This study investigates the representation of prehistoric heritage and archaeology in the education system and social media platforms on Barbados. Despite previously conducted studies on Caribbean...Show moreThis study investigates the representation of prehistoric heritage and archaeology in the education system and social media platforms on Barbados. Despite previously conducted studies on Caribbean prehistory, there remains a significant gap in understanding the material culture and traditions of the pre-colonial populations of Barbados. This research aims to address this gap by exploring how prehistoric heritage is covered in school curricula and on Barbadian social media platforms. The study starts with a brief explanation of the history of Barbados, a Caribbean island located on the eastern side of the Lesser Antilles. The research then delves into its educational and heritage management systems, and discusses the various activities and exhibitions present at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society (BMHS), a museum situated in Bridgetown that covers various (pre)historical subjects in exhibitions and organizes interesting activities regarding local (pre-)colonial heritage. The research applies various methods, combining literary research with data from questionnaires distributed to residents of Barbados and tourists visiting the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The questionnaire examines the public's knowledge, the sources of information and foreknowledge, and their general interest in prehistoric heritage and archaeology. The results of this study reveal that coverage of prehistoric heritage in Barbados' education system is minimal, with an emphasis present on the colonial period. However, there is a noticeable public interest in pre-colonial history, particularly among the younger respondents. A conclusion that can be drawn from these results, is that there is potential for a more active cooperation between educational institutions and cultural organizations such as the BMHS, to improve the spread of knowledge of prehistoric heritage and create a more balanced representation of Barbados' (pre-colonial) heritage in educational systems and on social media. Recommendations for further research include creating (more) subjects covering Barbadian prehistory and archaeology in the national school curricula and making these topics tangible by yearly excursions and using social media for educational purposes, in order to encourage a better understanding and appreciation of the island's rich and diverse past among its residents and visiting tourists.Show less
Almost 90 % of the archaeological sites in Barbados are located within one kilometre from the coast, implying some sort of preference towards it. Some scholars suggest this might be because the pre...Show moreAlmost 90 % of the archaeological sites in Barbados are located within one kilometre from the coast, implying some sort of preference towards it. Some scholars suggest this might be because the pre-colonial inhabitants of the island actually favoured those places, while concerns about a possible bias have been raised by others. Reasons for the latter become more obvious when looking at the nature of exploration; the coast has been extensively investigated, while inland research is often neglected. Due to this limited exploration, certain concepts and ideas about pre-colonial lifeways could become one-sided and biased. This is visible through a distinct pattern in literature, restricting pre-colonial ways of life to the shore and even excluding the work of other scholars, furthering the incompleteness of the research. Fortunately, various efforts have been made recently to address these issues, but it remains hard to grasp the scope of and reasoning behind this bias. Therefore, this research aims to study this bias by summarising acknowledged and unacknowledged biases from the archaeological literature on the island. Additionally, an overview of possible inland sites that were previously not mapped is created to further support the idea of a bias towards the coast. These include the so-called ‘Indian’ places, probably named after their former presence, registrations of artefacts at, for example, historical excavations, and also ecological factors that played a vital role in pre-colonial lifestyles. The results of this research show a clear relationship between potential inland sites and sources of freshwater, especially big rivers. There is a greater density of possible inland sites in the northern half of the island compared to the south, but this may be the result of the bias. Although actual fieldwork is needed to confirm the pre-colonial nature of these places, it clearly demonstrates a preference towards coastal archaeology by scholars rather than the pre-colonial inhabitants. Vastly limited by the lack of fieldwork and elaborate reporting, it remains hard to conclude with certainty how the story of those inhabitants would exactly change. However, it can be concluded that the general narrative focussed on the idea that pre-colonial life was mainly centred on the coast is probably more diverse.Show less
