RECONSIDERING TAINO SOCIAL DYNAMICS AFTER SPANISH

Transcription

ARTICLES
RECONSIDERING TAINO SOCIAL DYNAMICS AFTER SPANISH
CONQUEST: GENDER AND CLASS IN CULTURE CONTACT STUDIES
KathleenDeagan
Despite thefact that the Tainopeople of the Caribbeanwere thefirst Native Americans to encounterand coexist with Europeans after 1492, there has been almost no archaeology of Taino response to that encounter.This study explores the reasons for (and consequences of) this neglect, and their larger implicationsfor American contact-periodarchaeology.It also
challenges prevailing historical models of Taino social disintegration, drawing upon six years of archaeological work at
the En Bas Saline site in Haiti, the only extensively excavated Taino townsite occupied both before and after contact. Our
results, organized by a household-scale analytical framework emphasizing Taino constructions of gender and class, suggest that there werefew major alterations to traditional Taino social practice during the post-contact period, and most of
these were related to activities thought to have been the domain of non-elite Tainomen. It is suggested that the relatively
nonspecialized gender roles among the Tafno,as well as the clearly differentiatednature of their social classes, may have
served as mitigatingfactors in the disruption of Ta'noculturalpractice under Spanish domination. This work also reveals
a marked Taino resistance to the incorporation of European cultural elements, which provides a striking contrast to the
Spanishpatterns documentedin contact-eraEuropeantowns, and underscoresthe critical importanceof incorporatinggender relations into studies of culture contact.
A pesar de que los Tainosdel Caribefueron los primeros indios americanos en confrontarsey coexistir con los europeos
despudsde 1492, no ha habido casi ninguna investigacidnarqueoldgicade la respuestaTainaa este encuentro.Este estudio
explora las razonesy consecuencias de este descuido, y sus implicacionesmayorespara la arqueologia americana del periodo del contacto. Desafia tambidnlos modelos hist6ricospredominantessobre la rdpidadesintegracidnsocial de los Tainos,
en base a seis afios de trabajo arqueoldgico en el sitio de En Bas Saline, Haiti, el U'nicopueblo Taino excavado extensivamente,y ocupadoantes y despudsdel contacto.Nuestrosresultadosorganizadosbajo un nivel de andlisis
que enfadomrstico
tiza las construcciones Tainas de gdnero y clase, sugieren que hubo pocas modificaciones mayores a la prdctica social
tradicionalTainaduranteel perfodoposterior al contacto,y que la mayoriade estos cambiosestuvieronrelacionadosa actividades que hat sido pensadas del dominiode varonesno-dliteTainos.Esto sugiere que los papeles de gdnerorelativamenteno
especializadosentrelos Tainos,asicomo la naturalezaclaramentediferenciadade sus clases sociales, pudieronhaberservido
comofactores mitigantesen la rupturade la prdctica culturalde los Tainosbajo la dominacidnespafiola.Este trabajorevela
tambidnuna marcadaresistenciade los Tainosfrentea la incorporacidnde elementosculturaleseuropeos,lo queproporciona
un contrastellamativocon el modelo espahioldocumentadoen pueblos europeosde la epoca del contacto,y subrayala importancia critica de incorporarlas relaciones del gdneroen estudios del contacto cultural.
One
ofthecentral
andmostenduring
themes tiations.These issues have been of particularcon-
in American historical archaeology has
been theeffortto understandsocialchange
provokedby the encounterof indigenousAmerican andimmigrantEuropeangroupsafter1492.A
greatmanyquestionsof deep interestto archaeologists are embeddedin this largerproject,including thoserelatedto culturalsurvivalandcontinuity,
accommoidentityformationandtransformation,
resistance
and
dation,transculturation,
powernego-
cernin recentyears,as archaeologicalattentionhas
focused on the roles of small-scale aggregate
groups(suchas households)andindividuallyheld
group attributes(such as gender,class, and race)
as productivepathwaysin understandinghow and
why the diverse social landscapes of postColumbianAmericaemerged.
Thispaperis concernedwithpost-contactsocial
dynamicsamongthe Tafnosof northwesternHis-
Kathleen Deagan 0 FloridaMuseum of NaturalHistory,University of Florida,Gainesville, Florida32611
([email protected])
AmericanAntiquity,69(4), 2004, pp. 597-626
Copyright@2004 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology
597
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paniola(today Haiti), and the largerimplications
of thisforarchaeologyin earlycontactperiodsites.
The Tainos were the first group of indigenous
Americanmen and women to encounterand live
with Europeans,beginningwiththe firstvoyage of
Columbusin 1492,andcontinuinginto
Christopher
the sixteenthcentury.The criticalfirstdecadesof
interactionbetween Tainos and Spaniardshad a
profoundinfluenceon subsequentEuropeanbeliefs
about,understandingof, andpolicy towardAmerica and its inhabitants(Jaraand Spadaccini1992;
Rabasa 1992; Williamsand Lewis 1993). Nevertheless,verylittleis knownarchaeologicallyabout
theTainoduringthisperiod.My discussionhastwo
primaryobjectives:the firstis to explorethe epistemologicaland methodologicalreasonsunderlying the absenceof archaeologyin post-contactera
Taino sites; the second is to offer a reconsidered
modelof TainosocialdynamicsafterSpanishcontact and conquest,using genderand class as primarystructuringelements.This is derivedthrough
a household-scaleanalysis of archaeologicaldata
from the site of En Bas Saline, Haiti(Figure 1).
En Bas Saline is the only systematicallyexcavated Taino town site in the Caribbeanthat was
occupied both before and after Spanish contact,
andourworktherebetween1983and 1988hasprovidedthe firstarchaeologicallyderivedunderstand
of Tainoresponse(andresistance)to post-conquest
circumstancesin Hispaniola.It revealsa considerablymorepronouncedregimenof post-contactcultural continuity and maintenanceof traditional
practicethanhas beenpreviouslyrecognized.This
argumentruns counterto the standardhistorical
assessment(discussedbelow) of near-immediate
andmonolithicTainosocialcollapse.I suggestthat
the continuityin culturalpracticeat post-contact
EnBas Salinewasclearlyconditionedby thenature
of genderroles in both pre-contactTaino society
and Spanish-Tainointeraction,and was mediated
by social hierarchyamongthe Taino.
