scales from regional to long distance. Significantly, the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of some of the dog teeth are comparable with values of nonlocal humans at Anse à la Gourde determined in previous studies. It is possible that these comparable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios result from similar natal origins, for example if individuals were migrating to Guadeloupe with dogs. The results of this study contribute to an ongoing regional investigation of the economic, social and political roles of animals and animal remains and the multiscalar networks of prehistoric mobility and exchange in the Circum‐Caribbean region. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The archaeology of the Spanish contact period in the Caribbean

The arrival of Spanish conquistadors and colonists to the Caribbean in the late fifteenth century set in motion the processes that produced the post-1500 New World. The sixteenth-century cultural and ecological exchanges among Europe, Africa, and the Americas that took place during the early contact period greatly affected the social and economic patterns of life in both the Old and the New Worlds. Nowhere was this change manifest as profoundly and dramatically as in the sixteenth-century Caribbean. This essay explores the archaeological insights into the processes of encounter between the Amerindian peoples of the Caribbean region and the first permanent Europeans in the Americas and the responses of each to contact with the other. Archaeological research has informed our understanding of this seminal era in New World cultural development in important ways. It had also allowed the documentation of both the cultural and demographic disintegration of the Caribbean Indians and the formation of Euro-American culture.     

Determining the Provenance of Cayo Pottery from Grenada,Lesser Antilles,Using Portable X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

Portable XRF was used to analyse the chemical composition of 52 indigenous Cayo ceramics from excavations and from private collections on Grenada, Lesser Antilles. Initially, a comparative baseline of data representing three different islands (Grenada, St Vincent and Trinidad) was created by analysing with pXRF ceramic material that had previously been analysed both chemically and petrographically. The field data, when compared to the laboratory baseline data, indicated that the majority of the ceramics were made with clay local to Grenada. Four samples were potentially made with clay from another, as yet unidentified, source.     

An Overview of Maritime Archaeological Research of the Colonial Period in the French Antilles

This article provides a summary of the various maritime archaeology projects undertaken in the French Antilles (Guadeloupe and Martinique) since the 1980s that date to the 17th–19th century Colonial period. These projects are presented in the context of the principal maritime archaeological research questions. The results are analysed thematically touching on different aspects of archaeological research in littoral and underwater zones: coastal plantations, ports, and micro‐islets. Research carried out on wreck‐sites is presented with respect to their maritime use (commercial, naval, and cabotage). The nature and distribution of such sites provides information both on maritime routes and traffic, trade, conflicts, and environmental risks specific to the Antilles in the Colonial period.     

Life and death at precolumbian Lavoutte,Saint Lucia,Lesser Antilles

Abstract

The Caribbean archaeological record requires immediate attention and protection. Development and natural forces have impacted archaeological sites, destroying or severely damaging them. The precolumbian site of Lavoutte, located in northern Saint Lucia, has been known as a major Late Ceramic Age (a.d. 1000–1500) settlement since the 1960s, but it has been damaged over the past decades by both natural and human processes. Multidisciplinary field and laboratory methodologies were implemented during a rescue project at the site from 2009 to 2010. This paper presents the results of collaborative efforts between local and international organizations. The first goal was to demonstrate the importance of protection and rescue of endangered archaeological sites. Secondly, we aimed to show that by adopting a multidisciplinary approach including artifact analysis, bioarchaeology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and geochemistry, severely damaged sites can be of significant informational value.     

The counter-revolutionary Atlantic: white West Indian petitions and proslavery networks

Following recent research into imperial networks and their materialities, this paper addresses the geographies of the early-modern Atlantic. Its focus is the defensive response of white West Indian colonists to the emergence of popular antislavery sentiment in Britain during the ‘age of abolition’ (c. 1780–1833), which led to the increasing marginalization of slave-holding interests. This response included the production of corporate legislative petitions that sought to prevent or delay the reform of slavery. The paper argues that these petitions should be understood not as rhetorical forms of ‘influence’ that can be analysed in terms of their language, but as material objects whose potential efficacy derived from how, and in what textual company, they travelled. Tracing these material networks of petitioning provides a means to operationalize ‘circum-Atlantic’ perspectives and thus explore the spaces of the Atlantic. The paper also considers how theories of creolization, which underpin much thinking about the Atlantic, might be informed by a consideration of these petitionary networks.

