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

Indigenous Peoples and the USA on Trial

Thanks to Tony Castanha for sending the information below:

Copies of "USA ON TRIAL: THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND OPPRESSED NATIONS IN THE US" held in San Francisco in 1992, with Special Prosecutor Francis Boyle, puts the US on trial for crimes against the rights of hundreds of Indigenous Peoples and Nations across the US, including Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans and African Americans, is available for free download at:

http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_131_usa_on_trial

Agueybana III reclaims Puerto Rico?

Se qu te va interesar. Salio hoy en las portadas de http://www.endi.com/ y en http://www.primerahora.com/

"Nosotros los indios taínos de Boriquén…"
En medio de la vorágine que provoca en Puerto Rico la eterna discusión del status político, una novel demanda presentada en el Tribunal Federal por un "noble descendiente de la real dinastía del cacique Agüeybaná" cuestionó sin éxito la legalidad de la soberanía estadounidense sobre la Isla.

Juan Ramón Nadal, hijo, "conocido también como Agueybaná III, Jefe Supremo de la Isla de Boriquén, descendiente de sangre de Agüeybaná", reclamaba en su demanda, desestimada por la jueza Aida Delgado, que se certificara como clase la acción presentada a "nombre de los indios taínos de la Isla de Boriquén".

El autoproclamado Agüeybaná III, quien cumple una larga condena en la prisión de Shawangunk, en Walkill, Nueva York, por delitos no especificados, exigía a Estados Unidos una compensación de $515 mil millones por el usufructo de Puerto Rico.

"Nosotros, los indios taínos de la Isla de Boriquén, cuatro millones de personas, que somos una mezcla de sangre taína (nativa), africana y europea… desde tiempos inmemoriales, formamos una nación soberana e independiente", reza parte de la demanda.

"Tras la formación de la Isla de Boriquén, nosotros indios taínos y nuestros ancestros hemos sido y somos los únicos y exclusivos dueños de la Isla de Boriquén, gobernada por nuestras leyes, usos y costumbres...", sostuvo.

Es así que el "tataranieto de Agüeybaná" exigía que se ordenara a Estados Unidos ceder todo reclamo de soberanía y títulos sobre Puerto Rico.

"Estados Unidos evacuará de inmediato la Isla de Boriquén, ahora bajo la supuesta soberanía estadounidense, y al año de la cesión de soberanía nombrará unos plenitenciarios que se reunirán en San Juan, Isla de Borinquén, para arreglar la evacuación de la Isla y negociar y concluir un tratado de paz…"

"Nosotros los indios taínos éramos los ocupantes de la Isla de Boriquén antes de la llegada de Estados Unidos", agrega. "No somos un territorio de Estados Unidos, ni parte de la Unión".

"Nosotros los indios taínos somos una nación política independiente, que no rinde su derecho a la independencia y la autodeterminación", sostiene.

Llama la atención que el autoproclamado Agüeybaná está recluido en Shawangunk donde, según información obtenida en la red cibernética, han cumplido cárcel prisioneros tales como las Panteras Negras, afroamericanos convertidos al islamismo, y posiblemente algún boricua.

Sin capacidad jurídica
La jueza Delgado desestimó la demanda aduciendo falta de jurisdicción y ausencia de capacidad jurídica, aunque no le disputó al demandante "el derecho de considerarse un descendiente de la dinastía de los taínos".

Indicó que la acción no la trajo una "tribu india o banda o cuerpo gobernante reconocido por el Secretario del Interior", que establecería la jurisdicción.

Segundo, dijo, el demandante no tiene capacidad jurídica para reclamar un daño o interés legal que no sea especulativo e hipotético.

"Me cuesta pensar que la referencia a daños sea una invitación a adjudicar la historia política entre Estados Unidos y España…", apuntó Delgado.

"Aunque el demandante no especifica, parece que a esto es que se refiere cuando habla del acto mediante el cual Puerto Rico fue entregado de forma ilegal a Estados Unidos".

