Review Article
Myths and ceremonial centres in the ancient Caribbean
José R. Oliver
Institute of Archaeology
University College London
31-34 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PY, UK
(Email: j.oliver@ucl.ac.uk)
BASIL A. REID. Myths and realities of Carribean history. xiv+154 pages, 74 illustrations. 2009. Tuscaloosa (AL): University of Alabama Press; 978-0-8173-5534-0 paperback $28.95.
L. ANTONIO CURET & LISA M. STRINGER (ed.). Tibes: people, power, and ritual at the center of the cosmos. xviii+329 pages, 40 illustrations, 33 tables. 2010. Tuscaloosa (AL): University of Alabama Press; 978-0-8173-1686-0 hardback $53; 978-0-8173-5579-1 paperback $34.95; 978-0-8173-8252-0 e-book.
The literature on the ancient Caribbean has been enriched by the two books reviewed here. They both show, within their respective genres, how much archaeological enquiry and fieldwork can contribute to the understanding of the remote past of the archipelago and its inhabitants.
Myths and realities
Basil Reid's book comes up with a refreshing and ingenious strategy to overcome a series of long-standing myths about the ancient history of the Caribbean, myths that are prevalent, consciously and unconsciously, not only among its modern inhabitants at various levels of formal education but also beyond the Caribbean. Reid deconstructs each of the myths on the basis of what archaeology and ethnohistory tell us today. The book is especially designed for readers who are not specialised in these two disciplines: teachers, students, history or archaeology buffs, and so on. That does not mean that Reid's discussions are simplistic; rather Reid's style, devoid of unnecessary jargon, is clear and accessible to all. Embedded in the various chapters, there are also insights that will be appreciated by the specialists.
Chapter 1 debunks the commonly-held notion that history started with the arrival of Columbus, which surprisingly is still found in official textbooks used in primary and secondary schools, even colleges; Chapters 2 and 3 smartly and concisely demonstrate that the Caribbean was not just inhabited by Arawaks (Taínos) and Caribs, but by a more complex mosaic of ethnicities, languages and cultural traditions. Chapter 4 demystifies the received 'truth' that the natives encountered by Columbus had migrated from South America. Although long ago discredited by archaeologists, this myth remains as strong as ever among the wider public. Chapter 5 focuses on reversing the myth that the first farmers and potters to settle the islands were Arawak (bearers of the Saladoid tradition). Reid brings to bear the hard evidence indicating that the 'Archaic' populations had independently developed pottery, were sedentary, cultivated wild and domesticated plants and managed forest resources.
In Chapter 6, Reid explores the pitfalls that emerge from direct ethnohistorical analogy as applied to the historic 'Ciboney' of western Cuba. Since the early twentieth century archaeologists have portrayed them as the archetypical foragers that survived into European contact, as if culturally frozen in time. Reid shows how and why 'Ciboney' is a misguided western construction rather than an ethnic term. Chapter 7 focuses on yet another problematic stereotype: the issue of cannibalism among the Island Caribs (Kalinago, Garífuna, Eyeri). There is the Hispanic definition whereby any aboriginal rebels, regardless of provenance and ethnicity, were declared Carib. As caníbales (cannibals) the Spaniards could legally justify their enslavement. Yet the truth or falsehood of anthropophagy remains elusive due to a lack of archaeological evidence. Reid provides an excellent discussion of how cannibalism has been archaeologically tested at Mancos Canyon, Colorado, and what kinds of evidence could resolve this issue in the Caribbean. Chapter 8 explains how the archaeological data demonstrate that Pre-Columbian groups migrating from South America were not employing an island-hopping strategy as once thought but targeted islands further north in the Leewards and in Puerto Rico. In Chapter 9, Reid succinctly presents some of the most recent compelling osteopathological evidence for syphilis (Trepomena pallidum) being present in Pre-Columbian America, countering the common belief that venereal syphilis was yet another evil brought by the Spanish into the New World. They brought smallpox, but not syphilis. Chapter 10 quickly does away with the common belief that the version of Columbus' diario (journal) used today was the text written by him. Readers unaware of the pitfalls of uncritically using ethnohistoric documents will find this chapter instructive. The last myth (Chapter 11), that the Spanish brought 'civilisation' to the natives, is countered by the archaeological evidence that points to the levels of cultural complexity achieved by the aborigines in antiquity.
While veteran archaeologists may find that some of Reid's chapters needed more analytical depth and detail, I would counter-argue that it is a fundamental responsibility of scholarly research to debunk received 'truths' held by a wider audience; that we need, every so often, to reach out to them and explain the current state of knowledge on topics so dear to the hearts of the wider public.
Tibes, Puerto Rico
The first results of the still ongoing Tibes project led by Antonio Curet are now in print. In contrast to Reid's, this book addresses a more specialised readership, calling on a broad range of multidisciplinary, scientific expertise. Edited by Curet and Stringer, the book presents in rich detail all of the evidence accumulated since the project began in 1996. One of its principal aims is to elucidate how the inhabitants of Tibes were constituted as a community, locally and regionally, at different times and how, why and in what ways their social organisation changed towards greater complexity over its 1000-year history.
