What Is the Caribbean? an Archaeological Perspective

WHAT IS THE CARIBBEAN? AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

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 The Caribbean as a culture area has traditionally been limited to the Antilles and northeastern South America. This geo-cultural construct has thus served to alienate the Antillean chain from other surrounding continental regions that are also bathed by this body of water. Evidence recently recovered from the Antilles of jade circulation that indicates long-term macro-regional interactions across the Caribbeanscape will be presented. These data will be used to show the limitations imposed the current configuration of the Caribbean culture area and to propose the consideration of the Greater Caribbean as a geohistorical area of study.

Résumé Les Caraïbes, comprises comme aire culturelle, ont traditionnellement été limitées aux Antil- les et au nord-est de l’Amérique du Sud. Cette construction géoculturelle a ainsi conduit à dissocier l’archipel antillais des régions continentales voisines, également baignées par la mer des Caraïbes. Cet article éclaire la découverte récente, dans les Antilles, de preuves de la circulation de jade, impliquant des interactions macro-régionales sur une longue période dans le paysage caribéen (Caribbeanscape). Ces données mettent en évidence les limites de la conception traditionnelle de l’aire culturelle Caraïbe et permettent de proposer la prise en compte d’une grande Caraïbe comme aire d’étude géohistorique.

Resumen El área cultural Caribe se ha remitido tradicionalmente a las Antillas y el noreste de América del Sur. Como resultado, este concepto geocultural ha servido para aislar el arco antillano de otras áreas continentales que también son bañadas por este cuerpo de agua. Evidencia recuperada recientemente de las Antillas sobre la circulación de jade, la cual indica interacciones macro-regionales de larga duración, es presentada. Esta evidencia es empleada para demostrar las limitaciones impuestas por la configuración actual del área cultural Caribe y para proponer la consideración del Gran Caribe como un área geohistórica de estudio.

Introduction may seem like a banal statement, the reality The Caribbean is not the Antilles and the is that in archaeological terms the Carib- Antilles is not the Caribbean. Although this bean tends to be summarized into the An-

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 19 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos tilles, a perspective that disregards the fact circulation of jade (in its various forms) that in geographic terms the Caribbean in- across the Caribbean through time. Particu- cludes not only the archipelago but also the lar attention will be paid to evidence of in- rest of the continental areas that are bathed teractions between the precolonial inhabi- by this body of water (cf. Bracho 2004; tants of the Antilles with those of a sur- Gaztambide Géigel 2000, 2003; Rodríguez rounding continental Caribbean region sel- Ramos 2007, in press; Rodríguez Ramos dom mentioned in what is currently con- and Pagán Jiménez 2006; Vidal 2003). ceived as “Caribbean archaeology”: the This archaeological misconception is to Isthmo-Colombian area (sensu Hoopes and a great extent derived from the current con- Fonseca 2003). Through the reexamination figuration of the Caribbean culture area. As of the possible connections between the was established by the late Irving Rouse inhabitants of these two areas in pre- (1960:6), and as is currently conceived by Columbian times, I hope to demonstrate most archaeologists, the Caribbean culture how this shift toward a “Pan- area is constituted by “the region lying east Caribbean” (see Hofman et al., this vol- of Mesoamerica and the Intermediate area, ume) geohistorical perspective has implica- north of Amazonia, and southeast of the tions for the understanding of archaeologi- United States, that is, to central and north- cal processes in both, the insular and the eastern Venezuela, the adjacent part of continental Caribbean. British Guiana, and the West Indies”. The segregationist narrative embedded in the A Brief History of the Caribbean articulation of this geocultural construct Culture Area has thus created a segmented Caribbean Culture areas have been the main geo- body, resulting in a disjoined perspective cultural heuristic devices used in archae- about the ways in which the histories of the ology. Derived primarily from the German- peoples that inhabited the Antilles and Austrian kulturkreise template (Barnard other surrounding continental regions 2000), these have served as the most inclu- united by the Caribbean Sea where shared sive geographic units of culture in archaeo- in precolonial times. logical research since the beginning of the In this work, I will argue for the need to 20th century. Culture areas have been con- reattach this partitioned liquid body in or- ceived as spatially confined cultural cores, der to understand the mutually constituting where peoples shared a set of trait com- nature of the processes that took place in plexes that were mainly defined on the ba- the different areas bound by it. With such sis of the geographic patterning of their an objective, I will propose that we ethnic, linguistic, and cultural makeup at broaden the analytical scope of what we the time of the European conquest and/or archaeologically conceive as the in the ethnographic present (Creamer “Caribbean” by incorporating other conti- 1987). In some cases, such trait complexes nental areas facing such sea. In order to have been traced back in the archaeological demonstrate the utility of employing this record to earlier population movements fluid scape as a unit for archaeological through a direct-historical approach (e.g., analysis and as an avenue of macro- Jones 2003; Rouse 1955; Willey 1971). regional integration, as Fernand Braudel Culture areas have of served to delineate (1972[1944]) did with the Mediterranean, I intra-areal culture-historical trajectories will use as a case sample the multiscalar (often from a phylogenetic perspective)

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 20 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos and to determine the role of the natural en- French word entilles) (e.g., Rafinesque vironment on cultural developments within 1836), since the 17th century the term those areas (Linton 1936). Caribe has become the main referent not However, the use of this modernist con- only for the sea which bears such name but cept has been widely criticized in archae- also for the group of islands that were the ology recently (e.g., Hoopes and Fonseca first context of colonization of Europeans 2004; Lyman et al. 1997). As indicated by and its respondent indigenous resistance in Curet (n.d.), the problems and limitations this hemisphere (Sued Badillo 1978). The of this concept “are many and include as- name Caribe itself is derived from the pects such as the non-historicity of the word caniba, meaning cannibal (Keegan term, the overuse of diffusionism to ex- 2007; Wilson 2007), a term used by the plain similarities, the lack of hierarchiza- Spaniards to demonize the indigenous peo- tion of cultural traits, the lack of consider- ples that resisted their infringement (Sued ing the function and reinterpretation of cul- Badillo 1978). This concept became the tural features in each society within the most common referent to the islands to- area, underestimation of internal variabil- ward the end of the 17th century by way of ity, and the lack of analytical potential of the English word Caribby or Caribbee, the concept”. Despite these limitations, cul- eventually gaining currency in conjunction ture areas are still at the geocultural core of to United States’ expansionist agenda to- archaeological research, having remained ward the south (Gaztambide Geigel 2003; basically unaltered since their original con- Girvan 2001). The colonialist implications struction in the earlier part of the 20th Cen- of this word usage as resulting from the tury in later theoretical perspectives devel- United States’ intrusion accross its south- oped in the discipline. Even concepts that ern frontier have been critically analyzed fall within what has been termed by Short- elsewhere (Gaztambide Géigel 2000, man and Urban (1992) the “interaction 2003). paradigm” such as peer polities (sensu It is within this political context that the Renfrew 1982), interactions spheres (sensu construction of the Caribbean culture area Friedel 1979), and world systems (e.g., took place. The contours of this culture Peregrine 1996; Schneider 1977) have been area were originally established by Fewkes encapsulated within the confines of pre- (1922), who in 1902 came to Puerto Rico defined culture areas (e.g, Mesoamerican on behalf of the Bureau of American Eth- World System [Carmack and Salgado Gon- nology, shortly after the invasion of the zález 2006; Paris 2008], Hopewellian interisland by the United States in 1898 (Hough action sphere [Seeman 1979]). This is par- 1932). On the basis of his extensive re- ticularly evident in the case of what is cur- search in Puerto Rico and other islands in rently conceived as the Caribbean culture the Greater and Lesser Antilles, he was the area, whose definition was established first to propose the arcuate archipelago that more than half a century ago and has re- conforms the Antilles as a distinct culture mained fossilized ever since. area, an idea that was also advocated at the The term “Caribbean” itself has a long time by Holmes (1914) and Wissler (1916) and dilapidated history. Although the origi- from anthropological and museological nal name provided by the Spaniards to the perspectives respectively. Fewkes whole set of islands was Las Indias (i.e., (1922:51) noted that “The Antillean culture Indies) and then Antillas (by way of the is sufficiently self-centered and distinctive