Archaeology and Contact-Era American
Encounters
More than fifty years of archaeologicalresearch
exploringNativeAmericanpeople's responsesto
Europeanarrivalhavegeneratedanimmensebody
of literature,which obviously cannotbe assessed
fully here (foruseful syntheticoverviewsof much
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
of thisworksee Cusick1998a,1998b;Dillehayand
Deagan 1992; Fitzhugh 1985; McEwan 2000;
Ramenofsky1987;Rogers 1990;RogersandWilson 1993;Smith 1987;Thomas1989, 1990, 1991;
Wesson and Rees 2002a; Woodet al. 1989). It is
useful to note, however,the strikingvariationand
diversityin the paths of Americanand European
encounteracrossspace,time,ecology, andculture.
Archaeologistsin recentyears have concentrated
on understandingand explainingthis variationin
termsof the specific social andhistoricalcircumstancesof bothindigenousandimmigrantgroups,
embeddedin the local Americansettingsin which
Old Worldnewcomersfoundthemselves.
Throughthese efforts, it has become increasingly evidentthatgenderrolesandrelations-both
betweengroupsin contactandwithingroupsexperiencing contact-are consistent and important
interactionand
conditioningfactorsin intercultural
its consequences(Deagan1974, 1996;Deetz 1963;
EttieneandLeacock 1980; Ewen 1991;Fairbanks
1962; Mason 1963; Rothschild2003). Gendered
roles both within and between groups in contact
have complex and often subtle influenceson the
ways in which culturecontactunfolds.They also
help structurethe ways in which socialbehavioris
manifestin post-contactculturalsettings.Dependinteraction(e.g.,
ing on the contextof intercultural
conflict, trade, religious evangelization,slaving,
consensual intermarriage,etc.), the gender relations of social control,food productionand procurement, trade, rituals and healing, craft
production,orwarfaremightpotentiallyeitherpromote social continuityor predictsocial collapse.
Forexample,contactinvolvingarmedconflictand
militaryresistanceto intrusivepopulationstendsto
involve men, potentiallycreatinga demographic
imbalancefavoringwomen in the local groups.In
sucha case,thedegreeto whicha post-contactgenderimbalancewouldencourageormutesocialdisruptionwouldbe profoundlyinfluencedby whether
men orwomenweretraditionallytheprimaryfood
producersor ritualspecialists.
Attention to gender is but one example of
increasingsubtletyin the ongoing archaeological
culturecontact.Nevstudyof European-American
tensions
inherentin conthe
ertheless, disciplinary
tactperiodstudies-pointed outby KentLightfoot
nearly a decade ago (Lightfoot 1995)-remain
largely unresolved. European-Americanculture
Deagan]
RECONSIDERINGTAINO SOCIAL DYNAMICS
Haitian
599
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HAITI
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.
.:...
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0 KM
Figure 1. Location of En Bas Saline.
contactstudiesnecessarilyinvolvebotharticulation
of andoverlapamongprecolumbianarchaeology,
postcolumbianarchaeology,ethnographicanalogy,
anddocument-basedhistory.Althoughall of these
sourcesof evidenceaboutthe pasthave long been
acknowledgedas essential to understandingthe
European-American encounter and its consequences,theirbalancedarticulationremainsinadequatein practice,particularlyin our tendencyto
privilege one line of evidence (usually but not
alwaystext-based)in bothconstructingmodelsand
interpretingevidence.
600
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integrationis also madeprobInterdisciplinary
lematicalby the fact thattextualand materialevidence bearingon the early yearsof Americanand
Europeanencounteris only rarely generated at
comparablescales of observation,intentionality,
or resolution (see Lightfoot 1995; Ramenofsky
1987:2-5, 1991;WessonandRees 2002b;Wilson
encounterclearly
1993).Thecase of Taino-Spanish
illustratesthe ways in which these factors both
shape and bias our understandingof the contact
periodin the Americas.
Taino Cultural Practice and Gender in Late
Fifteenth-Century Hispaniola
The first Europeansettlementsin America were
establishedon Hispanioladuring1492 and 1493in
thedenselypopulatedterritoryof theTainoIndians
(amongthenumerousrecentsyntheticoverviewsof
Tainolife andculture,seeAnderson-C6rdova
1990;
Berchtet. al 1997;Guitar1998;Keegan1992,2000;
Moscoso 1981, 1999; Oliver 1998:59-93; Rouse
1992;VelozMaggiolo1997;Wilson1990a,1997a).
Theterm"Taino"hasbeentraditionally
usedto designate the inhabitantsof the GreaterAntilles and
Bahamasat the time of Europeanarrival;however,
most researchersrecognize that this usage inappropriatelyreduces the considerablediversityof
social, political,and economic formationsamong
these people. While noting thatthe term is still a
topicof lively debateamongCaribbeanarchaeologists, my use of "Taino"in this studycorresponds
to IrvingRouse'sdesignationof "ClassicTaino"in
Hispaniola,characterizedby complex chiefdoms,
social hierarchy,a horticultural
economybasedon
root crops, and the highly artisticcraft and ritual
expressionsassociatedwith the Ostionoidcultural
tradition(1992:9-17).
TheTainoarethoughtto havebeen matrilineal,
andit hasbeen suggestedthatsomemayhavepracticed avunculocalresidence (Keegan and Machlachlan 1989). The Taino of Hispaniola were
politicallyorganizedat the time of contactinto at
least five hereditarychiefdoms(cacicazgos),each
witha clearlyrecognizedregionalpowerhierarchy
and paramountruler.It is estimatedthatthe cacicazgos incorporatedbetween seventy and a hundredcommunities,some of whichhadpopulations
numberingin the thousands(Wilson 1997b:46).
At least two distinctsocial categorieswere rec-
[Vol. 69, No. 4, 2004
to thecaciques.
ognizedby theTainoas subordinate
The nitainos were equatedby the Spaniardswith
nobles andappearto have assistedthe caciquesin
the organization of production. Behiques, or
shamans,were partof the nitainogroup.A second
category, known as naborias, seems to have
referredto laborers,althoughit is notclearlyunderstood whether this refers to the entire non-elite
laboring population, or to certain specific subgroups (Anderson-C6rdova 1990:52-56,187;
Moscoso 1981:216-241;Moya Pons 1992;Rouse
1992:9).Some scholarshaveinterpretedthis organizationas an accuratereflectionof precolumbian
class differenceamongthe Taino(Moscoso 1981;
Moya Pons 1992), while others suggest that this
was a post-contact,Spanish-influencedstructure
(AlcinaFranch1983).
