Peopling of the Caribbean (original) (raw)

2018, New Perspectives on the Peopling of the Americas, ed. by Katerina Harvati, Gerhard Jäger, Hugo Reyes-Centeno. Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: DFG Center for Advanced Studies Series. © 2018, Kerns Verlag, Tübingen

As the last frontier of human migrations in the Americas, and the first to feel the full impact of European colonisation of the continent, the Caribbean offers a unique opportunity for an examination of population history on both individual island and regional levels. In this chapter we examine the complex issues regarding the peopling of this region, the prevalent ideas about the process, the identity of indigenous groups living on the islands, the possible source areas of incoming migrants, and the chronology of their movements. The current understanding of migrations and networks of interaction in the early Caribbean is hampered by unsystematic usage of terms for specific cultural periods and styles, the assumption that material culture can be used as an interpretative tool for the mode of subsistence and social organization, the perception of the Caribbean as just a destination for diffusion of novel ideas and not as an area of original cultural production , a patchy archaeological record, and insufficient radiometric dating. In spite of a number of interdisciplinary studies conducted during the last 30-35 years, several key questions remain unresolved, specifically those about the timing , mode and geographic origin of the early population movements in the Archipelago, and about the identity of indigenous groups in the Caribbean in pre-contact times. The site of Canímar Abajo is an excellent example of a newly-researched site whose long-term occupancy not only challenges the traditional division of the pre-Columbian history of the region, but also offers important insights into the long-term pre-contact population history of Cuba and the diversity of cultural groups inhabiting the island concurrently, showing the presence of two different populations-with different dietary and cultural practices-synchronously occupying a restricted geographic area in western Cuba. The complex nature of isolation and communication that Caribbean populations experienced during their precolonial history requires a more systematic approach, thorough archaeological excavations and analyses, the application of innovative methods, as well as, crucially, more openness in the interpretation of results. Resumen Siendo la última frontera de las migraciones humanas en América, así como la primera en sentir el impacto de la colonización europea del continente, el Caribe New Perspectives on the Peopling of the Americas, ed.