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"Wing, Elizabeth S"
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On Land and Sea
During the vast stretches of early geologic time, the
islands of the Caribbean archipelago separated from continental
land masses, rose and sank many times, merged with and broke
from other land masses, and then by the mid-Cenozoic period
settled into the current pattern known today. By the time
Native Americans arrived, the islands had developed complex,
stable ecosystems. The actions these first colonists took on
the landscape—timber clearing, cultivation, animal
hunting and domestication, fishing and exploitation of reef
species—affected fragile land and sea biotic communities
in both beneficial and harmful ways.
On Land and Sea examines the condition of biosystems
on Caribbean islands at the time of colonization, human
interactions with those systems through time, and the current
state of biological resources in the West Indies. Drawing on a
massive data set collected from long-term archaeological
research, the study reconstructs past lifeways on these small
tropical islands. The work presents a wide range of
information, including types of fuel and construction timber
used by inhabitants, cooking techniques for various shellfish,
availability and use of medicinal and ritual plants, the
effects on native plants and animals of cultivation and
domestication, and diet and nutrition of native
populations.
The islands of the Caribbean basin continue to be actively
excavated and studied in the quest to understand the earliest
human inhabitants of the New World. This comprehensive work
will ground current and future studies and will be valuable to
archaeologists, anthropologists, botanists, ecologists,
Caribbeanists, Latin American historians, and anyone studying
similar island environments.
eBook
Ritual Rodents: The Guinea Pigs of Chincha, Peru
Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) are small rodents that function as food, diagnostic medical devices, divinatory agents, and sacrifices in the Andes today. The ethnohistorical record for the region records similar uses of guinea pigs during the Colonial Period. Most archaeologists have assumed that they fulfilled the Same functions in prehispanic time, but rigorous support for this assumption has not been presented. After reviewing the archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic record for guinea pig use in the Central Andes, we describe the naturally mummified specimens of guinea pigs and other animals from Lo Demás, a late site in the Chincha Valley of Peru. These data allow us to bridge the interpretive gap between the ethnohistoric/ethnographic \"present\" and the more remote prehispanic past concerning the ritual uses of guinea pigs, and to comment more generally on animal sacrifice in the Andes.
Journal Article
Subsistence Economy of El Paraíso, an Early Peruvian Site
Studies of food remains from the Preceramic monumental site of El Paraíso, Peru (1800 to 1500 B.C.), have shed new light on a debate regarding the relative importance of seafood versus terrestrial resources and the role of cultigens in subsistence economies during the early development of Peruvian civilization. Fish was the primary animal food at the site whereas plant foods consisted of a mixture of cultivated resources (squashes, beans, peppers, and jicama) with an additional reliance on fruits (guava, lucuma, and pacae). Wild plants, especially the roots of sedges and cat-tail, also may have accounted for a substantial part of the diet. Cotton was a chief crop, used in making fishing tackle and the textiles that served as clothing and items of high value and status. As an example of the beginnings of civilization, El Paraíso is a case in which impressive architecture was built on a relatively simple subsistence economy and energy was expended in the production of resources useful in local and regional exchange systems.
Journal Article
Application of Allometry to Zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeologists have used several methods to assess the relative dietary contribution of species found at archaeological sites. The most common methods are either based upon the assumption that bone weight is a fixed percentage of total body weight, or require estimating an \"average\" body size for identified taxa. In fact, the relationship between parameters of bone and body mass is generally allometric and can be described by linear regression. Use of allometric models places original body mass predictions on a more sound biological basis and makes calculations of \"average\" weight unnecessary. The potential of allometry is discussed and objections addressed with the goal of encouraging others to develop allometric formulae and to use them in their research.
Journal Article
Fish Remains in Archaeology: A Comment on Casteel
Casteel's contention that fish remains can yield information on territorial exploitation can be expanded to include inferences about the necessary technology.
Journal Article
The Earliest Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey Phase
Recent excavations in Belize have resulted in the discovery of an earlier period of sedentary occupation than has hitherto been documented in the Maya Lowlands. The Swasey phase is stratigraphically antecedent to occupations of the early Middle Formative, the earliest horizon located until now, and associated radiocarbon dates suggest a persistence from 2000–1000 b.c./2500–1300 B.C. The ceramic and lithic material culture of the phase are described, together with architectural construction and burial practice, and the overall cultural identity is recognized as ancestral to the known Maya Lowland Formative. External contacts of the Cuello site are documented by exotic minerals, and the possible external antecedents for the Swasey ceramic tradition are canvassed.
Journal Article