Tainoresidentsof northThe fifteenth-century
of
thisstudy)wereamong
focus
ernHispaniola(the
the mostpoliticallycomplexof those documented
by the firstEuropeanchroniclers(see Curet2002;
Keegan 1996; Veloz Maggiolo 1997:36; Wilson
1997b:55).Most researchersinfer thatthey were
organizedas complexredistributive(possiblytributary) cheifdoms with well-defined patternsof
andinequality(Alegria1997a;
socialdifferentiation
Curet2002; Keegan et al. 1998; Moscoso 1981,
1999:7-9; Rouse 1992; Siegel 1999;Veloz Maggiolo 1997:36;Wilson 1990a,1990b, 1997b).Both
chroniclers
of theprincipalearlysixteenth-century
of the Taino specifically recordedthat caciques
controlledproductionof bothsubsistenceandcraft
goods by assigningspecifictasksto individualsor
the fruitsof theirlabor,and
groups,appropriating
goods to community
redistributing
subsequently
members(Las Casas 1958 [IV, 305]:242; Martyr
D'Anghiera1970:[II]252).
Documentaryaccounts at the time of contact
indicatethatalthoughtheparamountrulersamong
the Tainowere most often men, womencouldalso
be caciques.Womenseem to have participatedat
all levels in the politicalhierarchy,both wielding
power and accumulating wealth (Sued Badillo
1979:29-32).Elitewomen,forexample,areknown
to have amassedvaluedcraftitems andused them
for tradingand as gifts (see discussionby Wilson
1990a:141).Pre-contactgender roles among the
Tainoareincompletelyunderstoodandoften contestedamongcontemporaryscholars,who tendto
referto the "naturaldivisionof labor"as a basisfor
Deagan]
RECONSIDERING
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assigning gender to activities (e.g. Cassa
1990:82-83; Stevens-Arroyo1988:47). The few
studiesthathavesystematicallyinvestigatedTaino
gender constructionsconclude that gender roles
among the Tainowere generallynonexclusivein
most activities,rangingfrom political leadership
and fightingas warriorsto food and craftproduction (Guitar 1998:36-45; Sued-Badillo 1979).
Therearefew documentedsocialoreconomicfunctions that can be attributedexclusively to the
domainof eithermen or women.
Tainoeconomywasbasedon intensiverootcrop
(primarilymanioc)agriculturesupplementedwith
abundantwild estuarineresources.Both men and
womenwerereportedby chroniclersto havefished,
althoughit is not known whetherthis was a regularor universalpractice.Cultivatingandgathering
manioc roots were apparentlynot gender-specific
activities;however,theclearingof fieldsandpreparation of conucos-the raised mounds in which
maniocwasplanted-is assumedto havebeendone
by men. The transitionfrom slash and bum farming to conucofarmingamongmanyCaribbeanpeoples afteraboutA.D. 700-800 servednot only to
greatly increasethe yield of manioc, but also to
decreasethetotalamountof laborrequiredto farm
it (see, forexampleMoscoso 1999:103-110;Veloz
Maggiolo 1977[2]:202-207). Once the conucos
were constructed,all thatwas requiredfor manioc
was periodicplanting,weeding, andharvesting-all tasksthatboth men andwomen carriedout.
While this process considerablyreduced the
labor investment of men, larger yields greatly
increasedthe laborinvestmentof women,as those
who carriedoutthe long, laboriousprocessof convertingbittermaniocrootsto bread(see, for example Roosevelt 1980:129-137). This divisiontends
to lend credenceto the 1494 pronouncementby
Michel de Cuneo-a memberof Columbus'ssecondexpedition-that "Thewomendo all thework.
Menconcernthemselvesonly withfishingandeating" (Cuneoin Parryand Keith 1984:92).Columbushimselfobservedthat"itappearsto me thatthe
women work more than the men" (Columbusto
Santangel,1493, in ParryandKeith 1984:61).
Bothwomenandmen servedas leadersandparticipantsin communityrituals(areytos,described
below) and ballgames(see Guitar1998:39;Sued
Badillo1979:41).Thepantheonof Tainodeitiesand
zemiimagesincludesbothmales andfemales,and
601
both figure prominently in Taino mythology
(Arrom 1989; Stevens-Arroyo 1988:155-180).
Male andfemale sexualityareopenlyexpressedin
Tainoart,andshockedSpanishaccountsimplythat
chastitywas not valuedfor eithergender(see discussion in Sued-Badillo1979:49).
One of the most distinctivecharacteristicsof
Tainosociety(atleastto themodfifteenth-century
em observer)is a vibrantsense of artisticcreativity andexuberantinnovationin materialexpression.
Taino artisansproduced a wide variety of craft
items,includingelaboratedecoratedceramics,cottonandcottonproducts,groundandpolishedstone
beads andornaments,carvedshell andbone ornaments, tools of stone, shell and bone, carved
wooden objects,tobacco, variousfoodstuffs,and
exotic birdsandfeathers(Berchtet. al. 1997;Garcia Ar6valo 1977; Kerchache 1994; Rouse
1992:17;Wilson 1990a:49-51). Chroniclersnote
specificallythatwomen spunandwove cottoninto
clothing and hammocks,made basketsand mats,
and carved some ceremonialwooden items, and
potteryproductionis assumedby most contemporaryauthorsto have been done by women (Cassa
1990:82;Guitar1998:41-42). Thereis less textual
evidence for craft activities done specificallyby
men, but it is generallyassumedthatmen carried
out the fabricationof heavierwood items, such as
canoesandbuildings,andproducedstonetools and
objects (e.g., Veloz Maggiolo 1997:38).
Encounter and the Assumption of Collapse:
Why Is There No Postcolumbian Taino
Archaeology?
ShortlyafterColumbus'sarrivalin Hispaniola,the
Tainocaciquesformedinter-chiefdomalliancesto
oppose the Spanishinvaders.Nearly five years of
open conflictultimatelyresultedin Spanishpolitical subjugationof theisland,thecessationof open
warfare,the impositionof tributeon the Tainoin
1495, and the formal implementation of
encomienda1503. Underthis institutionthe Indianswereobligedto exchangetheirlaborforinstruction in Christianityand "civilization."Spanish
governorsassignedentireTainotowns to individual Spaniards,with labororganizedand mediated
throughtheTainocaciques(ArranzMarqu6z1991;
Moya Pons 1992). Spanishrespectfor chiefly status differentiationwas explicitly articulatedfrom
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thefirstdaysof contactin 1492onward,andquickly
becamea centerpieceof Spanishpolicy regarding
the AmericanIndians(see, for example, Ramos
G6mez 1993:124-167; Hanke 1949).