Molluscan shell remains are among the most widespread materials to be found at pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Caribbean. Particularly that of the Queen Conch (Aliger gigas, previously...Show moreMolluscan shell remains are among the most widespread materials to be found at pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Caribbean. Particularly that of the Queen Conch (Aliger gigas, previously known as Strombus gigas or Lobatus gigas), which became a significant resource for Amerindians throughout the region during the Archaic and formed a central part of many coastal Caribbean economies during the Ceramic. Not only as a source of food, providing plenty of meat, but also for its shell which provided as a handy source material for tools and ornaments. The extraction of meat from the shell of Aliger gigas comes in a variety of techniques, from breaking open the shell, to perforating a part of the shell’s spire to cut the animal loose, to burning the shell, but also to simply let the animal out to dry or decompose. The prevalence of some of these techniques over others is an interesting topic in archaeomalacology that is often overshadowed by tool and ornament manufacture. Perhaps most relevant is the research done by Antczak in the Los Roques archipelago, Venezuela. The ABC-islands, and particularly Curaçao, were particularly reliant on Queen Conch, as a food source as well as a source material for tools. In this thesis, the author examines a sample of Aliger gigas individuals taken from the excavations performed by Leiden University at Spaanse Water, Curaçao, to try and understand which food extraction techniques are still visible in the shell assemblage. Shells are analysed on macro-scale, and visible traces of alteration are recorded using a make-shift typology based on prior research and stored in a database. Results show a clear inclination towards food extraction that leave no mark on the shell (i.e., drying, heating, or decomposing), followed by other techniques such as breaking and perforating. Quantitative conclusions are hard to make, as the sample set is a rather small part of the total Aliger gigas assemblage of Spaanse Water. In any case, the high level of variability in extraction techniques raises questions that might require future research to look at food extraction as a cultural process, not unlike tool and ornament manufacture.Show less
Molluscan shell remains are among the most widespread materials to be found at pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Caribbean. Particularly that of the Queen Conch (Aliger gigas, previously...Show moreMolluscan shell remains are among the most widespread materials to be found at pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Caribbean. Particularly that of the Queen Conch (Aliger gigas, previously known as Strombus gigas or Lobatus gigas), which became a significant resource for Amerindians throughout the region during the Archaic and formed a central part of many coastal Caribbean economies during the Ceramic. Not only as a source of food, providing plenty of meat, but also for its shell which provided as a handy source material for tools and ornaments. The extraction of meat from the shell of Aliger gigas comes in a variety of techniques, from breaking open the shell, to perforating a part of the shell’s spire to cut the animal loose, to burning the shell, but also to simply let the animal out to dry or decompose. The prevalence of some of these techniques over others is an interesting topic in archaeomalacology that is often overshadowed by tool and ornament manufacture. Perhaps most relevant is the research done by Antczak in the Los Roques archipelago, Venezuela. The ABC-islands, and particularly Curaçao, were particularly reliant on Queen Conch, as a food source as well as a source material for tools. In this thesis, the author examines a sample of Aliger gigas individuals taken from the excavations performed by Leiden University at Spaanse Water, Curaçao, to try and understand which food extraction techniques are still visible in the shell assemblage. Shells are analysed on macro-scale, and visible traces of alteration are recorded using a make-shift typology based on prior research and stored in a database. Results show a clear inclination towards food extraction that leave no mark on the shell (i.e., drying, heating, or decomposing), followed by other techniques such as breaking and perforating. Quantitative conclusions are hard to make, as the sample set is a rather small part of the total Aliger gigas assemblage of Spaanse Water. In any case, the high level of variability in extraction techniques raises questions that might require future research to look at food extraction as a cultural process, not unlike tool and ornament manufacture.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
Recent archaeological studies in the northern Dominican Republic demonstrate an ethnocultural diverse region, reflected in the admixtures of ceramic series, and a distinct settlement pattern....Show moreRecent archaeological studies in the northern Dominican Republic demonstrate an ethnocultural diverse region, reflected in the admixtures of ceramic series, and a distinct settlement pattern. During the Late Ceramic Age (AD 800 – AD 1500), Indigenous Caribbean communities relied upon their interaction networks as a fundamental part of their lifeways, in which movement and visibility played an important role. With the arrival of Columbus in 1492, the northern part of the Dominican Republic became the first colonised area in the Americas. After the establishment of La Isabela, the Spanish started to search for gold in the inland of the island, along what became known as the Ruta de Colón. This thesis used a GIS-based total landscape