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 21 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos to be called unique, although the germ tal region that is included within this cul- originally came from South America”. ture area. In the early 1930s, the concept of a Car- In the process of inventing the Caribbean ibbean culture area was inserted into the culture area, other geocultural models, such discipline in conjunction with the macro- as the Circum-Caribbean proposed by regional scope of the Caribbean Archae- Steward (1948), were put to the test and ology Program of the Peabody Museum of debunked (Rouse 1953). Steward had de- Yale University, directed at the time by fined the Circum-Caribbean area, primarily Cornelius Osgood. The main research on the basis of ethnographic and ethnohis- agenda of this program was to “attempt to toric data, as being comprised geographi- improve the methodology of archaeology cally by the “Intermediate Area” and the through intensive research in a particular Greater Antilles. He proposed that the area, as well as to resolve the Historic circum-Caribbean peoples that inhabited problems of the aboriginal populations of those areas shared analogous properties the West Indies” (Osgood 1942:6-7, cited that resulted primarily from their develop- in Rodríguez Ramos 2005a:1). The effort ment in similar environmental matrices, of these researchers was erected upon the and that they also shared an Andean platform of what was initially called the “substratum” that diffused across the Car- Puerto Rican Survey, directed since 1914 ibbean Sea (Steward 1948:13; see discus- by Franz Boas, which brought to Puerto sion of this in Curet n.d.; Rodríguez Ramos Rico distinguished archaeologists such as J. in press, Rodríguez Ramos and Pagán Alden Mason, Robert Aitken, and Herman Jiménez 2006). Rouse later criticized Stew- Haeberlin. Their efforts, as well as the later ard’s model by arguing that, although there ones by Froelich Rainey, laid the founda- were some isolated Andean traits that tions for establishing the Caribbean culture might have appeared in the Antilles due to area, which was formally defined in the diffusion, the linguistic, biological, and mid-20th Century by Irving Rouse, who, as cultural makeup of the area indicated a sin- Jesse W. Fewkes, also had the advantage of gle Orinocan origin. getting an Antillean-wide perspective of This fixation on the Orinocan corridor as the culture-historical stratigraphy of the the exclusive ancestral homeland of Antil- islands. By employing the term lean indigenous societies has resonated “Caribbean” not in its “ordinary, geo- archaeologically in a generalized lack of graphical meaning but in a special cultural consideration of the possibility of sustained sense” (Rouse 1992:6), the boundaries of trans-Caribbean engagements between the the Caribbean culture area have since then precolonial inhabitants of the islands with been defined resting on several assump- those from surrounding continental regions tions: that there was only one migration of beyond northeastern South America. Al- pottery making culture to the Antilles, though one of Rouse’s most important con- which represented a biologically and lin- tributions was his early consideration of the guistically homogeneous group; that as- sea as a bridge that united neighboring is- pects of religion, diet, and social organiza- lands, this perspective was limited to the tion of Antillean indigenous societies were maritime passages between insular territo- built over an Amazonian template; and that ries, while paradoxically the Caribbean Sea all those elements were derived from north- was envisioned as a barrier for contacts eastern South America, the only continen- with surrounding continents, as he clearly

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 22 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos exemplified by saying: the rest of the regions unified by this mari- The Caribbean is a large body of open time basin (Alegría [editor] 1994). This water, 1,500 miles long and at least 350 cultural configuration of the Caribbean is miles wide. Traversing it was no problem also observed in the construction of anthro- for Columbus, but so far as is known, the pological perspectives developed for the natives lacked ships, sails and the ability study of “Caribbean” peoples (e.g., Slocum [emphasis mine] to navigate such long dis- and Thomas 2003; Yelvingston 2001). tances. Hence, they are generally assumed As was previously noted, the construc- to have traveled up and down the chain of tion of culture areas as integrative devices islands, rather than across the Caribbean also assumed a horizontal perspective be- Sea (Rouse 1992:1). This quote not only cause these were primarily defined on the makes evident the commonplace downplay basis of similarities in cultural trait com- of the navigational capacities of the native plexes and language documented within inhabitants of the Antilles and the rest of major physiographic divisions in the ethno- the Greater Caribbean, but also shows the historical record and/or in the ethnographic consideration of this body of water as a present. Due to the lack of indigenous negative space, which has led to the ne- groups in existence in the Antilles at the glect of the study of archaeological proc- time in which the Caribbean culture area esses that crosscut the cultural boundary was defined, the establishment of these lines of the peoples united by the Carib- shared traits relied primarily on the Spanish beanscape. chronicles of the islands. Since those re- In fact, as noted elsewhere (Rodriguez cords supposedly indicated that the area Ramos 2007, 2010) the Antilles has been was dominated by groups that spoke a sin- made invisible, literally, by archaeologists gle language and that were otherwise quite working in surrounding continental re- similar, the Caribbean culture area was gions, being even erased from the maps considered to be biologically, linguisti- that delimit their study areas. In other cally, and ethnically homogeneous in pre- cases, the Caribbean portion of continental colonial times. The use of analogies for the areas facing these sea have been labeled as interpretation of aspects such as Antillean part of the “Atlantic” watershed (e.g., cosmovision (Alegría 1978; Boomert 1987; Fonseca 2002; Snarskis 1984), thus obfus- Roe 1989), language (Taylor 1977), diet cating their relationship to this Sea. This (Petersen 1997), and the organization of has been translated into a lack of dialogue communities (Siegel 1992), among many between colleagues working in different others, have often been erected upon a sin- parts of the Caribbean, whose research has gle “Orinoquian” (sensu Gassón 2002) gone almost completely unnoticed by those template. of us working in the Antilles and vice However, as Wilson (1993) has been versa. This is clearly exemplified by the saying for almost two decades, if there is current configuration of the International something that the Caribbean has ever Association for Caribbean Archaeology lacked it is homogeneity. Rather, he has (IACA). Between 1963 and 1994 around defined the Caribbean-with an emphasis on 98 percent of the papers delivered at the the Antilles-as a mosaic of cultures (see IACA Congresses were geographically cir- also Trincado 1984). A similar perspective cumscribed to the areas collapsed under the was ingrained in Mintz’s (1971) definition Caribbean culture area, utterly disregarding of the Caribbean socio-cultural area as he