EncomiendaIndianconscriptsspentfromfour
to six months in service to the Spaniards (the
demora)andthe remainderof the yearin theirvillages. In order to make this more efficient, the
Taino villages were sometimes moved and consolidatedat locationsconvenientfor Spanishlabor
exploitation(reduccidn),which exacerbatedboth
exposure to and spread of European diseases
among Indianpopulation(the practiceof reduccidn was not universallyimplemented,however,
andtendedto be concentratedin the areasof major
gold production).
The combinedeffects of militarydefeat, nearslavery,forced physicalrelocation,social abuses,
andnew diseasesthatconfrontedtheTainoof early
sixteenth-century
Hispaniolacreatedseveredemographic pressure and population loss within 20
yearsof theirfirstencounterswithSpaniards(recent
Tainodemogsyntheticstudiesof sixteenth-century
raphy include Anderson C6rdova 1990:41-160;
Cook 1998:19-46; MiraCaballos1997:34;Moya
Pons 1992; Wilson 1990a:90-92). By the middle
of the sixteenthcentury,the Tainowere no longer
identifiableas a social entity.
A great deal of historicaland ethnohistorical
researchover the past 500 yearshas been devoted
to this encounter,most of it basedultimatelyon a
relatively few primary,Spanish-produceddocuments.The most importantof these includethose
of Christopher
Columbus(Varela1982),Ferdinand
Columbus(Keen 1959), Bartholomede las Casas
(1951, 1958), Peter MartyrD'Anghiera (1970),
andGonzaloFernmndes
de Oviedoy Valdds(1959)
(for a synthetic discussion of Caribbeancontact
perioddocumentarysourcesin generalsee Alegria
1997b;Wilson 1990a:7-13).
Theseearlychroniclersinspireda modelof Taino
responseto theSpanishconquestof Hispaniolathat,
untilveryrecently,dominatednearlyall subsequent
ethnohistorical
Thecentralelements
understanding.
of this model includethe stunninglyrapidpopulation decline and concomitantsocial disintegration
of a largelyhelplessTainopopulationin response
to Spanish-introduced
epidemic disease, warfare,
andfatallyabusivelaborexploitation.Thethemeof
post-contactTainoculturalcollapsewas repeatedly
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
and vociferously assertedby Bartolom6de Las
Casasin particular(1951, 1958) andbecamecodified as part of the anti-Spanish"Black Legend"
throughoutthe English-speaking world. These
assumptionswere reinforcedduringthe years of
the ColumbianQuincentenaryobservations,when
mostpopularandmuchscholarlyattentionwasjustifiably devoted to the negative consequencesof
Europeaninvasionandexploitation(see, for example, Axtell 1995;Sale 1990;Stannard1992;SuedBadillo 1992).
A widely acceptedandoften implicitcorollary
themeto the demographiccollapse of the Tainois
thatpopulationdeclinewasparalleledby anequally
rapidand devastatingdisintegrationof traditional
Tainosocial, economic,political,artistic,andideologicalorganization.It has been difficultfor most
twentieth-centuryresearchersto contemplatethe
panoramaof events in early contact-periodHispaniolawithoutassuminga considerabledegreeof
social, material,and ideological alterationamong
the Taino (see, for examples, discussionsin Alegria 1997a:31-33; Cook 1998:19-46; Deagan
1988a;Deagan and Cruxent2002:209-11; Deive
1995:72-76; Hanke 1949; Mira Caballos
1997:33-47, 409-412; Moscoso 1981:339-351;
MoyaPons 1976, 1981,1992:132-33;Sauer1966;
Wilson 1990a:96-98). Such alteration,however,
may not have been equivalentto totalcollapse.
The tendencyto uncriticallyacceptthe notion
that Taino social formations suffered swift and
monolithiccollapse in Hispaniolaafter 1492 has
encouragedthepremisethatthepost-contactTaino
experienceis largely inaccessibleto archaeology
and,by extension,an unfruitfulfocus for archaeological research.Moreover,as a sourceof national
identity,thestoryof post-contactannihilationof the
Tainopeoplehas been considerablyless appealing
to bothhistoriansand archaeologistsin the region
thanhas thestudyof thepre-1492Tafnocheifdoms
(GarciaAr6valo1988).
As a consequenceof bothof theseassumptions,
andof certainmethodologicalproblemsdiscussed
below, archaeologistshave largely ignoredquestions of post-contact Taino social dynamics in
Taino-occupiedsites. Importantstudieshave been
directedtowardtheTainoin Spanishtowncontexts
(GarciaArdvalo1990; Ortega1982; Smith 1995),
but postcolumbianTaino occupation sites have
rarelybeen identifiedand even more rarelyexca-
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RECONSIDERING
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vated (Keegan 1996; Rouse 1992:139), and there
exists no materially grounded,Taino-generated
basisforassessingTainoactionin responseto Europeanpresence.This has servedin turnto tautologically reinforcethe notion that the Taino did not
survivecontactlong enoughto generatesignificant
archaeologicaldeposits.
Historicalassumptionsaboutthe Tainoin Hispaniolahavebeen challengedin recentyears,however, by such researchers as Karen Anderson
C6rdova (1990:122-133) and Lynn Guitar
(1998:222-227) throughtheir anthropologically
informedreconsiderationsof importantprimary
Spanishdocuments(themostimportantof theseis
theHieronymiteInterrogatory
of 1517,reproduced
in Rodriguez-Demorizi(1971:273-354). These
documentsindicatethatnearlya quarterof a century after European arrival, most of the Taino
encomiendaworkersin Hispaniolacontinuedto
serve in the Spanishlabordraftsout of obedience
to their caciques, whose statusremainedlargely
intactin bothSpanishandTainoeyes. Oncetheconscripts'laborservicewas completed,theyreturned
for the rest of the year to theirvillage homes and
traditionalpractices,includingthe ritualcommunal feasts and dancesknown as areytos,andtheir
spiritsymbol (zemi)-basedreligion (for a similar
argumentconcerningculturalsurvivalamongthe
Tainoof Cubasee DominguezandRives 1995).
Despitethe inarguablefactsof post-contactturmoil and dramaticloss of life amongthe Taino,it
appearsthatin some places atleast,Tainopolitical
organization,patternsof social andeconomic differentiation,village organization,and community
ritualmay haveremainedlargelyintactthroughat
least the first 30 years of contact.This assertion
challenges the more common assumption that
Tainosocial reproductionquicklycollapsedunder
thepressureof laborexploitationanddisease.Italso
offersa moreinclusivealternativetext-basedmodel
that can inform the archaeologicalinvestigation
into the diversityof TainoexperienceunderSpanish dominion.
