[Aztlan] Island-Mainland Mesoamerican contact?

[Dito Morales]

In April of this year George Harlow and others published an article about 
jade artifacts from Antigua (Lesser Antilles; see citations below). The 
source of this material, apparently exotic to the Antilles, raises some 
important questions about contacts between the island Saladoid and Taíno, 
and mainland South or Central American cultures. The sites on Antigua with 
the jade dated to c. AD 250-50.

I'd like to know if anyone on the List is familiar with this, or could 
comment on the evidence of Antillean-mainland Mesoamerican contact during 
the Preclassic, Classic and/or Postclassic periods.

Thanks,
Dito Morales


Here are a few excerpts from their article in the Canadian Mineralogist:

"The presence of jadeite jade in Saladoid age sites in Antigua is highly 
significant from an archaeological perspective....

"The South American origin of the Saladoid people led to the presumption 
that the source areas of the exotic gem materials also lie on this 
continent....

"Our demonstration of a reasonable Guatemalan origin [Motagua fault zone] 
for the Antiguan jadeite axes is significant.... [I]t strongly suggests an 
unanticipated Central American source for at least one of the exotic gem 
materials recovered from Antigua. To date, there is no documented evidence 
of contact between Central America and the eastern Caribbean Islands in the 
early part of the first Millennium A.D. Later (during the late first 
Millennium and early second Millennium A.D.), there are arguments for 
contact between inhabitants of Central America with those of the islands of 
the Greater Antilles (Wilson, 2005), although the nature of this contact is 
not known. The possibility of Guatemalan jade in Saladoid contexts on 
Antigua opens up exciting new avenues of research and necessitates a change 
in thinking in which one considers other mainland areas, such as Central 
America, in models of Saladoid exploration, trade and exchange....

"Sources on Cuba, Hispaniola, or Jamaica... might be found, and cannot be 
ruled out as possible sources for the Antigua jade."


source:
George E. Harlow, A. Reg Murphy, David J. Hozjan, Christy N. De Mille, 
Alfred A. Levinson, "Pre-Columbian Jadeite Axes from Antigua, West Indies: 
Description and Possible Sources," The Canadian Mineralogist 44 (April 
2006): 305-321.

see also:
A. Reg Murphy, David J. Hozjan, Christy N. de Mille, and Alfred A. Levinson, 
"Pre-Columbian Gems and Ornamental Materials from Antigua, West Indies," 
Gems & Gemology 36, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 233- 245.

Samual M. Wilson, "Stone pavements, roads and enclosures in Central America 
and the Caribbean," paper presented at the 21st International Congress for 
Caribbean Archaeology, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, 
Trinidad and Tobago, July 24-30, 2005.



_________________________________________________
Reinaldo Morales Jr., Assistant Professor of Art History
Department of Art, University of Central Arkansas
201 Donaghey Ave., MAC 101, Conway, AR 72035
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