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 23 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos understood that, although there were social tions” (N’Zergon Tayo 2001:150). This similarities in the Antilles resulting from organizing framework has several impor- colonialist processes such as slavery and tant differences with the culture area ap- sugar production systems, any attempt to proach. First, this analytical category is arrive at a unified ethos in the Caribbean is particularly useful when culturally plural a futile attempt because the area is actually contexts are encountered, as was Braudel’s characterized by cultural, linguistic, and case study in the Mediterranean, because it biological plurality. allows addressing historical processes When envisioning, not only the Antilles, which shaped and were shaped by the cul- but the Greater Caribbean as a seascape of tures and societies of all peoples linked be- plurality within which peoples with distinct yond cultural frontiers from a reticulate ancestral histories contested and negotiated perspective. This is because the frontiers of ideologies and identities in varying ways geocultural areas are porous and, as a re- through time, the inadequacy of the current sult, there is no discrimination by culture, essentialist definition of the Caribbean cul- biology or language in their potential for ture area becomes readily apparent. There- the study of historical, social, and/or cul- fore, I consider that we would be better tural processes. By focusing spatially on served if we work beyond this and the the “liquid planes of the sea”, as Braudel other culture areas that have sliced up Car- (1992:65) did in the Mediterranean, it is ibbean body and rather consider the also assumed that the maritime nature of Greater Caribbean (i.e., pan-Caribbean) a coastal scapes overrides their continental or geohistorical space. This will allow us to insular character. This allows avoiding the overturn the “politics of segrega- limitations imposed by the so-called ‘island tion” (Rodriguez Ramos and Curet in archaeology’ perspective, which has often press) involved in the definition culture restricted our perception of the social dy- areas that has resulted in the segmentation namics registered between the inhabitants of the shared precolonial histories that have of insular and continental territories (cf. bound the peoples united by such body of Boomert and Bright 2007). water through time and will allow us to ad- These geographic analytical units are dress cultural and social processes that also emancipated from the synchronic tem- transcend cultural boundary lines. poral boundaries and the essentialism involved in the definition of culture areas, Toward a Pan-Caribbean Geohistorical thus being able to highlight the changing Perspective dynamics of long-term social and cultural Geohistorical areas have been used as interactions conducted across bodies of wa- units of macro-regional analysis in disci- ter and their effects at the micro and macro plines such as geography (Bentley 1999; scales that recursively constitute each Lewis 1999), history (Amodio 1991; Vidal other. A geohistorical perspective also al- 2003), and sociology (Mintz 1971), as well lows higher degrees of vertical plasticity as in archaeology (McGregor 2002; Sanoja for addressing fluctuating patterns of hu- Obediente 2006). The application of this man activity and interaction through time perspective has allowed scholars to de- beyond cultural boundary lines. For in- velop the “ability to convey the realities of stance, it will be demonstrated that the in- different territories of the region beyond habitants of what is termed Mesoamerica the language barriers and nationalist limita- and the Isthmo-Colombian area were in-

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 24 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos volved in maritime-based interaction net- Guerrero (1993) have established a distinc- works that extended up to the insular Car- tion between true jade which refers to ibbean in varying ways through time, al- jadeitite and nephrite, and social jade, though the Antillean chain lies outside both which includes rocks such as serptentinite, of those spatio-cultural constructs. At first, quartz, and agate, among others. This dis- these interactions involved population tinction is quite important because, as will movements between central Mesoamerica be argued, these rocks were used inter- (i.e., Yucatán Península, Casimiroid series; changeably in the widespread negotiation Rouse 1992) and/or the Isthmo-Colombian of ideological traditions in the area. In ad- area (Rodríguez Ramos 2007; Rodríguez dition to true jades, in the following discus- Ramos and Pagán Jiménez 2006; Veloz sion I will focus on three other forms of Maggiolo 1972) and the Antilles, while social jade: serpentinite, turquoise, and ra- later on the interactions focused on the diolarian limestone. These rocks were used long distance negotiation of prestige- concomitantly with jadeitite in the Antilles enhancing commodities (raw materials and for the production of similar personal finished products) and their attached ideo- adornments and/or celts, so they seem to logical narratives between the inhabitants have played overlapping symbolical and of those territories (Rodriguez Ramos functional roles. 2007, 2010; Rodriguez Ramos and Pagan Jimenez 2006). As previously mentioned, The Sources the possible implications of these broad Sourcing studies have determined the horizontal phenomena in both the insular main social and true jade occurrences in and the continental Caribbean have not the Greater Caribbean (Figure 1). The prin- been adequately addressed due to the cipal source of jadeitite often mentioned in straightjacketing that cultural areas have the archaeological literature has been lo- imposed on their analysis. cated in the Motagua River Valley of Gua- By using the pan-Caribbean as a pano- temala. The movement of this material into ramic subject, I will now turn my attention the Caribbean basin seems to have pro- to the macro-regional distribution of jade in ceeded from the Motagua Fault Zone to- order to show how does adopting a geohis- ward the Caribbean coast of Guatemala, torical perspective might help us gain a around drainages of the Motagua, Dulce, better understanding of the processes that and Sarstun Rivers. From there, jadeitite took place between the many peoples moved along the coast as far north as the united by the Caribbean Sea. Yucatan Peninsula, south down to Colom- bia, and across the Caribbean to the Antil- Jade Distribution across the Caribbean- les, as will be discussed below. On the scape other hand, in the Pacific coast the reach of One of the types of materials that have the southern circulation of this raw material the longest record of circulation in the Pan- seems to have been more limited, stopping Caribbean has been jade. Jade is a generic south in the Greater Nicoya (Fernandez term often used for making reference to 2006). different types of gemstones and greenish Until recently, the Motagua source was lustrous rocks that represented very impor- considered to be the only occurrence of tant commodities during precolonial times jadeitite in the Americas (Harlow 1993; for in the Greater Caribbean. Lange (1993) and arguments against the single-source hy-

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 25 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos

Figure 1. Location of jade sources in the Greater Caribbean. Round symbols reflect jadeitite and square ones indicate serpentinite. pothesis see Bishop and Lange 1993). this type of rock in the area, as will be dis- However, recent research has also docu- cussed below. mented jadeitite in the Greater Antilles, The distribution of nephrite is the less namely in south central (Escambray) and well researched form of true jade. Occur- eastern (Sierra del Convento) Cuba rences of this type of rock have been pro- (García-Casco et al. 2008), as well as in posed for Bahía in Brazil and the Santa north-central Hispaniola (San Juan com- Elena peninsula in northwestern Costa Rica plex mélange; Baese et al. 2007; Schertl et (Fernández 2005:27), but thus far no geo- al. 2007). These sources form part of the logical confirmation of their local occur- tectonic boundary zone between the Carib- rences has been produced neither in South bean and the North American plates, which America or Mesoamerica (Middletown extends eastward from Guatemala into 2006). Puerto Rico. The existence of jadeitite There are other important sources of so- sources has also been mentioned for south- cial jade that have been documented in the western Puerto Rico in association to the Greater Caribbean. Serpentinite is the type Sierra Bermeja Complex (Moya 1989; of social jade that seems to have the widest Smith 1954), but there has been no geo- distribution in the area (Cody 1991). In the logical confirmation of its occurrence. Al- Antilles, several sources of serpentinite though thus far there are no quarry sites have been located. The most often cited in associated to any of these Antillean jadeit- the archaeological literature of the islands ite sources nor any artifacts clearly as- is the serpentinite occurrence that is located cribed to them, their documentation opens in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico a complete new avenue of investigations (Laó-Dávila 2008; Mattson 1964), which for the understanding the distribution of has been considered as the most likely