603
methodologicalissues relatedto site recognition.
As in most partsof the Americas,archaeologists
generallyassumethatEuropeancontactwithNative
Americansimplies the introductionof European
materialthingsandtheiruse by indigenousAmericans (albeit often with new meanings,uses, and
symbolic significanceconferredby the American
groups). Following from this, most post-1492
archaeologicalcontextsareidentifiedby the presence of recognizableEuropeanartifactsor structural features. Unfortunately,easily identifiable
Europeanobjectsartifactsmay not be abundantor
even present in Native American sites occupied
early in the contact period. This problemis frequentlyconfrontedby researchersworkingin the
"protohistoric"American era (that is, after the
arrivalof Europeansto the continentbut before
regularcontactbetween them and nativepeople;
e.g., Galloway1995;Smith1987;WessonandRees
2002b).
The datafromEn Bas Saline suggestthateven
under conditions of direct encounter,European
materialsmay not be particularlyevident.The terminipost quemfor post-1492 deposits were provided by European faunal remains and tiny
fragmentsof glass, metal, andearthenware(some
of which might go unrecognizedby excavators
unfamiliarwith late fifteenth-centuryEuropean
material culture) (Figure 2). These items were
recoveredthroughrelativelyfinescreening(/4-inch
or smaller) of all excavated soil, as well as the
recoveryandidentificationnot only of all cultural
materials,but also of faunalandfloralremains.
This latterobservationis particularlyimportant
and potentiallyproblematicin that it requiresat
least rough-sortingandidentificationof all faunal
andfloralremainsexcavatedata site,a practicenot
or subsistence
normallyrequiredforenvironmental
reconstruction.
Manysamplingdesignsrelyon columnsamplesor samplesfromspecifickindsof features or deposits for subsistenceanalyses.While
these may be statisticallyappropriatemethodsby
which to sample subsistence behavior,they are
unlikely to recoverall of the Europeanplant and
animalremainswhich serve, like EuropeanartiIssues
in
Methodological
facts, as unequivocalterminipost quemfor postContact-EraArchaeology
contact deposits. In some early contact-period
The (untilrecently)prevailingassumptionsabout NativeAmericansites Europeanplantand animal
the archaeologicalinaccessibilityof post-contact remainsmay,in fact, be morefrequentthanEuroTaino social action have been exacerbated by pean artifactsin the archaeologicalrecord.Unless
AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
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1
[Vol. 69, No. 4, 2004
Centimeter
Figure 2. Late fifteenth-centurySpanish artifacts from En Bas Saline. Top row, left to right: Melado glazed earthenware,
Columbia Plain Majolica, fragments of iron. Bottom row, Left to right: Burned green glass, Redware earthenware.
remainsaresampledandanalyzed
thesenonartifact
in the sameway artifactsare,the extentandnature
of post-contactactivityandchangecan be considerablyunderestimated.
Anotherpotentialbias thatmay affectboth the
recognitionandstudyof earlycontact-periodcontexts is the granularityof samplingand analytical
scale. As Antonio Curet(2003) has pointed out,
Caribbeanarchaeologistshave only rarely (and
only recently) employed a household scale of
recoveryor analysis.Caribbeanarchaeologyand
its methodologies have been dominated by
regional-scaleconcernsof culturehistory,artifact
taxonomy,migrationpatterns,and only recently,
the emergenceof chiefdoms (Curet 1992, 2003;
Keegan1994,2000, see alsoRouse 1992).Because
of theirregionalfocus, theseissues havenot traditionallyrequiredclose attentionto eitherindividual households or single-event deposits. Whole
sitesgenerallyprovidethebasicunitof analysisand
comparison,oftenbasedlargelyon surfacecollections,a few testtrenches,orrandomtestpits.While
this has often been quiteappropriatefor the kinds
of questionsbeing askedby the researchers,it has
renderedvery difficultthe isolation and segregation of post-contactoccupation contexts within
sites.As a result,post-contactTafnooccupationat
manymulticomponentsites has undoubtedlygone
unrecognized.
In summary,there exists a dearthof information generated in Taino contexts about Taino
responsesto the arrivalof Europeansin Hispaniola.
This is attributedpartlyto an uncriticalacceptance
of the assumption (generated by documentary
accounts)thatTainodemographicand social disintegrationtook place so rapidlyaftercontactthat
no recognizable Taino occupation sites were
formed.The neglect of post-contactTainosites is
also in parta consequenceof assumptionsabout
the recognitionof the sites andcomponentsthemselves. Many early post-contactoccupationstrata
and depositionalevents are dateableonly through
the presenceof Europeanfaunaor flora,andEuropean objects may be quite rare.This rendersthe
recognitionof very early post-contactoccupation
problematicalwithouta recoverystrategydesigned
Deagan]
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
RECONSIDERING
to identifyfloralandfaunalremainsat the scale of
householdor event.
All of thesecontributingfactorsarebeing gradually mitigatedin the Caribbean.Ethnohistorical
studiessuchas those of Anderson-C6rdova
(1990)
and Guitar(1998) have challengedthe documentbased models of post-contactTaino culturalpersistence, change, resistance, and adaptation.
Fine-grainedhousehold studies are increasingly
being called for and carriedout in Antilleansites
(Curet 1992, 2003). The En Bas Saline project,
summarizedin the following discussion,is one of
thefirstprogramsto drawuponthesedevelopments
and offer insights into post-contactTaino social
dynamicsthat are groundedin a Taino-generated
archaeologicalrecord.
En Bas Saline
En Bas Saline is the site of a large classic Taino
town located on the northeasterncoast of Haiti
aboutone kilometerfromthe village of Limonade
Bordde Mer,andabout12 kilometerseast of present day Cap Haitian(Figure 1). It is one of the
largestTainovillage sitesreportedin Haiti,encompassingan areaof some 95,000 squaremeters.No
othersite in this region,which is one of the most
intensively surveyedpartsof Hispaniola(Moore
1997, 1998), comes close to it in size or organizationalcomplexity,stronglysuggestingthatthiswas
a centraltown of the cacicazgo.
The site was firstlocatedandtestedin 1977 by
medicalmissionaryandavocationalarchaeologist
WilliamHodgesof Limb6,Haiti,as partof his lifelong searchfor Columbus'slost fort of La Navidad (Hodges 1983, 1986). Hodges carried out
limited test excavationsat the site, the results of
which led him to bringthe site to the attentionof
the Universityof Florida.A collaborativeprogram
of survey,mapping,andexcavationwas carriedout
at En Bas Saline between 1983 and 1988 by the
FloridaMuseum of NaturalHistory,the Bureau
Nationald'Ethnologied'Haiti, and the Musee de
Guahab in Limb, Haiti(Cusick1989,1991;Deagan 1986, 1987, 1988b, 1989, 1993;Hodges 1983,
1986).
