The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology

Edited by William F. Keegan, Corinne L. Hofman, and Reniel Rodriguez Ramos

Oxford Handbooks

This volume brings together examples of the best research to address the complexity of the Caribbean past.

The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology

Edited by William F. Keegan, Corinne L. Hofman, and Reniel Rodriguez Ramos

Description

The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology provides an overview of archaeological investigations in the insular Caribbean, understood here as the islands whose shores surround the Caribbean Sea and the islands of the Bahama Archipelago. Though these islands were never isolated from the surrounding mainland, their histories are sufficiently diverse to warrant their identification as distinct areas of culture. Over the past 20 years, Caribbean archaeology has been transformed from a focus on reconstructing culture histories to one on the mobility and exchange expressed in cultural and social dynamics. This Handbook brings together, for the first time, examples of the best research conducted by scholars from across the globe to address the complexity of the Caribbean past.

The Handbook is divided into five sections. Part I, Islands of History and the Precolonial History of the Caribbean Islands, provides an introduction to Caribbean Archaeology and its history. The papers in the following Ethnohistory section address the diversity of cultural practices expressed in the insular Caribbean and develop historical descriptions in concert with archaeological evidence in order to place language, social organization, and the native Taínos and Island Caribs in perspective. The following section, Culture History, provides the latest research on specific geographical locations and cross-cultural engagements, from Jamaica and the Bahama archigelago to the Saladoid and the Isthmo-Antillean Engagements. Creating History, the fourth section, includes papers on specific issues related to the field, such as Zooarchaeology, Rock Art, and DNA analysis, among others. The final section, World History, centers on the consequences of European colonization.

The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology

Edited by William F. Keegan, Corinne L. Hofman, and Reniel Rodriguez Ramos

Oxford Handbooks

Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
Islands of History and the Precolonial History of the Caribbean Islands
1. Introduction to the Archaeology of the Insular Caribbean
William F. Keegan, Corinne L. Hofman, and Reniel Rodríguez Ramos
2. Caribbean Archaeology in Historical Perspective
Peter E. Siegel
3. The Climatic Context for pre-Columbian Archaeology in the Caribbean
Jago Cooper
Ethnohistory
4. Indigenous Languages of the Caribbean
Julian Granberry
5. The Taínos
William F. Keegan
6. Kinship and Social Organization in the Prehistoric Caribbean
Bradley Ensor
7. Ethnohistory of the Caribs
Louis Allaire
Culture History
8. The Arawak Diaspora: Perspectives from South America
Michael Heckenberger
9. The Humanization of the Insular Caribbean
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Jaime Pagán Jiménez, and Corinne Hofman
10. Gateway to the Mainland: Trinidad and Tobago
Arie Boomert
11. Isthmo-Antillean Engagements
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos
12. Huecoid Culture and the Antillean Agroalfarero (Farmer-Potter) Period
Luis A. Chanlatte Baik
13. Saladoid
Benoît Bérard
14. The Southward Route Hypothesis
Scott M. Fitzpatrick
15. The Post-Saladoid in the Lesser Antilles (AD 600/800-1492)
Corinne L. Hofman
16. Meillacoid and the Origins of Classic Taino Society
Peter Sinelli
17. Archaeological Practice, Archaic Presence and Interaction in Indigenous Societies in Cuba
Jorge Ulloa Hung and Roberto Valcárcel Rojas.
18. Jamaica
Kit Wesler
19. The Bahama archipelago
Mary Jane Berman, Perry Gnivecki and Michael Pateman
Creating History
20. Archaeological Views of Caribbean Seafaring
Richard T. Callaghan
21. An Archaeology of Spatiality in the Caribbean
Christopher F. Altes
22. Exchange as a Social Contract: A Perspective from the Microscale
Joost Morsink
23. Studying Pre-Columbian Interaction Networks: Mobility and Exchange
Angus A. A. Mol
24. Rethinking Chiefdoms in the Caribbean
Joshua M. Torres
25. Household Archaeology
Alice Samson
26. Zooarchaeology in the Caribbean: Current Research and Future Prospects
Susan deFrance
27. Human-Plant Dynamics in the Precolonial Antilles: A Synthetic Update
Jaime R. Pagán Jiménez
28. Stable Isotope Analysis of Paleodiet in the Caribbean
William J. Pestle
29. Stable Isotope Research in Caribbean Contexts: New Perspectives on Old Questions
Jason Laffoon
30. The Study of Pre-Columbian Human Remains in the Caribbean Archipelago: From Descriptive Osteology to a Bioarchaeological Approach
Edwin F. Crespo Torres, Hayley L. Mickleburgh and Roberto Varcárcel Rojas
31. From Corpse Taphonomy to Mortuary Behavior in the Caribbean: A Case Study from the Lesser Antilles
Menno L.P. Hoogland and Corinne L. Hofman
32. The DNA Evidence for the Human Colonization and Spread Across the Americas: Implications for the Peopling of the Caribbean
Juan Martínez Cruzado
32. Rock Art of the Caribbean
Michele H. Hayward, Lesley-Gail Atkinson, and Michael A. Cinquino, with contributions by Gérard Richard
33. Metals in the Indigenous Societies of the Insular Caribbean
Roberto Valcárcel Rojas and Marcos Martinón Torres
World History
34. New Directions in Caribbean Historical Archaeology
Douglas V. Armstrong
36. Transcending Oppression: Contributions of Maroon Heritage to Freedom in World History
E. Kofi Agorsah
37. The Construction of an Identity and the Politics of Remembering
Carmen A. Laguer Díaz
38. Caribbean Archaeology in the Next 50 years
Samuel M. Wilson