approach to model visibility and movement affordances on a landscape scale, contributing to a better understanding of Late Ceramic Age Indigenous interaction networks in the northern Dominican Republic. The visual properties and path frequency values within the spatial neighbourhood of different site categories were compared against those of completely spatially random locations to assess the role of movement and visibility in the determination and use of settlements. Material culture-based movement corridors were compared with the accumulated least-cost path model to evaluate the trajectories of Indigenous path networks. Furthermore, the relation between the reconstructed Ruta de Colón’s trajectory and the Indigenous path networks was assessed to gain more insights into the role of Indigenous movement corridors within the initial stage of European colonisation. This thesis demonstrates that the most important movement corridors in the northern Dominican Republic were east-west oriented and located along the coast and in the Cibao Valley. The Puerto de Los Hidalgos is one of the important north-south oriented movement corridors with the highest path frequency values to traverse the Cordillera Septentrional. The region displays a high degree of diversity in terms of visual properties. The accumulated least-cost path model confirms the hypothesised interactions between Montecristi, the Cibao valley and the northern coast, and lithics, ceramics and marine and agricultural resources were exchanged along these paths. The movement and visual property comparison of site categories suggest that multicomponent sites were important gathering places in regional interaction networks. Meillacoid and Chicoid sites seem to have similar path frequency values within small neighbourhoods, however, Chicoid sites are better connected to movement corridors on a regional scale. Visibility seemed to be more important for the location of Chicoid sites Meillacoid and multicomponent sites. The path frequency values suggest that sites with mounds were important gathering places with prominent positions in regional interaction networks. The good visual properties of these site locations could relate to the construction of mounds on these sites. Extraction sites are better connected to local path networks, while habitation sites seem to be better connected to regional path networks. Visibility was also more important for the site locations of habitation sites than for extraction sites. The path frequencies and visual properties of small, medium and large sites were similar and their variability dependents on the local contexts of the landscape. The Ruta de Colón does not directly correspond with the modelled high path frequency movement corridors, except in the Puerto de Los Hidalgos and the Cibao valley, and was composed of Indigenous path segments. The Ruta de Colón is considered predominantly colonial as the Spanish used it as the most efficient path to reach the gold resources, but it is important to acknowledge the role of Indigenous paths, guides and communities within this initial stage of European colonisation.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
The ERC-Synergy project Nexus1492: New World Encounters In A Globalising World is, amongst others, investigating past activities in the indigenous Caribbean. One of these activities was the...Show moreThe ERC-Synergy project Nexus1492: New World Encounters In A Globalising World is, amongst others, investigating past activities in the indigenous Caribbean. One of these activities was the production of pottery. This thesis aims to investigate the chaîne opératoire of pre-colonial pottery through studying the 'act' of incising and punctating ceramic vessels during the Late Ceramic Age. This research was executed through the macroscopic analysis and comparison of 35 Meillacoid and Chicoid pottery sherd samples with 44 experimentally manufactured clay-slabs which were incised and punctated with 16 different experimental tools of various material types. The archaeological samples which were studied in this research are all originating from the pre-Columbian archaeological site of El Flaco, Dominican Republic. An inland site situated along the 'Ruta de Colon' and at the southern foothills of the Cordillera Septentrional at a distance of approximately 20km from the ocean. The main focus of this research is the potter's toolkit re-creation, comparing archaeological sample sherds with experimental clay-slabs with the goal of figuring out which tools were probably part of the potter's toolkit for the sake of incising and punctating ceramic vessels and which were not. Other variables like the dryness of clay vessels at the time of incising and punctating and the different possible gestures or motions are also discussed in this study. Preliminary conclusions include, but are not limited to a probably extensive toolkit with many tool-types as possible utensils for producing specific incisions and punctations, with tools from the category plant matter (read small wooden sticks and twigs) as the most important part of this toolkit. Additionally, it seems plausible that incisions and punctations were more likely to be applied to pre-colonial pottery on a relatively plastic clay, as opposed to a drier vessel.Show less
