A History of the Ancient Caribbean

From:
Taller Puertorriqueno
2721 N. 5th Street Philadelphia, PA 19133. (215) 426-3311. (215) 426-5682

For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Yolanda Colón
Marketing Director
215.426.3311
215.426.5682
yjcolon@tallerpr.org

Philadelphia, PA-- On April 23rd, 2005 from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., travel through time as you explore A History of the Ancient Caribbean, a public symposium on the Taínos at Philadelphia's own Taller Puertorriqueño.

A History of the Ancient Caribbean is a public symposium that will celebrate the closing of the highly acclaimed exhibition Island of the Burén: The Taínos and their predecessors in Puerto Rico. Admission is $15 to the general public and $8 to Taller members and students.

A History of the Ancient Caribbean will serve as a vehicle to explore the Taíno culture, the first people Columbus encountered and the most highly developed culture when Columbus reached Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1492.

Serving as the context will be Taller Puertorriqueño's current exhibit Island of the Burén: The Taínos and their predecessors in Puerto Rico. This exhibit presents a comprehensive interpretation of unprecedented works of art from the Taínos. Edward Sozanski, art critic from the Philadelphia Inquirer, called the exhibition "an elegant and ambitious installation." Island of the Burén presents rare and beautiful objects in stone, ceramics, shell and bone that illustrate
diverse spheres of Taíno culture.

Among the distinguished scholars that will participate in the first panel discussion of its kind will be Peter E. Siegel, PhD. of John Milner Associates in West Chester PA, John G. Crock, Ph.D. of the University of Vermont, Luis A. Curet, Ph.D. of the Field Museum in Chicago, IL, and Dicey Taylor, PhD guest curator at Taller Puertorriqueño PA and El Museo del Barrio NY. Glenis Tavárez Maria, director of the Museum of Dominican Man of the Dominican Republic will moderate the discussion.

After the symposium in Taller’s Rafael P. Hernandez Theater 2557 N. 5 th Street Phila., PA, continue the voyage with a guided tour to the Island of the Burén: The Taínos and their predecessors in Puerto Rico in the Lorenzo Homar Gallery 2721 N. 5 th Street Phila., PA.

To register for the symposium please send a check or money order to Taller Puertorriqueño, Inc. 2721 N. 5 th Street Philadelphia PA, 19133, call 215.426.3311 with your credit card information or visit our website www.tallerpr.org.

The symposium A History of the Ancient Caribbean will bring to a closing the magnificent exhibit beautifully installed by guest curator Dicey Taylor, PhD who has curated other Taíno exhibitions in El Museo del Barrio in NY and by Taller Puertorriqueño's visual arts curator Anabelle Rodríguez.

A History of the Ancient Caribbean is made possible by generous support from Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Washington Mutual, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and others. Island of the Burén includes important loans from The Museo de Historia Antropología y Arte of the University of Puerto Rico, The Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA.

Created in 1974 and celebrating its 30th anniversary, Taller Puertorriqueño, Inc. has served as a multidisciplinary community anchored arts and cultural organization. Taller Puertorriqueño is dedicated to the preservation, development and promotion of Puerto Rican arts and culture and is committed to the quality representation of other Latino cultural expressions and our common roots. Located in the heart of the Latino community at the entrance of the Golden Block in Philadelphia PA, Taller Puertorriqueño stands as a beacon for the community's cultural expression and pride.

Participating Scholars:
John G. Crock, PhD
Dr. John G. Crock is an associate professor of anthropology and director of the Consulting Archaeology Program. He has conducted archaeological research in Maine, Vermont and the British West Indies. His research interests include maritime adaptations, the development of chiefdoms and prehistoric networks of trade and exchange. He received his B.A. from the University of Vermont, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, before joining the UVM faculty in 2000. His dissertation research focused on late prehistoric Amerindian society in Anguilla and the development of socially complex chiefdoms in the northern Lesser Antilles. John has authored dozens of technical reports for consulting archaeology projects and also has published articles on his research in New England and the Caribbean.

L. Antonio Curet PhD
Antonio Curet has conducted archaeological research in Puerto Rico and Veracruz, Mexico. He has led regional studies in the Valley of Maunabo, Puerto Rico and was involved in different research aspects of the Proyecto Arqueológico La Mixtequilla, Veracruz. He has been involved also in excavations in several sites in Puerto Rico and Arizona. Currently, Curet is conducting excavations in the earliest ceremonial center of the Caribbean, Tibes in southern Puerto Rico. At this site he and Dr. Lee Newsom are studying changes in social organization and economy of domestic groups or households and how they are related to the development of social inequality in ancient Puerto Rico.

Peter E. Siegel, PhD
Dr. Peter E. Siegel is a Principal Archaeologist/Project Manager with John Milner Associates and a consulting archaeologist for Latin America and the Caribbean with New South Associates. Dr. Siegel has conducted archaeological and ethnographic investigations in South America and the Caribbean since 1976. He is a Registered Professional Archaeologist and is active in various professional archaeological associations, including the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology. He has 20 years experience in the business of cultural resources consulting. He speaks Spanish and lived in Puerto Rico for seven years while employed by the Centro de Investigaciones Indígenas de Puerto Rico, and has conducted archaeological and ethnographic investigations in the Caribbean and South America. Most recently Dr. Siegel provided technical archaeological supervision on an 18-inch natural gas pipeline in Bolivia, conducted on behalf of Dames and Moore, Enron and Shell Gas Latin America. Dr. Siegel has developed contacts in the archaeological/regulatory community in several South American countries, most notably, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru, and Colombia. He is familiar with the cultural resources regulatory requirements in the Caribbean.

Dicey Taylor, PhD
Dicey Taylor, PhD, has held a curatorial appointment at El Museo del Barrio since 1996, where she developed their two most important exhibitions on Taíno culture to date. She has contributed to numerous publications on archeological and anthropological issues revolving around the recent developments in the investigation of Pre-Columbian art and artifacts not only dealing with Caribbean but with Mayan culture as well. Before her appointment at El Museo del Barrio, she was the Assistant Curator of the Yale University Art Gallery’s Department of Ancient Art and the Department of Ancient Art and the Department of European and Contemporary Art. Dr. Taylor holds a PhD from Yale University’s Department of Art History.
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Three brochures and flyers accompany this release:
(1) The press release, as reproduced above;
(2) A flyer for the discussion panel referred to above; and,
(3) A brochure for the symposium and exhibition.

All of these materials are in Adobe PDF format.