ChristopherColumbus's flagship, the Santa
Marfa,wreckedin Decemberof 1492 off thenorth
coast of Haiti, in the vicinity of En Bas Saline.
Afterthe disaster,ColumbusestablishedLa Navi-
605
dadin the townof theTainocacique,Guacanagarf,
who was the principal chief of the province of
Marienat the time of contact(todaynorthernHaiti
and northwesternDominican Republic).En Bas
Saline is thoughtto be the site of Guacanagarf's
town both because of its singularsize and prominence in the region,andbecauseits locationconformsvery closely to the accountsof Columbus's
wreck (Deagan 1989; Hodges 1983; Morison
1940).
The loss of his vessel forcedColumbusto leave
39 crew membersbehind in Guacanagarf'stown
with instructionsto build a fortressand searchfor
gold, and a promiseto returnfor them the following year. Columbusdid returnfor his crew nine
monthslaterduringhis second,colonizingvoyage,
but foundthe fortburnedand all of the men dead.
Guacanagariclaimedthat some had died fighting
with one another,and most had been killed when
town
a rivalTainocaciqueattackedGuacanagarf's
the
and burned
Europeancompound.Although
ColumbusacceptedGuacanagari'sstory,he chose
to abandonthe areaas a site for his firstintentional
settlement,andsailedeastwardto establishthetown
of La Isabelanearpresent-dayPuertoPlatain the
DominicanRepublic(for expandeddiscussionof
these events and their moderninterpretationssee
DeaganandCruxent2002; Morison1940;Wilson
1990a).
This markedthe end of documentedEuropean
presence in Guacangari'stown, although Guacanagarfhimself remainedan ally of Columbus,
providingfood andgifts of gold, visitinghim in La
Isabela,and fightingwith him againstthe rest of
the caciquesof Hispaniolain the finalyears of the
fifteenthcentury(Wilson1990a:79-80).TheSpanish town of PuertoReal was establishedin 1503,
reportedin the sixteenthcenturyto be very close
to where the fort of La Navidad had been, and
located today abouttwo kilometersfrom the site
of En Bas Saline (Deagan 1995) (Figure 1). The
subjects of Guacanagarf's chiefdom, perhaps
includingtheresidentsof En Bas Saline,mayhave
been pressed into encomienda service to the
Spaniardsat PuertoReal. In 1514, citizens of the
Spanishtown were assigned 12 caciques (one of
whom was a woman), controlling 945 Indians
(ArranzMarqudz1991:547). The region around
En Bas Saline was also the centerfor some of the
final Taino resistance to Spanish dominion, the
AMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
606
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
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Figure 3. Archaeological basemap, En Bas Saline. Dashed lines indicate raised earth features. Shaded areas indicate the
primary midden locations.
guerilla-style"Baharucowars"of the 1530s, during which a number of Spanish settlers in and
around Puerto Real were killed (see Deive
1989:30-42; MiraCaballos1997:313).
The archaeologicalprogramat En Bas Saline
was initially orientedprincipallytowardlocating
LaNavidad,whichhasbeendocumentedelsewhere
(Deagan1987, 1989). It has includedprogramsof
topographicmapping,surfacecollection, electromagneticconductivitysurvey,transecttestpits,and
extensivearealexcavations.AlthoughtheLa Navidad fort was not unequivocally identified, the
ephemeralnatureof thatoccupationrequireda finegrainedexcavationstrategythatservedultimately
to isolatethe post-contactTainooccupationof the
site in a way that might not have otherwisebeen
possible.
The Tainotown at En Bas Saline was roughly
oval,orientedfromnorthwestto southeast,andwas
boundedby a curved,raised earthenridge in the
shapeof a squared"C,"opento thesouthandsouthwest (Figure3). The ridge is about20 m across,
with elevationsrangingfrom .5 to .8 m above the
areas.Distributionof thesurfacematesurrounding
rials from the site (representingtotal coverage)
revealthatthedensestTainooccupationrefusemidden is also concentratedin a squared"C"shape,
opposite to and in a mirrorimage of the raised
earthenridge(Figure3). Theridgeandthemidden
are separatedby a flat, open areathatis relatively
clearof occupationalevidence,andis presumedto
havebeen a plaza,dancecourt,orball court.Three
raisedareas(approximately.8 m in elevationand
from 15 to 30 m across) are aligned east to west
acrossthe plazaarea,dividingit intotwo sections.
Followingwhatis knownof Tainotown organization,thesearepresumedto be eliteresidentialareas,
a presumptionsubsequentlyconfirmedby excavation (for discussionof Tainovillage organization
and settlementpatternssee Alegria 1985; Oliver
RECONSIDERING
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
Deagan]
607
Table 1. RadiometricDates from En Bas Saline.
Sample ID
Beta 47758
Beta 46760
Beta 46759
Beta-18173
Beta 18172
Beta 01527
Beta 10526
Beta 018469
Beta 010528
Beta 046761
Field
Provenience
FS7399 (A18)
Mound structure
FS7126(A21,L3)
Mound structure
FS7123(F26,L4)
Mound structure
FS6851 (PM6)
Mound structure
FS6316(F11,L5)
Feast pit
FS3888 (A6)
Post underlying
burialpit
FS3885 (F4, L11)
Burial pit
FS6882 (A6,L6)
Burial pit
FS3897 (F8, L3)
Burial pit
FS7185 F31L2
Non-elite
ridge structure
* - Variables:est.
C13/C12
Cal A.D.
Yrs. ? 20
Cal A.D.
Yrs. ? 1
'813C%o*
Charcoal
Uncalibrated14C
Years ?+ B.P.
810 ? 70
1040 (1240) 1300
1180-1280
-25
Charcoal
800 ? 60
1060 (1250)1280
1090-1280
-25
Charcoal
Charcoal
720 + 50
680 ? 80 BP
1230 (1280)1310
1210(1290)1420
-25
-25
Charcoal
600 + 70 BP
Charcoal
640 + 260
1280 (1320,1340,
1390) 1440
1270 (1300) 1420
1270-1300
1270-1320
1340-1390
1300-1420
1290-1400
-.25
Charcoal
430 ? 80
1400 (1450)1650
-.25
Charcoal
440 ? 60
Charcoal
340 + 70
1460-1650
-.25
Charcoal
320 + 70
1410 (1440) 1530
1560-1630
1430 (1520, 1590,
1620) 1670
1440 (1530, 1560,
1630)1670
1770-1800
1940-1950
1420-1510
1600-1620
1420-1480
1470-1650
-.25
Material
-25
-.25
= -.25:lab. mult =1
1998:28-48; Rainey and Rouse 1941; Rouse
1992:9-10; Siegel 1999; Veloz Maggiolo 1993:
148-154).
