This thesis contextualizes the archaeological site of San Hironimo, a former contact site on Curaçao by comparing the settlement layout and the material culture to other contact sites in the...Show moreThis thesis contextualizes the archaeological site of San Hironimo, a former contact site on Curaçao by comparing the settlement layout and the material culture to other contact sites in the broader Caribbean. On Curaçao, the contact period begins with the arrival of the Spanish in 1499 on the island. The island was inhabited by the Indigenous population, the Caquetío. They primarily lived in villages throughout the island. The arrival of the Spaniards would have disastrous consequences for the native inhabitants. The majority of the Indigenous population was enslaved and deported against their will to Santo Domingo to work there in the gold mines. Only a fraction of the population remained. They had no free will, and their villages, including Ascension, were supervised by the Spanish. The Spanish were not the only Europeans who wanted to colonize Curaçao. In the 17th century, the Dutch defeated the Spanish and took over Curaçao. During the expulsion of the Spanish, the Dutch burned down Ascension. For a long time, the exact location of Ascension was unknown because the oldest maps that portrayed the village were inaccurate. Throughout the years, people began to search for the contact villages. In the 1980s and 1990s, objects of Indigenous and colonial material were collected on an archaeological site in the western part of Curaçao. The archaeologist Jay Haviser found clues in historical documents and on the oldest maps of the island, that this could possibly be Ascension. To confirm his beliefs, he conducted prospective research in the area in 1987. After his research, no information about the settlement layout, nor a feature analysis or material analysis was published. Additionally, his research was conducted in 1987 and since then new archaeological research methods have been introduced. To obtain more information about the contact village Ascension and the contact period in general in Curaçao, this thesis was written. This thesis uses the available knowledge that has already been documented in historical documents concerning the contact period in Curaçao. Especially, the published information about the contact period and the contact sites on Curaçao. Furthermore, new information will be revealed about the settlement layout and the material assembly of the San Hironimo site. Namely, for this thesis a feature analysis and a material analysis have been conducted with the assistance of archaeological (digital) methods that have been introduced after the time of Haviser’s excavation. The features encountered during the excavation were of Indigenous origin and were primarily found in the northern area of the research area. Features consisted of postholes, graves of an adult and child, and a pit. The artefacts collected at the site were mostly of Indigenous origin. However, European colonial material was present as well. The San Hironimo site is compared to contemporary contact villages of El Cabo in the Dominican Republic and Argyle on St. Vincent. The material culture collected at those sites show similarities with the San Hironimo collection. Especially, in the retrieved colonial material. Following previous excavations in the Lesser Antilles and Greater Antilles, the San Hironimo site fits perfectly in the picture of a contact site in the beginning of colonization in the Caribbean.Show less
At the site of El Carril flaked materials from mostly sedimentary rocks have been excavated and examined to get a better understanding of domestic and craft activities that were carried out there...Show moreAt the site of El Carril flaked materials from mostly sedimentary rocks have been excavated and examined to get a better understanding of domestic and craft activities that were carried out there by the indigenous peoples in AD 900-1450. This research has been carried out as a pilot study wherein the combination of starch grain-use wear approach has for the first time been applied to flaked materials from sedimentary rocks. With the combination of the starch grain-use wear approach it had been able to identify the domestic and craft activities carried out . At least two domestic and craft activities carried out in El Carril. First the ad hoc crafting of the producing flaked materials for the domestic or craft activity required and secondly the processing of yams and beans.Show less
This research aims at determining the uses of marine and land molluscs (meat and shell) in five late pre-colonial sites (~AD1000-1500) located in the north western part of the Dominican Republic....Show moreThis research aims at determining the uses of marine and land molluscs (meat and shell) in five late pre-colonial sites (~AD1000-1500) located in the north western part of the Dominican Republic. The specific systematic archaeological survey was carried out in order to obtain the representative samples. The following research questions were formulated: 1) Which molluscan species and in what quantity have been recovered in each site? 2) Is there any quantitative/qualitative change visible in the shell material recovered in each site as the sites’ locations move further inland from the coast? 3) What was the function of the molluscs whose shells were recovered in each site? 4) What socio-economic processes could have caused these changes observed in the composition of shell assemblages? These questions were answered with the data that was generated by the analyses of the gathered archaeological material.Show less
In this thesis titled Burying Beliefs the mortuary practices of Ceramic Age groups from Colombia, Western-Venezuela, and the off-shore islands are studied in order to identify the various social...Show moreIn this thesis titled Burying Beliefs the mortuary practices of Ceramic Age groups from Colombia, Western-Venezuela, and the off-shore islands are studied in order to identify the various social aspects of these practices. This research is primarily based on a literature study including both archaeological- and ethnographic literature, combined with an in-depth analysis of the data gathered from this literature. It was important to be cautious in this research as in a literature study a research bias in inevitable. The main objective of this research was to determine to what extend ethnographic data can be used to complement the archaeological evidence in order to identify the various social aspects of mortuary practices. The ethnographic dataset consists of accounts of various indigenous communities inhabiting the South American mainland, each adopting their own sets of beliefs and practices. Additionally, in order to study the social aspects of mortuary practices in depth a solid theoretical framework was necessary. The theoretical framework applied in this study consisted of various theories on the sociality of a society such as, ritual, rites of passage, personhood, worldview, and materiality. Through the combination of these concepts it was possible to execute a solid in-depth analysis of the various social aspects of a mortuary practice as nearly every aspect of a society could be highlighted and studied through this theoretical framework. It became clear throughout this research that ethnographic data can be very valuable as a means of complementing the archaeological evidence if care is taken in doing so. Furthermore, this study shows that the study of mortuary practices goes beyond the study of the human remains and the burial assemblage as there are many factors involved which are determinant for the construction and performance of these practices, which are not necessarily retrievable archaeologically.Show less