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 26 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos provenance for most of the pendants and of these materials have been classified. celts made of this raw material in the archi- Therefore, further lithic characterization pelago (Cody 1991; Narganes Storde 1995; research is definitely needed to corroborate Rodríguez López 1993; Rodríguez Ramos the adscription of artifacts to the different 2002). However, further consideration types of jade rocks and their sources. needs to be provided to other serpentinite As will be discussed below, all of the occurrences located in Jamaica, Cuba, and aforementioned jade sources intersected in Hispaniola (Laó Dávila 2008) as potential the interaction networks articulated in the sources for this raw material in the islands. Greater Caribbean through time. Now, I Other sources of this raw material have will turn my attention to the production and been documented in both the Pacific and circulation of materials made of these rock the Caribbean sides of Costa Rica types in the area and how these interaction (Fernandez 2006; Guerrero 1993), Guate- networks shifted through time. I will divide mala, Bay Islands of Honduras (George this discussion along the lines of critical Harlow, personal communication 2010), periods when the main temporal changes in Margarita Island, northwestern Venezuela, the pan-regional distribution of these re- and Colombia (Guajira peninsula) (Wagner sources are registered, following the lead and Schubert 1972). of Bentley (1996; see also Rodriguez Other widely distributed form of social Ramos 2007, 2010) for addressing long jade is radiolarian limestone. Sourcing term changes in societies under interaction studies have clearly ascribed radiolarian within maritime basins. limestone to the Point Blanche Formation of St. Martin (Knippenberg 2006). This 2500 - 500 BC: The Foundational Period Antillean version of social jade, because of The available evidence indicates that its green and lustrous character, was widely jadeitite use in the Americas starts around circulated across Puerto Rico and the 1500 BC in Soconusco in association to Lesser Antilles, primarily in association to Mocaya sites, eventually gaining currency the production of celts (Haviser 1999; Hof- in Olmec territory, most notably in Ve- man et al. 2007; Knippenberg 2006). Ar- racruz (Taube 2004). The geological prove- chaeological contexts of the Antilles and nance of the finely carved jadeitite pieces other continental parts of the Greater Car- that have been recovered in these Forma- ibbean have also shown the use of tur- tive sites have been traced to the Motaguan quoise. Thus far, there are no known occur- source, from where these were exported rences of this type of raw material in the north along the Caribbean coast into south- Greater Caribbean, as its nearest sources eastern Mexico. Jade (including jadeitite are in northern Bolivia, northern Mexico and locally available serpentinite) has been and the southwestern United States (Cody considered to be central to Olmec ideology 1991; Rodríguez López 1993). but, as far as it is known, it did not become It should be noted that in most cases, the a major exchange commodity south of identification of the particular archaeologi- Mexico until around 900 BC, when it was cal materials as either form of jade have imported south to Copán in Honduras been based on visual inspections that need (Fernández 2006). Thus far, no evidence of further corroboration by a trained expert. true or social jade has been unearthed in This is particularly the case of the catch-all the Isthmo-Colombian area prior to 500 “greenstone” category, under which some BC.

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 27 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos

In the Greater Antilles, the earliest refer- wisdom regarding early plant dispersals in ence that we have of the movement of so- the Neotropics indicated that domesticates cial jade comes from Puerto Rico. There, such as maize had spread south from its serpentinite beads have been found in pre- homeland in western Mexico, while others Arawak contexts with dates that go back to such as manioc were supposed to have 2500 BC. Personal adornments of tear- moved from South America into Central drop shape made of this form of social jade America. This supposedly took place via have been unearthed from the Ortiz site in overland or coastal routes predominantly Cabo Rojo (Koski-Karell 1993) and, in as- along a north-south axis (Dickau 2005). sociation to a burial, in Angostura (Ayes However, when considering the evidence Suárez 1988) in north-central Puerto Rico. recently generated in the Antilles a com- Although scarce, this evidence indicates pletely different panorama is observed that the pre-Arawak inhabitants of the is- since it indicates that these and other culti- land were moving this type of raw material vars were translocated outside the conti- across rather long distances within, at least, nent into the islands since at least 2500 BC, Puerto Rico thus highlighting its early im- which is much earlier than originally portance for those societies (Rodriguez thought. This not only underlines the im- Ramos 2007). Thus far no evidence has portance of navigation as a mechanism for been found in these sites of blanks, pre- early plant dispersals in the neotropics but forms or debitage associated to the produc- also indicates the multiple vectors across tion of the aforementioned personal adorn- which these botanical traditions were dif- ments, these seem to have been moved as fused (cf. Pagán Jiménez et al. 2005; Rod- finished items between locations. A rim riguez Ramos 2005b, 2007; Rodríguez fragment of a serpentinite stone bowl as Ramos and Pagán Jiménez 2007). The evi- well as a polishing stone have also been dence from the islands also demands that documented in Banwari Trace, in Trinidad more research is placed on the continental (Harris 1973), where this type of raw mate- Caribbean in order to look for the sources rial has not been documented locally thus of such botanical traditions, which must far. The finding of jade-like rocks has also have reached those coastal locations much been reported in an early context in earlier than is actually thought (cf. Griggs Guayana in northeastern Venezuela 2005). (Sanoja Obediente 1980). These botanical traditions also included During this period, there has been no a plant-processing repertoire that was evidence of the translocation of any jade dominated by the edge-ground cobble/ form across the Caribbean Sea. However, millingstone complex. Experimental work there are other indications of the interac- and starch grain evidence recovered from tions between the insular and the continen- Colombia, Panama, and Puerto Rico has tal Caribbean, namely through the circula- shown that these implements were associ- tion of a botanic tradition that emphasized ated to the confection of pastes that could the movement of cultivar complex that in- be transformed into meals by different reci- cluded maize, manioc, and sweet potatoes pes such as the making of bollos, tamales, (Fortuna 1980; Pagán Jiménez 2007; Pagán or guanimes (Ranere 1980; Rodríguez Jiménez et al. 2005), as has been docu- Ramos 2005b). This indicates that the mented thus far in Puerto Rico and His- macro-regional spread of these early bo- paniola. Prior to these findings, common tanical complexes entailed much more than

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 28 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos the mere translocation of domesticated celts and personal adornments (Guerrero crops and agricultural techniques, but also 1993). The earliest evidence of jade con- involved the spread of culinary repertoires sumption in this region comes from La Re- and very likely a set of ideological princi- gla in the Gulf of Nicoya, in the form of an ples associated with those botanical tradi- axe-god pendant found in a burial context tions. This is particularly notable when dated to circa 500 BC. The widespread dis- considering the central role that maize tribution of jade goods as well as of the played in Formative societies in Central ideological narratives attached to them has America during this time and until much been associated to the early rise of social later. asymmetry in the area (Corrales 1999). Furthermore, obsidian, which very likely Jade working in Costa Rica has also been has either a Central American or an An- considered to be an indicator of a dean origin, has also been documented on southbound Olmec ideological vector from Puerto Rico (Febles 2004; Rodriguez where the traditions of jade working and its Ramos 2007). Furthermore, some Greater attended symbolism originated, which in- Antillean early pottery traditions seem to fluenced southern developments until much have spread between the Antilles and the later in time (Snarskis 1984). Isthmo-Colombian area (Reichel Dol- The main source of the jade used in this matoff (1997) and/or northern Venezuela period in the continental Caribbean contin- (Arvelo and Wagner 1984; Zucchi 1984) ues to be that of the Motagua river valley. much prior to previously thought. This evi- This period shows a considerable distribu- dence for the maritime circulation of early tion of raw materials from this source, go- botanical traditions, early pottery, and ing north up to Mayan territory in the Yu- lithic materials between the Antilles and catan and down to northwestern Colombia surrounding continental regions, brings around AD 300 (Saenz Samper and Lleras back the idea of the articulation of a pan- Pérez 1999). In addition to jadeitite and Caribbean Formative, as was suggested nephrite, sites in the continental Caribbean more than two decades ago by Donald also evidence the use of other forms of so- Lathrap and José Oliver (1986; see also cial jade, such as serpentinite. The exten- Rodríguez Ramos and Pagán Jiménez sive networks documented in the Isthmo- 2006), which might have laid the founda- Colombian area at this time have tradition- tions for the later interactions that took ally been deemed to reflect a similar north- place within this body of water, such as south axis of influence as was the afore- those registered since 500 BC that empha- mentioned case of early cultivars (i.e., sized the negotiation of an ideological rep- maize to the south and manioc to the ertoire objectified in celts and shiny wear- north). This is because jade traditions have able art, as will be discussed below. been argued to diffuse south from Meso- america while metallurgical traditions 500 BC – AD 500/700: The Iridescent spread north from Colombia, again via Period overland or coastal routes (Cooke 2005; It is after 500 BC that a Fluorescent pe- Fernandez 2005). However, the horizontal riod of jadeite movement has been docu- configuration of these networks again mented in the Isthmo-Colombian area, changes dramatically when considering the most notably in Costa Rica emphasizing evidence generated in the Antilles, where the circulation of jadeitite and social jade an emphasis on the consumption of jade