Between 1984and 1988we excavated238.5 m2
at En Bas Saline, accountingvolumetricallyfor
approximately216 m3of soil, dividedamong814
discretefieldexcavationproveniences(thatis, fivecentimeterincrementsof individualsoil zones and
features).Radiocarbondatesfromtheloweststrata
and featuresat the site indicatean initial date of
occupationat aroundA.D. 1250, and continuous
occupation into the historic period is supported
both by post-1492 Europeanmaterialsand radiometric dates (Table 1). Excavationsconcentrated
on the centralandlargestmound(as a chiefly residence),theearthridgeboundingthe site (tounderstand its chronology,constructionand function),
anda locationin theplazaareathatcontainedelectromagneticanomalies(Figure3).
Theearthridgewas apparentlyconstructedpurposefullyin a single episodepriorto contact,with
a series of borrowpits on the village side, and a
very low density of culturalmaterialin the ridge
fill. The configurationand materialcontentin the
areawe testedsuggeststhatearthworkwas notused
for domesticoccupationbeforecontact,butrather
servedas a boundaryfor the village or for a plaza.
A portion of a small wattle and daub structure
accompaniedby refusedepositswas locatedon the
top of the earthenridge, and was occupiedexclusivelyduringthepost-contactperiod.Withoutadditionaltesting,however,we cannotdetermineif this
representsan isolatedphenomenon,or a site-wide
changein settlementpatternaftercontact.
The centralmoundexcavationsrevealedremnantsof at least two very large,presumablyelite,
They
superimposedorreusedresidentialstructures.
were oval in shape, exceeding 15 m in diameter,
andwere supportedby posts measuringat least 50
cm in diameter.The initial structurewas probably
constructed between A.D. 1200 and 1250 and
burned at least twice during its occupation. It
burnedfor the firsttime duringthe secondhalf of
thethirteenthcentury(Table1), andthenagainduring the earlypost-contactperiod,indicatedby the
presence of Europeanelements in several of the
structure'slaterposts andburnedfill layers.
Adjacentto andprobablyoutsidethe structural
complex on the mound,we located a deep pit in
which the remainsof an infantwere interred(Fig-
608
ANTIQUITY
AMERICAN
ure4). Includedin thefill of theburialpit werelarge
quantitiesof ceramics(manyelaboratelymolded)
andwhatwe interpretto be theremainsof feasting.
A post-contactdatefor theburialis confirmedboth
by the presence of Sus scrofa and Rattus rattus
bones in the lowest levels of the feature(underlying the burial),andby radiometricdates(Table1).
Electromagneticsurveyin theplazalocatedtwo
verylarge,deeppitsbetweenthecentralmoundand
the earthridge.Initiallyhypothesizedto havebeen
partof a potentialmoat,it becameclearuponexcavationand analysisthatthe pits datedstratigraphically to the pre-contactera,andchronometrically
to the mid-fourteenthcentury(Table 1). The pits
were rectangularand straight sided, measuring
approximatelyone by two meters,and extending
to a depthof morethan1.5 meters(Figure5). They
were filled with ceramicvessel fragments,broken
ceramic griddles, burnedmanioc tubers, animal
bone, layersof ash and shell, andwere apparently
used for communalfeasting.Ceramiccrossmends
showthattheseweresingle-eventpits (thefeatures
and their remainsare discussed in Cusick 1989;
Deagan 1986;Newsom 1993).Extensivetestingin
otherpartsof the centralplazarevealedvery shallow culturaldeposits (less than 30 centimeters)
with few intrusion,low artifactdensity,and obvious disturbanceby modernhoe farming.
Of the 188,482artifactsrecoveredthroughexcavation,30 percentcamefromtheupper-levelplowzone or from disturbedcontexts;41 percentwere
from undisturbed,sub-plowzonedeposits dating
to after1492 , and29 percentcame frompre-contact contexts (Table 2). As noted earlier, faunal
remains,studiedunderthe directionof Elizabeth
Wing of the FloridaMuseumof NaturalHistory,
proved to be critical in the identification of
post-1492 deposits.Theanimalbonesfromall 814
excavatedproveniencesweresortedto look specifically forEuropeanspecies,andremainsfrompigs
(Susscrofa),mice (Musmusculus),rats(Rattusrattus)and/orcats (Felisdomesticus),all unequivocal
indicationsof Europeanintroduction,were found
in 17 undisturbedsub-plowzonefeatures.The faunalandfloralremainsfrom42 undisturbed
contexts
werefurtheranalyzedusingdetailedmeasurements
andallometricstudiesin orderto characterize
Taino
subsistence(Newsom 1993;Newsom andDeagan
1994;Newsom andWing 2004;Wing 1989, 1991,
2001).
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
Given the temporalcontrastbetween the centuries-longpre-contactoccupationandthedecadeslong post-contactoccupation,the high proportion
of materialfrom undisturbed,post-1492 deposits
was unexpected. Sampling bias possibly contributedto this distribution,in that much of our
excavation was concentratedin the central area
mound where several very large, very rich, and
unequivocallypost-contactfeatureswere located
(therebyappearingto be a good candidatefor the
fortof LaNavidad).Thiscannot,however,account
fully for the large proportionof historiccontexts
locatedthroughoutthesite.Undisturbed,sub-plowzone, post-1492 contexts occurredin all partsof
the communitywe tested(Table2), andthe occupationof EnBas Salineclearlycontinuedwell after
the first introductionof Europeanmaterialsand
animals.
It is quitepossiblethatEn Bas Salinemay have
incorporatedadditionalpopulationafter 1492 if
other,smallercommunitiesin the cacicazco collapsedunderthe pressuresof disease and Spanish
labordemands.If thisdid,in fact,occur,it suggests
thattherewas a strongmaterialhomogeneityin the
regionfromwhichrefugeepopulationsweredrawn,
since no significantdifferencesin artifacttypesand
styles could be detectedin these laterdeposits.
