Trinkets (f)or Treasure? The role of European material culture in intercultural contacts in Hispaniola during early colonial times Floris W.M. Keehnen Trinkets (f)or Treasure? THESIS TO OBTAIN THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN ARCHAEOLOGY – RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN NATIVE AMERICA – FACULTY OF ARCHAEOLOGY – LEIDEN UNIVERSITY Trinkets (f)or Treasure? The role of European material culture in intercultural contacts in Hispaniola during early colonial times Floris W.M. Keehnen Student number: 0518387 Course Code: ARCH 1046WTY Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Corinne L. Hofman Den Haag, June 2012 Floris W.M. Keehnen Conradkade 162 2517 CK Den Haag The Netherlands
[email protected] (+31)617118999 Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University © Floris W.M. Keehnen 2012 Cover image: Christopher Columbus at Hispaniola, (after) 1594 engraving by Theodor de Bry, Plate IX of Americae Pars Quarta, Sive, insignis & admiranda historia de reperta primùm Occidentali India à Christophoro Colombo anno MCCCCXCII. Scripta ab Hieronymo Bezono ... Addita ad singula ferè capita ... scholia [...] ('Grand Voyages to America', vol. 4). Reproduced in Winsor (ed) 1886, The Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. 2. Source: http://www.art-prints-on-demand.com. “One man's trash is another man's treasure ” Contents Acknowledgements 1 | Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 11 1.1 Setting the scene: cultures in contact in the Caribbean ...............................................................