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 29 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos celts and personal adornments (as well as Colombia at this time (Perera 1979; Plazas tumbaga, as will be discussed below) dur- 2007; Rodríguez Ramos 2007, in press; ing this period is also observed mirroring Rodríguez Ramos and Pagán Jiménez the changes noted at this time in the 2006). Isthmo-Colombian area, most conspicu- ously in Costa Rica (McGinnis 1997; In addition to the iconographic parallels Rodríguez Ramos 2007; Rodríguez Ramos between the wearable art of the Isthmo- and Pagán Jiménez 2006; Sued Badillo Colombian area and the Antilles, these 1979). items were also produced following similar The available evidence indicates that technological styles, as is particularly noted some of the most recurrent pan-regional by the use of string sawing for the produc- themes observed in the Isthmo-Colombian tion of the beak bird pendants as well as area are manifested in quite a similar fash- the use of transverse drilling for pendant ion in contemporaneous contexts in Puerto suspension in both areas. It should be noted Rico and the northern Antilles, in associa- that the use of the string sawing technique tion to both, Huecoid and Saladoid cultural outside Puerto Rico has only been observed manifestations. Amongst the pan-regional thus far at this time in Costa Rica, Ecuador, themes reflected in personal adornments Mexico, and southeastern United States. associated to these Antillean cultural mani- The concomitances between these Antil- festations are the representation of beak lean and Isthmo-Colombian adornments birds, axe-god, curly-tailed, frog-shaped, are not only limited to iconographic and reptilian, and winged pendants (Figure 2), technological elements, but are also re- which are markedly similar to contempora- flected in the types of raw materials se- neous pieces produced in Costa Rica and lected for their production, as these were

Figure 2. Pan-Caribbean themes objectified in personal adornments in the Antilles: (a) axe-god pendant, Anti- gua (modified from http://www.archaeologyantigua.org.htm); (b) frog-shaped pendant, La Hueca-Sorcé, Vieques (Centro de Investigaciones Arqueológicas [CIA]); (c) curly-tailed pendant, La Hueca-Sorcé (CIA); (d) reptilian amulet, La Hueca-Sorcé (CIA); (e) beak-bird pendant, La Hueca-Sorcé (CIA).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 30 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos

Figure 3. Jade pendants. Far left Tecla I, Guayanilla, Puerto Rico (CIA); all others La Hueca Sorcé, Vieques (CIA). manufactured using the various forms of ero (Figure 4), from where they were jade, which included jadeitite, serpentinite, moved south all the way down to Grenada and nephrite (Figure 3). (Cody 1991; Oliver 2008). Unfortunately, thus far there have not In contrast, in the case of the jadeitite and been any detailed petrographic studies on nephrite pendants, there has been no indi- these ornamental materials in the Antilles, cation of their intra-Antillean manufacture. so their identification (particularly of This indicates that either these jadeite jadeitite and nephrite) remains tentative at pieces were brought as finished items or present. that their last stages of reduction were con- Blanks and performs of serpentinite ducted at off-site or unsampled locations. beads and pendants have been documented This is also the case of turquoise, which thus far in Puerto Rico contexts in La seem also to have arrived in finished form Hueca-Sorcé, Maisabel, and Punta Candel- to the islands, as no evidence of discarded

Figure 4. Serpentinite preforms of beak-bird pendants, Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico (courtesy of Miguel Rodríguez López).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 31 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos performs or detritus associated to their time in the manufacture of jade celts in the transformation into tools has been recov- Antilles, most notably made of social jade ered thus far (Chanlatte Baik and Narganes varieties available within the islands such Storde 2005). As previously noted, the ori- as serpentinite (Figure 5) and radiolarian gins of these rocks is not clear at the mo- limestone (see Knippenberg 2006; ment, but on the basis of reported geologi- Rodríguez Ramos 2007). cal occurrences these could been obtained could be from Chile by way of Colombia, Serpentinite and peridotite celts have been or from Mexico, perhaps following a simi- documented in Puerto Rico in sites such as lar route of that of the Guatemalan jadeitite La Hueca-Sorcé, Maisabel, and Punta into Puerto Rico. Candelero. In none of those sites has there It should be noted that although there are been any indication of their local produc- some marked similarities in the icono- tion, so these also seem to have been circu- graphic themes that were deployed in these lated as finished items. forms of jade as well as in their technologi- The widest intra-Antillean distribution cal styles of manufacture, the contexts in during this time of greenstone celts has which these have been found vary between the Isthmo-Colombian area and the Antil- les. For instance, in Costa Rica, these jadeite pieces are usually associated to burial contexts (Guerrero 1993), while in Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles these materials have usually been found in mounded middens. Despite the iconographic similarities, there are also some interesting differences in the ways that the themes are represented both areas, as for example while in Costa Rica most of these birds seem to be in the act of feeding or eating the prey (being depicted by the beak con- nected to the head), in the Huecoid the beak of the bird is separated from the clasped head, perhaps representing the act of catching it. This might be either suggest- ing local reinterpretations in both areas of the same motif or different but related events within a single mythical narrative (Rodríguez Ramos 2007, in press). This indicates that, although some of the ideological narratives that are attached to these materials are spread in these areas, still the negotiations that are made with such materials vary from region to region. As is the case in the Isthmo-Colombian area, there was an emphasis during this Figure 5. Serpentinite celt (6.75x3.75 cm), Maisabel, Puerto Rico.