L'Atlantique contre-révolutionnaire: les demandes des blancs des Antilles et les réseaux favorables à l'esclavagisme

Cet article fait suite aux recherches récentes effectuées sur les réseaux impériaux et leurs matérialités et s'intéresse aux géographies du début de l'époque moderne de l'Atlantique. Il met l'accent sur la réaction défensive des colons blancs des Antilles devant l'arrivée du sentiment populaire anti-esclavagiste en Angleterre pendant «l'ère abolitionniste» (1780–1833) qui a contribué à la marginalisation des propriétaires d'esclaves. Cette réaction comprenait des pétitions légales relevant de sociétés privées dont le but était d'empêcher ou de retarder le projet de réforme de l'esclavagisme. Cet article montre que ces pétitions ne devraient pas être vues comme des formes rhétoriques «d'influence» pouvant s'analyser en fonction de leurs modes linguistiques, mais comme des objets matériels dont la capacité de rendement résultait des manières et des formats textuels par lesquels elles pouvaient voyager. Remonter jusqu'aux réseaux concrets qui ont permis de protester par des pétitions est un moyen d'opérationnaliser les approches «circon-Atlantique» et d'explorer ainsi les espaces de l'Atlantique. Par ailleurs, l'article tente de montrer comment l'étude de ces réseaux de pétitions peut éclairer les théories de la créolisation qui sous-tendent la plupart des réflexions sur l'Atlantique.

El Atlántico contra-revolucionario: peticiones y organizaciones a favor de la esclavitud de la gente blanca de las Antillas

Con referencia a las recientes investigaciones de redes imperiales y su aspecto material, este papel trata las geografías del antiguo atlántico moderno. Se centra en la reacción defensiva de los colonos blancos de las Antillas al surgimiento del sentimiento popular antiesclavitud en Gran Bretaña durante ‘la era de la abolición’ (c. 1780–1833), que dio lugar a una marginación cada vez mayor de los intereses de los negreros. La producción de peticiones colectivas legislativas para tratar de impedir o retrasar la reforma de la esclavitud formó parte de esta reacción. Este papel sugiere que hay que ver estas peticiones no como formas retóricas de ‘influencia’ que se puede analizar por su lenguaje sino más bien como objetos materiales, la eficacia potencial de los cuales viene de cómo, y en qué compañía textual se viajaban. Un análisis del origen de estas redes materiales de peticionar posibilita el funcionamiento de perspectivas ‘circum-atlánticas’ y, por consiguiente, una exploración de los espacios del Atlántico. El papel también considera como teorías de criollización que son fundamentales al pensamiento actual sobre el Atlántico pueden ser informadas por un estudio de estas redes de peticionar.     

Issues on the Diversity and Emergence of Middle-Range Societies of the Ancient Caribbean: A Critique

Caribbean archaeology traditionally has focused on culture history and migrations while social and political issues have been mostly ignored. Recent studies, however, have begun to overcome these deficiencies by paying more attention to some of the intangible aspects of prehistoric groups and by improving field methodology to gather the appropriate data. In general, sociopolitical organizations in the pre-Hispanic Caribbean were both spatially and temporally diverse. Nevertheless, despite advancements in data collection, analyses have been hindered by the use of improper analytical units and scales of analysis, as well as our overreliance on historical data for the reconstruction of social and political organizations. These methodological problems have (1) hidden the variability present in the archaeological record and (2) limited our explanatory potential and understanding of past societies in the Caribbean.     

Spatial variation of biologically available strontium isotopes (Sr/Sr) in an archipelagic setting: a case study from the Caribbean

This paper presents the results of strontium (Sr) isotope analysis of modern and archaeological animal remains and modern plant samples from the Caribbean region. The goal is to assess if patterns of human mobility can be determined from the archaeological record in an archipelagic setting. The range of variability and spatial distribution of biologically available strontium isotope signatures is reported and data evaluated to determine if sufficient heterogeneity exists to permit the identification of mobility despite the presence of potentially large contributions of marine strontium in island and coastal ecosystems. The (is)landscape is divided into several sub-regions based on the age and lithology of underlying geology and the variability of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios is reported as; mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ± 2 standard deviations, number of samples: 1) Volcanic and Intrusive rocks (0.7077 ± 0.0019; n = 162); 2) Cretaceous–Miocene Limestone (0.7085 ± 0.0009; n = 50); 3) Pliocene–Quaternary Limestone (0.7091 ± 0.0004; n = 54); 4) Sedimentary Deposits (0.7094 ± 0.0015; n = 16); 5) Metamorphic Deposits (0.7104 ± 0.0014; n = 6). There are substantial differences between expected ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values based on associated geology and measured ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in flora and fauna samples. These differences emphasize the importance of focusing on bioavailable strontium, as opposed to geological proxies, for estimations of Sr isotope ranges, especially in archipelagic environments. While some overlap exists between the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ranges of certain sub-regions, other sub-regions possessed limited variation and could be distinguished based on strontium isotope data. This spatial patterning of biologically available strontium indicates that strontium isotope analyses can be successfully applied to the archaeological study of human mobility within the Caribbean region.