Tibes is the earliest dated civic-ceremonial centre in Puerto Rico. It contains multiple precincts (plazas and bateyes or ball courts) demarcated with stones, some decorated with petroglyphs. Its long occupation (300 BC-AD 1300) is ideal to address questions of social and cultural development towards increased complexity. The site today has six small rectangular courts that surround the main square plaza on three sides, a 'star-shaped' precinct adjacent to the main plaza, and one long rectangular batey that abuts the Portugués River. One of the key finds is that the major phase of precinct construction was later than the expected date of AD 900-1000. It is well dated to AD 1000-1100, only a century or so before the site fell into disuse.
From the start, the Tibes project has been a multidisciplinary venture and each of the different specialist teams has contributed a chapter analysing and interpreting the results of its respective data sets. The topics are presented in a logical sequence that builds up to Joshua Torres' diachronic analysis (Chapter 11) of the character of Tibes' inhabitants in the web of communities of the central-southern coast of Puerto Rico. Consciously, Torres avoids the pitfalls of framing the analysis on the 'dual-processual' and neo-evolutionary paradigms, taking on board the approach advocated by Timothy Pauketat (in Chiefdoms and other archaeological delusions 2007).
Curet and Stringer (Chapter 1) discuss the environmental and cultural setting for the ceremonial of Tibes. Alvarado and Curet (Chapter 2) clear numerous misconceptions about how the site was excavated in the 1970s and restored as a public park in 1982. The imputed incompetence and imaginative reconstruction of the site are greatly exaggerated. In Chapter 3 Curet presents the overall results of the different phases of fieldwork, with emphasis on stratigraphy and chronology. The focus of excavations was to document domestic and other features. To select promising excavation areas, Welch (Chapter 4) conducted geophysical surveys using electrical soil resistivity, magnetic gradiometry and ground-penetrating radar to great effect.
Newsom (Chapter 5) provides an in-depth analysis of the plant remains with attention to intrasite variation suggestive of differential access (elite vs commoner) or specialised function (ceremonial vs profane). Significantly Newsom identified cojébana (Anadenanthera peregrina), a potent hallucinogen (in use at the time of Spanish contact), and evening primrose (Oenothera sp.). Unfortunately, the remains of high yield crops (e.g. maize, manioc, marunguey) were not preserved. The faunal analyses by Susan deFrance et al. (Chapter 6) indicate a varied subsistence economy. The circumscribed presence of guinea pigs (Cava porcellus), first domesticated in the Andes, suggests their control by an elite. Still, food exploitation trends show remarkable continuity from the pre- to post-plaza construction phases.
In Chapter 7 Jeff Walker adopts a 'gender-lithics' approach and postulates male, female and gender-mixed activity areas at various locations on the site. The rarity of portable political-religious icons, such as lithic rings or three-pointed cemís, is intriguing. Walker should however have considered that the petroglyph-icons on the plaza's boulders would precisely represent such symbolic/prestige 'capital'. Scott Rice-Snow et al. (Chapter 8) present the results of their geological survey of stone quarry sources in relation to the full spectrum of rock species used in the construction of precincts and in the manufacture of artefacts.
Edwin Crespo (Chapter 9) analyses a sample of the skeletal population of Tibes. Interesting results were obtained regarding dental wear patterns, mortality, trauma, pathology and intentional cranial deformation. Four individuals (dated to AD 600-750) were selected for palaeodietary analyses by William Pestle (Chapter 10). These individuals yielded tantalising results: the protein contributions came from freshwater, terrestrial and avian fauna constituting over 50 percent of the diet, with the rest largely comprising marine fauna. Stable isotopes indicated a high reliance on C4/CAM plant materials, such as maize. This comes as no surprise, as Jaime Pagán has identified maize starch residues to be ubiquitous in Puerto Rico from 1300 BC onward. The Caribbean-wide near-absence of charred maize against their ubiquity as starch granules remains to be explained.
The last chapter is both a synthesis and an in-depth discussion of the meanings of 'ceremonial' and 'center' (US spelling) that thus far have been loosely and indiscriminately used in Caribbean archaeology. Here Curet and Torres discuss such problems as how to distinguish archaeologically between vacant vs inhabited centres and the functions of spaces (ball court, plaza, multipurpose?). They also consider how these notions of centrality, ceremoniality and functionality played out at local and regional scales.
If there is one omission, it is the surprising absence of an equally rich and detailed analysis of the ceramic assemblages. This is all the more surprising as Curet himself has been vocal about the problems of relying on the normative construction of ceramic style/culture units formulated by the late Irving Rouse. The petroglyphs are briefly discussed, yet their role and meaning as potent cemí (or spirit)-imbued beings displayed in the plaza have much to offer in understanding ceremonialism at Tibes. It is curious that the two (maybe three) broken slabs with elaborate petroglyphs re-used as stone pavements around the main plaza are not mentioned: are they signs of violence (mutilation), ritual killing, renewal? The reasons for the decline and collapse of Tibes could have received more attention.
This book is a site report in the best sense of the word; it is a rare occurrence outside contract/public archaeology. With its wealth of raw data, the book will remain a valuable resource well after the post-processual theoretical approaches and interpretations become passé.
Heritage Technology