"El demandante se fundamenta en una ilusoria percepción de sí mismo como gobernante autoproclamado de los extintos indios taínos y su punto de vista e interpretación de la historia de Puerto Rico, que no se puede tomar de forma racional, ni es suficiente para establecer un reclamo bajo el que se le puede conceder un remedio", sentenció Delgado. -- Sonia Migdalia Rosa-Vélez M.A.

Recolonizing Australia...or why Trojan horses never say "sorry"

Recolonizing Australia? It does not seem likely given that for Aboriginals in Australia, colonialism never ended. However, some extra inches were hard won in terms of limited land rights for select communities, limited degrees of self-determination, and landmark court victories. Perhaps this is why the right wing government of Prime Minister John Howard has joined what appears to be a growing international anti-indigenous movement in clawing back indigenous rights. This is the government that has steadfastly refused to ever say "sorry" for the genocidal acts inflicted upon Aboriginals, such as having generations of their children forcibly removed and schooled in Euro-Australian institutions. Speaking for myself, as a non-Aboriginal, I would have thought that "sorry," after decades of genocide, would be belittling and humiliating, a slap in the face given the minor and trivial nature of a mere apology. So imagine the characters of these persons who think "sorry" is too much to offer.

As if living out his fantasy for a "final solution" for Aboriginal Australia, PM Howard has used the excuse of a report of abuse of children in the Northern Territory to do what? To send in troops, police, ill prepared bureaucrats, and unmarried doctors to check on the integrity of the genitalia of Aboriginal children. More than that, the Howard government has taken control of 73 Aboriginal townships, compelling them to submit to leasing their territories for five years. The central government needs to take over land to stop child abuse? More than that even, non-Aboriginals no longer require permits to enter Aboriginal territories--what this means is that, ironically, sex tourists who fancy Aboriginal children can now have a go. Alcohol and pornography are to be banned, and yet most Aboriginals who drink do their drinking in white-owned establishments in towns, not in their territories. Troops to prevent Aboriginals from sexually abusing their children? And yet the report that offered this entry point for Howard indicated that non-Aboriginals had also sexually abused Aboriginal children. The same "Little Children Are Sacred" report listed 97 prescriptions for tackling child abuse, and not one of them involved troops, land takeovers, or scrapping the permit system.

Howard's concern for child welfare is more than just questionable. After all, this is the same Prime Minister who locked up Afghan children fleeing the Taliban along with their parents in desolate, blazingly hot prison camps in the outback, in places such as Woomera in South Australia. Afghans fleeing the Taliban pre-2001 were labelled "economic opportunists," but suddenly, after September 11, 2001, the same John Howard was the first to offer troops to support a US invasion of Afghanistan, and the Taliban suddenly really were "evil." In Australia, an Aboriginal child received a prison sentence for stealing magic markers, called "texters" in Australia, under a "three strikes" policy since he had stolen minor items before. As we all know, prisons are ideal places for rehabilitating disadvantaged children. Now they can all live in prison once more.

No other people in Australia--and child abuse is not a monopoly of Aboriginals, needless to say--suffers troops in their homes to deal with their domestic crises. Aboriginals are being singled out for special treatment indeed, as children, as cripples, and as wards.

This latest Trojan horse does not come to say "sorry," it comes to say "I am here to look after the welfare of your little ones."