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 32 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos been associated to radiolarian limestone. lands. In fact, the dates from Puerto Rico, Knippenberg’s (2006) studies have demon- St. Croix, and Antigua where this raw ma- strated that there were some focal points of terial has been unearthed are at least half a radiolarian celt manufacture, namely in St. millennium earlier than the earliest Arawa- Martin initially and eventually between St. kan contexts of Cuba and Hispaniola. Kitts and Anguilla, from which these were Therefore, if the Cuban or Hispaniolan exported west into consumption sites into sources were indeed the areas from which Puerto Rico and south into Martinique. In jadeite was procured and then circulated to fact, Haviser (1991) has argued for the the islands to the east, this could imply the presence of celt manufacturing centers in articulation an Pre-Arawak/Saladoid/ the northern Antilles (an example being Huecoid interaction network, as has been Hope Estate), from which these imple- suggested for Puerto Rico (Rodríguez ments were widely distributed by maritime Ramos 2002, 2007). But, taking into con- based networks into consumption sites in sideration the iconographic and technologi- islands to the south. cal concomitances observed between the Petrographic studies conducted by Isthmo-Colombian region, Puerto Rico, George Harlow have shown the presence of and the northern Antilles at this time, it is jadeitite celts in Huecoid and Saladoid con- very likely that the jadeitites found in ar- texts in Puerto Rico (Harlow 2007, cited in chaeological sites that date to this period Rodríguez Ramos 2007), St. Croix (Hardy have a Central American origin. 2008), and Antigua (Harlow et al. 2006). Almost all of the jadeitite celts docu- This researcher has proposed as the most mented thus far are of petaloid (i.e., tear plausible provenance of the jadeite used in drop) shape. However, a notable finding the manufacture of these ground bifaces the has been that of one jadeitite plano-convex Motagua Valley in Guatemala. If this is adze that was recovered from Tecla 1 in further confirmed, this would provide solid southwestern Puerto Rico. Due to its asso- evidence for the participation of the inhabi- ciation to mortuary practices and its lack of tants of the island in the pan-regional inter- use traces at the macroscopic level, the action spheres that led to the movement of plano-convex adze has commonly been this raw material during this period. considered to be manufactured for non- The aforementioned evidence of jadeite utilitarian activities (Rodriguez Ramos occurrences recently reported in Cuba 2001, 2007; Siegel 1992). This finding of a (García-Casco et al. 2009) and Hispaniola jadeitite plano-convex adze is quite inter- (Baese et al. 2007; Schertl et al. 2007) pro- esting, since this type of celt has not been vide additional geologic alternatives for the documented thus far in northeastern South obtainment of this important raw material. America in contexts predating those of However, it should be noted that thus far Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles, while there is no evidence in Cuba or Hispaniola it has been widely documented in Costa of finished jadeitite artifacts or their pro- Rica. This indicates the pan-regional im- duction predating or contemporaneous to portance placed in the manufacture of this Huecoid and Hacienda Grande contexts type of implement at this time. Particularly from Puerto Rico and the northern Lesser in Costa Rica, plano-convex adzes are Antilles. Thus far, there are also no ar- found without decorations or as pendants chaeological contexts associated to any of depicting the axe-god motif, thus signaling those cultural manifestations in those is- the possibility that this type of implement

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 33 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos might have played a significant ideological lapidary work across these vast stretches of role in the Antillean negotiation of the sea. mythical narratives associated to those celt The botanical evidence recovered during idols in the Isthmo-Colombian area. Thus this time also provides further confirmation far, there has been no evidence for the in- of these Isthmo-Antillean engagements. tra-Antillean manufacture of jadeitite celts, Pagán Jiménez (2007) has noted that, also these were very likely imported to the though most of the cultivated plants con- sites in finished forms. sumed by the Huecoid had already been Another product that has an Isthmo- introduced during pre-Arawak times, one colombian origin and made its way to of the missing pieces of the Isthmo- Puerto Rico is tumbaga or guanín (i.e., a Colombian plant assemblage, lerén gold copper alloy), which very likely ar- (Calathea allouia and calatea or Calathea rived through the same networks that pro- cf. veitchiana), was found amongst the moted jade circulation across the Carib- Huecoid botanical assemblage. Further- beanscape. The metallurgical evidence more, the possible use of hallucinogenic comes from a guanín hammered plate re- substances associated to a similar array of covered from a Saladoid context in north- snuff inhaling paraphernalia in both areas ern Puerto Rico dated to AD 100 (Siegel (Oliver 2009; Wilson 2007) might attest and Severin 1993), which is a time where shared ritual practices between these re- the only circum-Caribbean areas where this gions. gold-copper alloy was being produced As suggested by Helms (1987), the mari- were located between Colombia and Costa time movement of agents through such Rica (Fernández 2005). Other materials long distances provided them with a privi- that were of marked importance in the leged access to the sources of esoteric Isthmo-Colombian area and the Antilles for knowledge. This must have played a piv- the manufacture of wearable art is mullu, a otal role in the social accommodation of concept that makes reference to artifacts those individuals who were able to reach made of Pinctada and Spondylus shells those places located beyond the horizon. which have usually been considered as em- Although most researchers of the insular blems of long distance relationships Caribbean (e.g., Curet and Oliver 1998; (Cooke and Sánchez 2001). Also, drilled Siegel 1992) consider that the societies of jaguar and peccary teeth for their use as the islands during this period were equali- pendants have been documented in Puerto tarian, Cody (1991; see also Chanlatte and Rico, which is very notable since none of Narganes 1983) has argued that these long those animals formed part of the endemic distance engagements served to legitimize fauna of the Antilles (Chanlatte Baik and a pyramidal societal structure in, at least, Narganes Storde 2005). Other artifacts those communities that participated in such as the womb-shaped vessel recovered these macro-regional networks at this time. from the Saladoid context of Indian Creek This echoes the observations about the on- (Rouse and Morse 1999) also show marked set of social asymmetry noted for the similarities to contemporaneous materials Isthmo-Colombian area at this time from Costa Rica. All of this evidence un- (Corrales 1999; Fonseca 2002; Hoopes derlines the pan-regional negotiation of 2005). As argued by Drennan (1984), the technical and ideological traditions re- long distances involved in these inter- flected in pottery, shell, metallurgical, and societal translocations of jade pieces indi-

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 34 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos cates that it is very unlikely that these en- cal grammar observed in later contexts in gagements involved high-necessity goods, the Antilles and the Isthmo-Colombian but rather were mostly concentrated on so- area. This could have been a very impor- cial transactions emphasizing rank- tant element in social practices that eventu- enhancing commodities and information. ally gave rise to pyramidal social structures Therefore, the enzymatic agent behind the in these areas, which intensifies after AD movement of these fetishized objects rested 500, as will be discussed below. on their imbued ideological capital, which was variably negotiated at both the local AD 500/700 – 1500: The Nucleation and extralocal levels by all the parties that Period participated in these inter-societal transac- After AD 500, there is a marked shift in tions across the Caribbean. the insular Caribbean with regards to the Perhaps, the population movements of articulation of the interaction networks reg- Early Ceramic societies from the continen- istered earlier in time. This is reflected by tal Caribbean into the Antilles during this the marked decline in the widespread dis- period at least in part responded to the tribution of shiny raw materials used for search of agents for suitable venues in making personal adornments concomitant which to position themselves within these with an increase in emphasis in the circula- pan-Caribbean interaction networks tion of green celts. Taking into considera- (Rodríguez Ramos 2007, in press). This tion the technological changes noted during could explain why some of the earliest sites this period in the organization of core-flake are located in proximity to sources of mate- technologies toward ones that emphasized rials with ritual and/or economic value in the manufacture of larger and thicker these transactional circuits, which may also flakes, it is very likely that these interaction point to community-levels of specialization circuits emphasized the circulation of wood in the manufacture of certain goods that commodities (Rodríguez Ramos 2007). were important in such networks. This is These changes coincide with marked al- the case, for instance, of the social jade ob- terations in the social structure of Antillean tained from the serpentinite belt located societies, most notably in Puerto Rico and nearby Tecla and the radiolarian limestone the Greater Antilles. Among some of the used in green-stone celt production ob- most notable changes observed during this served in Hope Estate, both of which were period that signal higher degrees of social within easy reach from those sites. stratification are the construction of stone The trans-Caribbean engagements regis- lined precincts or bateyes, shifts from com- tered during this period not only indicate munal to nuclear households, the practice the movement of raw materials, technologi- of tabular oblique fronto-occipital cranial cal styles, and iconographic themes but deformation in certain individuals, and also seem to have entailed the macro- changes in mortuary behaviors from ones regional negotiation of a system of belief that emphasized a kin-based corporate sys- that was materially and symbolically objec- tem where there was a communal right tified in the aforementioned materials. The over space and ideology to a formalized pan-regionally negotiated structural princi- lineage based elite that now had control ples of this cosmovision perhaps laid the over those resources (Crespo Torres 2005; foundation for the eventual materialization Curet 2003; Curet and Oliver 1998; Pagán of some of the most conspicuous ideologi- Jiménez 2007).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 35 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos

It around this period that a shift in em- St. Johns), St. Eustatius (Golden Rock), phasis from jade to tumbaga circulation is Anguilla (Forest North), Saba (Kelbey’s noted in the Isthmo-Colombian area, most Ridge), Guadeloupe (Anse à la Gourde), notably after AD 700 (Guerrero 1993; and several other islands, going all the way Hooopes 2005; Snarskis 2003). As is the down to sites near Balembouche in St. Lu- case in the Antilles, this shift toward in- cia (Figure 6). creasing levels of social asymmetry was a widespread phenomenon, which extended Thus far, petrographic studies have been from eastern Honduras to Sierra Nevada de conducted on jadeitite celts from Tecla II Santa Marta in Colombia (Hoopes 2005). and Río Tanamá sites in Puerto Rico The available evidence indicates that it is (Harlow 2007, cited in Rodríguez Ramos after AD 500 that the widest distribution of 2007) and have again traced this raw mate- jadeitite celts is registered in the Antilles, rial back to the Motagua formation in Gua- now involving other Greater Antilles be- temala. If, as has been usually argued, the sides Puerto Rico as well as other islands in control of the exploitation and distribution the Lesser Antilles. Based on visual inspec- of jadeitite nurtured the nucleation of tions of the materials, jadeitite celts have power as a core strategy in the Meso- also been observed in the Dominican Re- american World System at this time (which public (El Cabo), Puerto Rico (La Mina, now includes the northern part of the Monserrate, Tibes, Jácanas, Aguacate), the Isthmo-Colombian area; Carmack and Virgin Islands (Coakley Bay and Estate Salgado 2006), then the particular role that Adrian in St. Croix and Estate Anguilla in the inhabitants of the Antilles played as

Figure 6. Jadeitite celts. (left) El Cabo, Dominican Republic (courtesy of Alice Samson); (right) Tecla II, Guayanilla, Puerto Rico.

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 36 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos active participants in the macro-regional there have been some mentions of personal distribution of this raw material needs to be adornments made of this type of raw mate- further addressed, in order to elucidate rial during this period. Frog shaped jadeit- what was coming back from the Antilles ite pendants have been observed in sites into the continent in exchange for jadeitite such as Jácanas and Aguacate in Puerto social goods. Rico as well as in Anse à la Gourde in The widespread movement of jadeitite is Guadeloupe (Figure 7). mirrored in the Antilles by the long- distance distribution of radiolarian lime- No evidence of preforms or debitage asso- stone. During this period, there is an in- ciated to the production of these adorn- crease in sites to which radiolarian lime- ments has been uncovered thus far at those stone objective pieces were moved for their sites, thus underlining again the fact that local transformation into celts, including these seem to have been moved either as islands such as Anguilla, Saba, and St. finished items and/or as pre-shaped per- Martin (Crock 2000; Knippenberg 2006). forms to the different locations from yet From these sites, finished celts were dis- unknown production sites. tributed as far south as Martinique It is quite possible that after AD 1000, (Knippenberg 2006). No radiolarian lime- the Cuban and Hispaniolan sources of stone celts have been uncovered west of St. jadeitite get inserted into the pan-regional Martin, so the connection with Puerto Rico, distribution of this raw material along Vieques, and the Virgin Islands related to routes previously delineated in the interac- the counterclockwise movement of this raw tion networks that also emphasized the material subsides after AD 500. movement of this raw material from other Although the emphasis during this pe- sources (i.e., Motagua). Jadeitite has been riod on jade circulation was related to celts, recovered at this time from the Bahamas

Figure 7. Jadeitite pendant, Anse à la Gourde, Guadeloupe (courtesy of Sebastiaan Knippenberg).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 37 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos

(Carlson 1995; Rose 1989) and Jamaica semblances to specimens in the Isthmo- (Allsworth-Jones 2008). In Cuba, artifacts Colombian area, most notably those of Co- associated to the “Taíno” culture were re- lombia. In fact, monolithic axes are still covered from a site quite near jadeitite oc- being used by the Kogi in rain ceremonies currences in the eastern part of the island (Bray 2003), and were very likely used in (García Casco et al. 2009; Mendoza the Antilles and Colombia in precolonial Cuevas et al. 2009). times for similar ritual activities. Another notable Greater Antillean devel- The pan-regional negotiation of the ideo- opment takes place after AD 1000 has to logical template that led to the maritime do with the production of adorned celts that circulation of these celts was very likely sport emblems reminiscent of the axe-god associated also to the movement of guanín motif documented in Costa Rica (as well as or tumbaga. These gold-copper alloy in the aforementioned Antiguan axe-god adornments were brought to the Antilles pendant) since much earlier. Celts deco- from the mainland, as there is no evidence rated with these images have been uncov- of the practice of metallurgy anywhere in ered from Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the Antilles. Due to the fact that there has Cuba (Figure 8). been no finding of guanín in the Lesser

However, in contrast to the ones produced in Costa Rica, these are not to be worn but rather served as hand held implements. Also, while the head of the Costa Rican icons is located to the “poll” side of the celts, in the Antillean specimens these are located toward their bits, again showing a varia- tion of the same theme in these areas. Another type of implement that appears after AD 1000 in the Greater Antilles that shows the heavy ideological loads imbued in these ground implements is the monolithic axe. Greater Antillean axes show marked re-

Figure 8. Decorated celts depicting variations of the axe-god motif. (left) Dominican Republic; (center) Puerto Rico; (right) Cuba (modified from plates VIe, VIIb, and XIXb from Herrera Fritot 1964).

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 38 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos

Antilles or any evidence of metallurgical dalities (Hoopes 2005:25). If such is the practices in northeastern South America, it case, the production of these sacred centers is very likely that these prestige-enhancing might be related to a process of religious items were brought to the Greater Antilles ‘routinization’ (Oyuela Caycedo 2002) by directly from the Isthmo-Colombian area which a set of precepts was transmitted be- across the Caribbean Sea, as was the case tween priestly and/or chiefly authorities at proposed of the Motaguan jade. Other pres- both the micro and macro-regional levels tige paraphernalia such as the stone belts, (Hoopes 2005) across the Caribbean. dujos, and other materials made of black- polished wood (Helms 1987) could have Discussion also been inserted in these pan-regional The information that is available regard- networks of highly valued commodities ing the pan-regional distribution of differ- within which ideologies and knowledge ent forms of jade in the Greater Caribbean were objectified. Some of these superstruc- that has been hereby presented seems to be tural-based interactions extended between very promising for understanding the types the Greater and the Lesser Antilles, leading of inter-societal and ideological engage- to the inter-island movement of ceremonial ments that were established through time paraphernalia and/or its emulation by the across this sea between the Antilles and the inhabitants of the islands engaged in these Isthmo-Colombian area, and potentially networks within which ‘Tainoness’ was other continental Caribbean regions. How- negotiated (Allaire 1990; Hofman and ever, there are still many voids in the data Hoogland 2004; Hoogland and Hofman that we have available, particularly from 1993; Mol 2007; Oliver 2009; Rodríguez the islands, which definitely make any ob- Ramos 2007). servation at this time preliminary. Never- These macro-regional engagements theless, on the basis of the data at hand might have also been related to the con- there are some trends that are emerging in struction of integrative facilities, or the pan-regional distribution of jade that bateyes, in the Greater Antilles and in the we want to advance: northern Lesser Antilles (most notably in (1) The pan-Caribbean distribution of jade Antigua). As has been noted by Wilson starts around 500-300 BC, and seems to (2007b), these bateyes show quite marked have been framed upon previous interso- architectural similarities to enclosures built cietal networks that were established since between Colombia and Costa Rica at this earlier times across the Caribbean Sea. The time. The lithification of the landscape in- macro-regional distribution of jade focuses dicated by the construction of these archi- initially on the production of personal tectural features is related to an emphasis adornments, some of which objectify in the enacting of communalizing activities iconographic themes that circulated along that served to negotiate sameness and dif- with ideological narratives and their tech- ference between groups at the local and nological styles of production, most nota- macroregional levels (Rodriguez Ramos bly in the Antilles and the Isthmo- 2007). Perhaps, in addition to their local- Colombian area. ized functions, these structures served to (2) On the basis of the iconographic and engage networks of interacting elites of the technological correspondences observed Isthmo-Colombian area and the Antilles in between these two areas at this time, in the negotiation of widespread religious so- conjunction with the lack of evidence of

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 39 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos the exploitation of intra-Antillean jadeitite sources, the evidence seems to pinpoint to Concluding Remarks Guatemala as the main (or perhaps the This analysis of the pan-regional distri- only) source of this raw material before bution of jadeite in the Greater Caribbean AD 1000, being interchangeably used for has aimed to show how does working be- the production of similar items with locally yond the cultural boundary lines in the available materials. Guatemalan jadeitite Greater Caribbean allows addressing proc- made its way between Puerto Rico and An- esses of maritime-based precolonial inter- tigua, from where it might have eventually actions. This type of study had previously been moved clockwise into the Lesser An- been limited due to the physical fragmenta- tilles. tion of the Caribbean into culture areas, (3) Sometime around AD 500, this empha- which tended to obscure our perceptions of sis on the circulation of wearable art sub- processes that take place beyond their con- sides, while a transition to the widespread stituent limits. movement of jadeitite celts is registered in The available evidence indicates that, the Antilles, perhaps in tandem with an in- starting around 500 BC, there were multi- crease emphasis in the circulation of ple intersecting circuits of jade distribution wooden commodities. The movement of in the Greater Caribbean, which were also these materials is inserted within previ- related to the widespread movement of ously articulated interaction spheres that other types of gemstones, metals, wood, emphasized the movement of green shiny and shell artifacts. The mechanisms and the celts made out of radiolarian limestone and social and ideological reasons that regu- serpentinite, most notably between eastern lated the circulation of these materials Hispaniola and the Lesser Antilles. A tran- along such long distances is most definitely sition is also observed during this time in an issue that needs to be further addressed the Isthmo-Colombian area, but in that area in dialogue between the researchers that the shift is toward tumbaga (i.e., guanín) work in the different areas bound by these distribution. After AD 500, the movement networks of interactions.1 of some forms of social jade such as ser- The consumption of jades and their re- pentinite and turquoise (in conjunction lated technological styles and iconography with other semi-precious stones) also re- in the Antilles and the Isthmo-Colombian flects a drastic decline. area seems to have entailed the macro- (4) It is very probable that after AD 1000, regional negotiation of a pan-regional sys- the Antillean jadeitite sources became tem of belief whose structural principles more sought after. At this time, a tradition were articulated from within and without of celt making develops in the Greater An- each of the areas integrated by this body of tilles that emphasized the representation of water. I consider that the “diffuse axe gods and other images in their ventral unity” (Hoopes 2005:5) reflected by these and dorsal aspects. Also at this time, the macro-regional ideological concomitances widespread circulation of radiolarian lime- objectified in the artifacts that were moved stone drastically declined. It is during this through such vast stretches of sea were not period that the inhabitants of islands in the the result of the sudden manifestation of a Bahamas and Jamaica became inserted into cultural substratum (Spinden 1917; Stew- these pan-regional spheres of jade distribu- ard 1948) or of the psychic unity of these tion. peoples (Ford 1969), but rather denote the

Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, Special Publication #3 2010 40 What is the Caribbean? An archaeological perspective Rodríguez Ramos outcome of the millenary interactions that nada) who, together with George Harlow (American took place within the Caribbeanscape. In Museum of Natural History), will generate a dataset that will allow us to get a better perspective on the order to understand the deep seated rela- vectors of distribution of this raw material in both tions that might have promoted these ho- the continental and the insular Caribbean. mologous developments and the ways in which these were embedded in the daily lives of the peoples that participated in References Cited their structuration we have come to terms Alegría, R. with the statement made at the beginning 1978 Apuntes en torno a la mitología de of this work: that the Antilles is not the los Indios Taínos de las Antillas Caribbean and that the Caribbean is not the Mayores y sus orígenes Antilles. suramericanos. Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Acknowledgments Caribe: San Juan. I want to thank Sebastiaan Knippenberg Alegría, R. (ed.) for our discussions about jadeitite distribu- 1993 Índice analítico de las actas de los tion in the area, which have given us a congresos de la Asociación de platform for the study that we are conduct- Arqueología del Caribe 1963-1994. ing together with Antonio García-Casco Centro de Estudios Avanzados de and George Harlow about the circulation Puerto Rico y el Caribe: San Juan. of this raw material in the Greater Carib- Allaire, L. bean. The X-ray diffraction studies con- 1990 Prehistoric Taino Interaction with ducted by George Harlow together with his the Lesser Antilles. Paper pre- comments on an earlier version of this sented at the 55th Annual Meeting work were also instrumental in developing of the Society for American Ar- some of the ideas hereby presented. Infor- chaeology, Las Vegas. mation provided by Antonio García-Casco, Allsworth-Jones, P. Jaime Pagán Jiménez, Mary Jane Berman, 2008 Pre-Columbian Jamaica. The Uni- Daniel Laó Dávila, and Elvis Babilonia, versity of Alabama Press: and comments submitted by Scott Fitz- Tuscaloosa. patrick and one anonymous reviewer are Amodio, E. also immensely appreciated. This work was 1991 Relaciones interétnicas en el Caribe made possible thanks to a grant from the indígena: Una reconstrucción a Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Re- partir de los primeros testimonios search (#27762001) held by Corinne Hof- europeos. Revista de Indias 51 man for the project "Communicating Com- (193):571-606. munities: Unraveling Precolonial Net- Arvelo, L., and E. Wagner works of Human Mobility and Exchange of 1984 Relaciones estilísticas cerámicas Goods and Ideas from a Pan-Caribbean del noroeste de Sudamérica con las Perspective". Antillas. In Relaciones prehispánicas de Venezuela, pp. 51- 66. Caracas: Fondo Editorial Acta 1. Currently, we are moving in that direction, as Científica Venezolana. characterization research is being conducted on Ayes Suárez, C. M. jadeitite artifacts from the Greater and Lesser Antil- les by Antonio García-Casco (Universidad de Gra- 1988 Evaluación arqueológica tipo Fase

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