Since 10 Octobre 2010 is Saba, as one of the BES-islands, under the legislation of the Netherlands. This legislation prescribes that an archaeological investigation is required when a certain...Show moreSince 10 Octobre 2010 is Saba, as one of the BES-islands, under the legislation of the Netherlands. This legislation prescribes that an archaeological investigation is required when a certain surface will be disturbed by for instance building activities. Therefore it is common in the Netherlands to built an archaeological predictive model in order to get an accurate impression of chance of presence of archaeology in the concerning region. Their guidelines are drafted in the KNA. An archaeological predictive model displays the expectancy of archaeological sites in a certain region gradually and it is based on an analysis of the human behaviour in a certain area. Many elements of the landscape influence this behaviour and they are called the location factors. The elements that allows to map are individually valued and aggregated to one predictive model. This thesis analyzed the possibilities for building a predictive model for Saba. It mainly focusses on pre-Columbian archaeology since there are better alternatives for mapping historical archaelogy. Saba is located in the Caribbean region and the landscape and archaeology of this island differ enormeously in comparison to the Netherlands. Therefore it is investigate if the Dutch guidelines for predictive modeling are sufficient for Saba. Maybe there exists better alternatives and is it required to adapt these guidelines. To determine what the location factors on Saba were the history and the landscape of the island and the Caribbean region is discussed. Additionally the artifact assemblage, the type of site and the location of the sites in the landscape were explained. At last the author conducted an expedition to the island in order to get an accurate impression of its landscape and its relation to the present archaeology. Afterwards all location factors were mapped, digitalized and value in archaeological expectancy. Next these location factors were combined on 12 different ways to a predictive model. 10 of these models were focused on the entire archaeological landscape of Saba and 2 models were focused on the archaeological expectancy of specified subsistence economy. To compare the quality of all these models, they were tested by the existing archaeological dataset on significance (Attwell and Fletcher 1985) and gain (Kvamme 1988). Due to these tests it turned out that a combination of the location factors slope, elevation and landingpoints leads to the most realistic predictive model for pre-Columbian Saba. Predictive modelling according to the Dutch guidelines are less suitable and therefore they need to be adapted to Saba’s circumstances.Show less
It is always difficult to interpret archaeological objects, especially when the original users do not longer exist. The Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden thought of a way to fill in the missing gaps of...Show moreIt is always difficult to interpret archaeological objects, especially when the original users do not longer exist. The Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden thought of a way to fill in the missing gaps of knowledge of their collection of Surinamese Indian objects. By inviting eight Indians from the four biggest Indian groups of Suriname (Wayana, Trio, Kari’na and Lokono), they hoped to find new insights in these objects. These consultations took place in 2009 and 2010. This thesis handles the musical instruments. It uses the ethnomusicological model that has been presented in Alan Merriam’s Anthropology of Music (1964) in order to examine the different aspects of the material culture, as well as the social functions of music. The model examines music on three different levels: cognition, behavior and musical sound. According to the model these three levels are connected and will have an influence on one another. If the musical sound changes, this will have an influence on the way people will react to the music. In that way their cognition will change. This change then has its influence on the way people behave when hearing the music. In the same way this new way of behaving will influence the way of music making by the musician. The research questions will systematically address different facets of this model in order to give an insight to the music and it’s function in four Amerindian societies.Show less
Ever since the world became aware of ancient Panamá’s archaeological remains, archaeologists have been fascinated by the intricate designs exhibited on its stones, ceramics, and gold work. This...Show moreEver since the world became aware of ancient Panamá’s archaeological remains, archaeologists have been fascinated by the intricate designs exhibited on its stones, ceramics, and gold work. This interest increased and formalised with the discovery of a rich graphic repertoire at Sitio Conte in the 1930s, and a subsequent rising concern with the worldview of Panamá's pre-contact population. The study of Central Panamanian iconography thus acquired growing importance. With the advancing significance of this subject, however, interpretations remained highly subjective, and in lack of a structured methodological approach. This situation has prompted the author to review the reasons underlying these shortcomings, a procedure that, in turn, has led to a contemplation of the cognitive origins of iconography. Building on the latter insights, the author proceeds to evaluate the effectiveness of typical approaches of iconographical inquiry, finding that none of the existing methods is sufficiently flexible, or scalable, for application to a pre-literate context. Consequently, a new, five-step methodology is contrived, which efficacy is tested by putting its first two stages into practice with reference to a case-study of Macaracas-style imagery. As such, this thesis does not just deal with the theoretical and methodological difficulties of doing iconographic research, but also highlights some interesting peculiarities of Central Panamanian imageries.Show less
