Friday, July 13, 2007

New Archaeology Dissertation on Puerto Rico

Many thanks and congratulations to Dr. RENIEL RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS for making available to the public a complete electronic version of his doctoral dissertation, which he recently defended at the University of Florida. His main interest is that the archaeological work that is done in the Antilles reaches the widest audience possible, and we are happy to facilitate. Please download a copy, in PDF format, from:

http://www.box.net/shared/gul7lzccx7

Dissertation Title:

PUERTO RICAN PRECOLONIAL HISTORY ETCHED IN STONE

Contents:
1 INTRODUCTION
Problem Statement
Study Overview

2 THEORETICAL ORIENTATION
Rousean Culture-Historical Systematics: An Overview
Culture-History: Toward an Updated Approach
From Shared Norms to Contested Actions
From Passive Things to Active Objects
From “Cultures” in Isolation to People in Interaction
From the Micro to the Macro and Vise Versa: Toward a Multiscalar Perspective

3 THE METHOD, THE SAMPLE, THE CONTEXTS
Toward an Anthropological Approach to Lithic Technologies
Lithic Procurement Dynamics
Lithic Production Dynamics
Core-Flake Reduction: Individual Flake Analysis
Cores
Core-Flake Reduction Formats
Pecked and Ground Materials
Celts and adzes
Other formal items
Use-Modified Materials
Radiocarbon Database
Nature of the Sample
Paso del Indio
La Hueca-Sorcé
Puerto Ferro
Punta Candelero
Punta Guayanés
Rio Tanamá
Praderas
Lilly-Caribe
Finca de Doña Rosa (UTU-44)
Vega de Nelo Vargas (UTU-27)

4 DISCOVERY OF PUERTO RICO AND THE LIFEWAYS OF OUR EARLIEST ANCESTORS
The Initial Construction of the “Archaic”: From Cuba to Puerto Rico
Rethinking the Pre-Arawak Landscape of Puerto Rico
The Timing of the Discovery of the Island
Traditions of Doing Stone Things in Pre-Arawak Times
Core-flake reduction
Pecked and ground materials
Use-modified materials
The Introduction of Agriculture and Pottery Production
Building Place
Pre-Arawak Socialities
Things that Grow: The Maritime Dispersal of Early Cultivars in the Neo-Tropics

5 COMING, GOING, AND INTERACTING: AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON THE “LA HUECA PROBLEM”
Multifaceted Overview of the “La Hueca Problem”
Ceramics
Absolute and Relative Chronologies
The Superstructural Element
Infrastructural Organization
Lapidary
Lithics in the Hacienda Grande Complex
Core-flake technology
Pecked-ground materials
Use-modified materials
Tradition of Doing Stone Things in the LH Complex
Core-Flake Reduction
Procurement dynamics
Production dynamics
Pecked and Ground Materials
Celts and adzes
Other ground materials
Use-Modified Materials
Round fine-grained hammerstones
Other hammerstones
Pecking stones
Round pitted stones
Edge-ground cobbles
Striated pebbles
Pestles
Grinding slabs
Angular pitted stones
LH Lithic Technological Styles: A Summary Perspective
Comparison between LH and Cedrosan Related Assemblages
Procurement Dynamics
Production Dynamics
Core-flake reduction
Pecked and ground materials
Use-modified materials
The La-Hueca Problem: A Lithics Perspective
Things that Glow: The Macro-Regional Movement of Shiny Wearable Art in the Greater Caribbean

6 HORIZONTAL DIVERSIFICATION IN PUERTO RICO: THE FORGING OF NEW IDENTITIES
The Crab/Shell Dichotomy: A Synopsis
Multiple Developments, Multiple Interactions: From Cultural Isolation to a Landscape of Plurality
The Pre-Arawak/LH-Hacienda Grande Interface
Of Fissioned Villages, New Communities, and Other Selves
Traditions of Doing Stone Things in the Late Precolonial Landscape of Puerto Rico
Core-Flake Reduction
Procurement dynamics
Production dynamics
Use-Modified Materials
Pecked and Ground Materials
Celts and adzes
Other ground materials
The Lithic Evidence: Some Final Remarks
Public Display of Difference and Power
The Embodiment of Difference: The Onset of Cranial Deformation
Lithifying the Landscape: The Installation of Rock Enclosures
The A.D. 1000-1100 Event and the Intensification of Regional Political Integration
From the Taíno People to the Taíno Spectrum
Things that Show: Displaying Prestige and Ritualizing Power in the Greater Caribbean

7 CONCLUSIONS
The Precolonial History of Puerto Rico
From a Phylogenetic to a Reticulate Model of Antillean Archaeology
From the Antilles to the Greater Caribbean
Five Hundred Years of What? Some Final Thoughts

LIST OF REFERENCES

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

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