This study generates a new vision on El Chorro de Maíta, an exceptional archaeological context in northeast Cuba of great importance for the understanding of early colonial spaces in the Caribbean.... Show moreThis study generates a new vision on El Chorro de Maíta, an exceptional archaeological context in northeast Cuba of great importance for the understanding of early colonial spaces in the Caribbean. The research adopts a multidisciplinary approach which evaluates numerous lines of archaeological evidence and historical data. The theoretical basis is that domination plays a key role in the structuring of relationships among individuals, cultures and societies. Basic forms of domination are identified in El Chorro de Maíta, a village of indios encomendados: people forced to work for the Spaniards in exchange for religious and “civilizing” instruction. The cemetery, located in the village, reveals an ethnic diversity that includes indigenous people from different regions, mestizos and an African individual. A diversity of identities is also revealed, some constructed through adaptations to colonial life (‘indi ans’), and others through ethnic and cultural mixing. This ethnogenesis, as well as the syncretic peculiarities in some burials, and the very in-between nature of the cemetery itself as a colonial product where indigenous and Christian traditions are conserved and combined, represents a context of emergent sixteenth century transculturation, in which indians are active social agents fighting for their survival. Show less
What was the pre-Columbian house like? The aim of the PhD research was to come to an archaeological vision of precolonial domestic life in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), rather than... Show moreWhat was the pre-Columbian house like? The aim of the PhD research was to come to an archaeological vision of precolonial domestic life in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), rather than rely on Spanish colonial descriptions from the 15th and 16th centuries. The dissertation presents archaeological research from the site of El Cabo, perched on a coastal promontory at the extreme eastern end of the Dominican Republic, and seven centuries of indigenous community history from its development and florescence, to eventual demise through the dominant structure, the house. Over two thousand archaeological features cut directly into the limestone bedrock, and an artefact assemblage of pottery, shell and stone led to reconstructions of fifty domestic structures, thirty of which are houses, which formed part of a community between ca. AD 800 and 1504. The repeated rebuilding, or renewal of houses led to the development of long-lived estates, referred to as House Trajectories, the most successful of which lasted up to 500 years. These results offer new, deep perspectives on precolonial domestic dynamics. Show less
