[Aztlan] SURPRISING NEW TAINO RESEARCH

[Dito Morales]

I just returned from two weeks in Cuba, studying modified speleothem 
sculptures in Granma, so this news is especially welcome. Here is some more 
information for those interested. Everyone here probably knows how the 
popular press can mangle an archaeology story. At least they were interested 
enough to publish what they did. I've just added a few comments for those 
who may not know where the Times went astray...

Martinon-Torres, Marcos, Rojas, Roberto Valcarcel, Cooper, Jago, Rehren, 
Thilo, "Metals, microanalysis and meaning: a study of metal objects 
excavated from the indigenous cemetery of El Chorro de Maita, Cuba," Journal 
of archaeological science 34, no. 2 (2007):194-205.


<snip>
Within decades, the Taíno, like their neighbors the Carib and the Arawak, 
were largely wiped out by genocide, slavery and disease.
<snip>

This must be understood in light of the 1514 census, by which time Indian 
wives had been taken by 40 percent of the Spanish men. "Consequently, a 
large proportion of the modern population of the Dominican Republic, Puerto 
Rico, and Cuba is able to claim partial descent from the Taínos" (Rouse 
1992:161). Taíno culture persists in many ways, and there is even a 
"Neo-Taíno" movement gaining popularity (see Duany 2002; Haslip-Viera 2001).

see:
Irving Rouse, The Tainos, 1992.
Jorge Duany, The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move, 2002.
Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Taino Revival, 2001.
and:
Samuel M. Wilson, The Legacy of the Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean, 
1997.


<snip>
The few other metal artifacts from the cemetery... probably came from 
Colombia, where the Taíno are thought to have originated.
<snip>

The Taíno originated in the Greater Antilles c. AD 1200, not Colombia.

Centuries earlier (c. 500-200 BC) migrations of Arawak-speaking 
agriculturalists from the Orinoco drainage moved into the Greater Antilles 
and 're-peopled' the islands. Some of these populations eventually became 
the Taíno, and their culture reflected both their South American heritage as 
well as their earlier Antillean heritage.


<snip>
access to European brass may have increased the power of local chieftains, 
hastening the transition from an egalitarian society to a  hierarchical one.
<snip>

By the time the Taíno discovered Columbus (chuckle--a nod to Rouse) there 
were already vast cacicazgos--complex chiefdoms. This Times statement reads 
like the Mel Gibson version of Taíno history. While the guanin and turey may 
have been used to reinforce the status of the caciques, it was not 
responsible for a "transition from an egalitarian society to a  hierarchical 
one."


<snip>
Los Buchillones is the site of the only known intact Taíno house... 
Elizabeth Graham... David Pendergast, first excavated Los Buchillones.
<snip>

This is a bit misleading. The remnants of the house were far from intact, 
but still the best preserved and most impressive archaeological evidence of 
Taíno architecture yet found.

See:
Matthew C. Peros, Elizabeth Graham, Anthony M. Davis, "Stratigraphic 
investigations at Los Buchillones, a coastal Taino site in north-central 
Cuba," Geoarchaeology 21, no 5 (2006):403-428.

Elizabeth Graham, David M. Pendergast, Jorge Calvera, Juan Jardines, 
"Excavations at Los Buchillones, Cuba," Antiquity 74, no. 284 
(2000):263–264.

Some photos at the Royal Ontario Museum site:
http://www.rom.on.ca/news/releases/public.php?mediakey=kgfk8vjmpv



Dito Morales
ditomorales at msn.com