| Abstract: | This study aims to shed light on Taíno polytheism and its imprint in the Antillean geographic space and the unitary and differentiated development of its religious beliefs and representations, by means of mythic substitution and iconographic hybridisation, as a result of the multinatural perspectivism (animism) shared with its South American relatives and indigenous transculturation processes. It will also show the implications of a revised interpretation of the archaeological heritage based on a comparative approach using the available Caribbean ethnohistoric records (dated from the fifteenth century, mostly, like the mythological passages recorded by friar Ramón Pané) and contemporary lowland Amerindian ethnography along with the iconographic analysis of Taíno imagery in context, an area in which the pioneer linguist José Juan Arrom made the first advances, but his work now demands review. |