The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology

Edited by William F. Keegan, Corinne L. Hofman, and Reniel Rodriguez Ramos

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

William F. Keegan is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida and Curator of Caribbean Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Corinne L. Hofman is Professor of Caribbean Archaeology at Leiden University, The Netherlands.

Reniel Rodríguez Ramos is Assistant Professor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico-Utuado and a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden. University.

Contributors:

E. Kofi Agorsah, Louis Allaire, Christopher F. Altes, Douglas V. Armstrong, Lesley-Gail Atkinson, Benoît Bérard, Mary Jane Berman, Arie Boomert, Richard Callaghan, Luis A. Chanlatte Baik, Michael A. Cinquino, Jago Cooper, Edwin Crespo-Torres, Susan D. deFrance, Bradley E. Ensor, Scott M. Fitzpatrick, Perry L. Gnivecki, Julian Granberry, Michele H Hayward, Michael Heckenberger, Corinne L. Hofman, Menno L. P. Hoogland, William F. Keegan, Jason E. Laffoon, Carmen A. Laguer Díaz, Juan Martínez-Cruzado, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Hayley L. Mickleburgh, Angus A.A. Mol, Joost Morsink, Jaime R. Pagán Jiménez, Michael P. Pateman, William J. Pestle, Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Gérard Richard, Peter E. Siegel, Dr. Peter T. Sinelli, Joshua M. Torres, Alice V. M. Samson, Jorge Ulloa Hung, Roberto Valcárcel Rojas, Kit W. Wesler, Samuel Wilson

The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology

Edited by William F. Keegan, Corinne L. Hofman, and Reniel Rodriguez Ramos

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

"The diversity of articles in this volume provides exposure to parts of the region unfamiliar to me and offered a deeper representation of the complexity and variability of the Caribbean archaeological record than found in previous publications. ... [A]ll in all this publication is a superb reference and research source. ... The work of all the contributors strengthens communication among Caribbeanists, makes available current and innovate views of the past, and demonstrates to archaeologists outside the Caribbean how vibrant and innovative Caribbean archaeology has become. I congratulate the editors for putting together this resourceful, imaginative and forward-looking compendium." --L. Antonio Curet, Journal of Caribbean Archaeology

"Drawing on a wide range of evidence...[the volume's 38 essays] shed new light on seafaring, migration, kinship, religion, conflict, exchange and many other themes that have come to define human interaction in the Caribbean, untangling the complexity of Caribbean societies in the process. ... This excellent volume covers key themes in Caribbean archaeology and is a must read for archaeologists working in the region. It will no doubt serve as an important reference for future Caribbean archaeologists." --New West Indian Guide