In the summer of 2013 and 2014 research was conducted by the Nexus-1492 project on the Amerindian site El Flaco in the Dominican Republic. This site contains platforms and montículos. Montículo A...Show moreIn the summer of 2013 and 2014 research was conducted by the Nexus-1492 project on the Amerindian site El Flaco in the Dominican Republic. This site contains platforms and montículos. Montículo A is excavated in diagonal 2 by 2 m units by using the box-grid method. These units are excavated in arbitrary layers of 10 cm. Montículo A contained a lot of archaeological material, such as ceramics, shell and fauna material. This research contributed to the reconstruction of the formation process of montículo A, which is investigated by J.A.M. Vermeer. Vermeer is investigating the formation process of the montículos on the site El Flaco. He does this by looking at the geological and archaeological components used for the phasing of the montículos. This study contributes to this research by examining the taphonomy and larger context of the shell material. The results of the shell material support Segaar’s hypothesis that there were two phases of occupation on the site, a possible Meillacoid and a Chicoid occupation. Next to that, the composition of the shell material is analyzed and divided into three classes: bivalves, gastropods and crustaceans. Furthermore, the habitat of the shell species is investigated to provide an indication of the food strategy or the ‘food network’ that was used by the Amerindian inhabitants. It is likely that a large portion of this diet consists of one gastropod, the Pleurodonte formosa. However, palynology is needed to provide a definitive answer to this problem.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
Island archaeological studies are often characterized by island comparisons and the transfer of information between scholars working in many different island environments around the world....Show moreIsland archaeological studies are often characterized by island comparisons and the transfer of information between scholars working in many different island environments around the world. Comparisons between island environments, however, have never been systematically critiqued. This research questions the use of comparisons between island environments. Prehistoric and modern day differences are highlighted and their relevance for archaeologists working in both regions considered. Island comparisons are evaluated by i) examining the justifications with which comparisons can be made, ii) studying the past use and outcomes of comparisons between the Caribbean and the Pacific and iii) the application of a case study focusing on inter-island interaction and exchange at a local scale within both regions. Although archaeological mobility and exchange studies reveal high levels of inter-island interaction, there has been a tendency amongst island archaeologists towards oversimplifying island processes and a stark dichotomy between interacting islands and an archaeology of isolation or ‘essentialising practices’. Moreover it is argued that island archaeologists are methodologically and theoretically unprepared to deal with these issues due to academic legacies such as island biogeography magnified by popular views of isolation and exoticism. This research aims to systematically critique Island Archaeology and to move towards a more comprehensive understanding of the intricacies, possibilities and limitations of island comparisons.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
In 'Mapping History' archaeological sites within a small region in the northwestern Dominican Republic are mapped, in order to distinguish patterns in site locations and to explore the social...Show moreIn 'Mapping History' archaeological sites within a small region in the northwestern Dominican Republic are mapped, in order to distinguish patterns in site locations and to explore the social landscape in the past. The landscape in the research area consists of beaches, swamps, mangroves, valleys, and hills up to 300 metres in height. It is known from research by Jorge Ulloa Hung, an archaeologist currently writing his dissertation on ceramics in the area, that there were different ceramic styles present contemporaneously in the north of the Dominican Republic. While Ulloa Hung focuses on the ceramics from the sites in the area, in this research the surrounding area (circa 80 km²) is mapped to provide a context for Ulloa Hung’s research. In this thesis the study on the social landscape is the central focus. Observations and results of the fieldwork conducted in the area were used for this study, and recorded into a map-related database or Geographical Information System (GIS). The relation between site locations and surroundings were analysed with the use of the created GIS. The focus of the analyses is mainly on differences between sites with Meillacoid style ceramics and sites with Chicoid style ceramics. The goal was to bring forth different patterns in the site locations of Meillacoid and Chicoid sites. The diverse landscape in the area combined with the diverse cultural landscape makes this area very suitable for such analyses. Although there are similarities between several aspects of the sites, the area also differences. Meillacoid sites tend to be located closer to the coast, while Chicoid sites are located further inland. Furthermore, Meillacoid sites have a better visibility range, and are therefore better visible themselves. There are evidently different patterns of site locations of both kinds of sites in the area, but there is one common denominator: diversity.Show less