New Book: Taino Indian Myth and Practice

Our thanks to Bobby Gonzalez for forwarding this news:

Taíno Indian Myth and Practice: The Arrival of the Stranger King

by William F. Keegan

Details: 256 pages 6x9 Cloth: $39.95

ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-3038-8

ISBN 10: 0-8130-3038-2

Pubdate: 4/22/2007

Series: Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series

Overview

"A path-breaking work, rich and mature, complex but readily accessible. It unites the many facets of . . . 25 years of innovative research and leads us out of the once-irresolvable dilemmas of contemporary archaeology."--Geoffrey W. Conrad, William Hammond Mathers Museum, Indiana University

"Charts a new course toward a broader understanding of Taíno society, myth, and archaeology at the dawn of the Spanish colonial period. His approach livens the archaeological record and illuminates our reading of the documentary record."--Dave D. Davis, Tulane University

Applying the legend of the "stranger king" to Caonabo, the mythologized Taino chief of the Hispaniola settlement Columbus invaded in 1492, Keegan examines how myths come to resonate as history--created by the chaotic interactions of the individuals who lived the events of the past as well as those who write and read about them. The "stranger king" story told in many cultures is that of a foreigner who comes from across the water, marries the king's daughter, and deposes the king. In this story, Caonabo, the most important Taíno chief at the time of European conquest, claimed to be imbued with Taino divinity, while Columbus, determined to establish a settlement called La Navidad, described himself as the "Christbearer."

Keegan's ambitious historical analysis--knitting evidence from Spanish colonial documents together with data gathered from the archaeological record--provides a new perspective on the encounters between the two men as they vied for control of the settlement, a survey of the early interactions of the Tainos and Spanish people, and a complex view of the interpretive role played by historians and archaeologists. Presenting a new theoretical framework based on chaos and complexity theories, this book argues for a more comprehensive philosophy of archaeology in which oral myths, primary source texts, and archaeological studies can work together to reconstruct a particularly rich view of the past.

William F. Keegan is curator of Caribbean archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History and professor of anthropology and Latin American studies at the University of Florida.

Other WILLIAM KEEGAN Books
The People Who Discovered Columbus: The Prehistory of the Bahamas

3ra JORNADA INDÍGENA-TAÍNA - AGOSTO 11 y 12, 2007

For a flyer, please download a PDF copy from:
http://www.centrelink.org/encuentrotaino.pdf
-------------------------------------------------

Takaji Familia (Buenos Días Familia),

[Takaji Family,]

CATTA-COOP cordialmente le invita participar en la 3ra Jornada Indígena-Taína en Barrio Coabey, Jayuya, Boriké (Puerto Rico) el Sábado y Domingo, 11 y 12 de Agosto, 2007

(favor mirar el anejo abajo para detalles y ver el enlace de la página cibernética de CATTA-COOP). Un programa detallada estará disponible pronto.

[CATTA-COOP cordially invites you all to participate in the 3rd Indigenous Taíno Gathering in Barrio Coabey, Jayuya, Boriké (aka Puerto Rico) on Saturday and Sunday, August 11-12, 2007

(please see the attachment below for details and check out the link to CATTA-COOP's website). A detailed program will be available soon.]

<<...>>
http://cattacoop.web.prw.net/

Nota: La página cibernética de CATTA-COOP esta disponible solamente en español pero una versión en inglés estará disponible pronto.

La invitación arriba, sin embargo, esta in ambos idiomas (español y inglés), y también se puede ver en la página calendario cibernética al http://cattacoop.web.prw.net/CATTA_Calendario.htm.

[Note: The CATTA-COOP's website is currently only available in Spanish but an English version will be made available soon.

The preliminary flyer above, however, is in both languages (Spanish and English), and can also be viewed on the website's calendar page at http://cattacoop.web.prw.net/CATTA_Calendario.htm.]

Donaciones son aceptadadas y agradecidas, y voluntarios bienvenidos (favor llamar para más detalles).

[Donations are accepted and appreciated, and volunteers are welcome (please call for more details).]

Esperamos verlos.
[We look forward to seeing you.]

Omá Bahari (Con Respeto),
[With Respect,]

Tio Bo Guatukan (Bendiciones Ancestrales),
[Ancestral Blessings,]

Amor, Abrazos, Paz y Taíno-tí (Honramos la Luz en Ti),
[Love, Hugs, Peace & We Honor the Light in You,]

Joanna y Familia
[Joanna & Family]