Articulating Material and Written Sources:
The Analytical Framework
The analysisof archaeologicaldata from En Bas
Saline was organizedto addressthe questionsof
post-contactchangeand/orcontinuityin the community,and was informedby documentary-based
informationaboutgeneralpatternsof Tainosociety and Taino-Spanish interaction (discussed
above). The organizationof labor was centralto
this, since laborexploitationwas the definingelement in Spanish-Tainorelations after the initial
periodof conflict.As notedearlier,the well-docuandpolitof socialdifferentiation
mentedstructures
ical inequality among the Taino of Hispaniola
helpedprovidethefoundationforSpanishexploitation of Taino labor. Spanish recognition of and
respect for chiefly statusprivilegedthe caciques,
who were generally exempt from labor requirements andinsteadorganizedtheirsubjectsfor the
encomiendalabordrafts.The demoralabordrafts
thus probablyaffected non-elite Taino men dis-
RECONSIDERING
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
Deagan]
EN
SAS
84,
SALINE
&
4,6j
FEATUIRES
8.
609
PROFILE
NO~RTH
97 N
1017E
.
r
94 Nl
1027EI
,
.. .....
t~?"~i
:1~?:i
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:r:si~~i!~~,,~
:
?'?:aCciic:`~'
%:-'
NTBURIA0-:ii.r
-?INFA
~r::~t
r
';.~k*bIs::="
.?-
RE.,
8:
-
- -
0
METERr~:
I
Figure 4. Post-contact burial pit, En Bas Saline (Features 4, 6, 8). A-Plowzone; B-Midden zone; C-Culturally sterile
yellow sand; D-Culturally sterile clayey sand; E-Grey clay; F-Sterile white sand.
EN BASSALINE
PROFILE
85, 01000N 977E,NORTH
1001.5N101SN
•980E
.977.E
A
gs lwg
Ws~~~igza*ir
j~
?)?rgc?~~i~d~z~
"
q
0 ..5cm
Figure 5. Pre-contact feast pit, En Bas Saline (Feature 11). A-Plow zone; B-Midden zone; C-Mottled tan clayey soil;
D-Culturally sterile yellow sand; E-loose gravelly sand; F-Grey clay.
implyingthatthe directimpactof non-elite households and men. Although Taino
proportionately,
dominion
mayhavebeenexperiencedmost womenoftenservedtheSpaniardsin severalcapacSpanish
and gender lines, specifically ities (particularlyproducingcotton cloth), it was
class
keenly along
610
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
AMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
Table 2. Distributionof All ExcavatedCulturalMaterialsThroughSite Areas and TemporalPeriods at En Bas Saline.
Feast Pit
Units
Central
Mound
%
#
%
#
58.16
32.42
9.42
2949
2416
12056
17421
16.93
13.87
69.2
31020
58776
24866
114662
Boundary
Ridge
#
Plowzone/Disturbed 11895
ContactPeriod
6631
Precontact
1928
All
20454
for the mostpartnon-elitemen who wererecruited
for distantworkin Spanish-ownedmines, agricultural fields and town construction.As a consequence,it is likelythatgenderratiosin manyTaino
communitieswere alteredaftercontact.
The extentto which the removalof men would
have disrupteddomesticand communitypatterns
dependedon a numberof factors.Removalof men
from a setting characterizedby an inflexible or
highlydifferentiatedgendereddivisionof labor,in
which men contributedheavily to the production
of staples,would be expectedto createconsiderable disorder.A weakly differentiatedgendered
divisionof labormightprovokeless disruption,if
women (or children) were able to accept and
assume some of the functionsnormallyassigned
to men.
In eithercase, the natureof such potentialdisorderwoulddependto a considerableextenton the
degreeto which leaderscould sustaintheirability
to organize,control,andconsolidatelaborandproduction in order to balance the demands of the
Spaniardswith theirown communityneeds in the
face of an alteredlaborpool. Chieflypowercould
have been enhancedby Spanishreinforcementof
the existing Taino social hierarchy,which could
presumably serve to maintain continuity. Conversely, the impositionof Spanishlabor requirements, loss of population through disease, and
disruptionof the Tainosense of worldorderafter
contactmighthavediminishedchieflypower,provoking disorderandchange.
In the interestof exploringsome of these possibilitiesat En Bas Saline,we constructedouranalytical frame to compare pre-contact and
post-contactpatternsof gender-linkedactivities,
social differentiation,andcommunityritual(as an
index of political control).Excavationdata were
unitsthatreporganizedintofive"socio-temporal"
resentedsingle householdsor single ritualevents,
each datingrespectivelyto eitherthe pre-contact
%
27.05
51.26
41.7
Plaza
Excavations
#
9420
3402
5014
17836
%
52.81
19.07
28.1
Burial
Pit
#
1071
5950
11088
18109
%
15
85
30
ALL
#
56355
77175
54952
188482
%
30
41
29
orpost-contactperiod("pre-contact"and
"post-contact" are obviously arbitrary divisions, and
undoubtedlyreducevariationin the much longer
pre-1492 period quite severely. While acknowledging this, we accept it for the purposesof this
particularinquiryinto the natureof changestimulatedby the impositionof Europeandominancein
the regionafter 1492).
The resultinganalyticalunitsincluded:
1. A pre-contact ritual event, comprisedby the
feast pits in the centralplaza, datedat ca. AD
1350;
2. A post-contact ritual event, comprisedby the
post-1492 burial pit adjacent to the central
mound;
3. A pre-contactelite residentialarea, comprised
by theearlierlargeburnedstructureandits associatedfeatureson thecentralmound,whichwas
occupiedfromearlyin the establishmentof the
site (at ca. A.D. 1250) to the late fifteenthcentury;
4. A post-contact elite residential area, comprisedby the latest large burnedstructureand
associatedfeatureson the centralmound,dated
to after 1492;
5. A post-contact non-elite residential area,
comprisedby the small wattle and daubstructure and associatedfeatureson the earthwork
ridgeperipheryof the site.
The assignmentof individualdeposits to the
pre-contactor post-contactperiod was based on
associationsanchoredby thepresence
stratigraphic
of Europeanmaterialsand radiometricdates.All
plow zone levels ("A"horizon),any depositswith
evidenceof alterationordisturbancedatingto after
the mid-sixteenthcentury,and certainother site
sheet
deposits(suchas functionallyundifferentiated
from
excluded
were
in
the
central
plaza)
deposits
this analysisfor the purposesof this study.
Deagan]
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
RECONSIDERING
611
Ceramicvessels usedin food preparation
comprise
more than 96 percentof the domestic artifactsat
En Bas Saline, and plant food preparationitems
suchas burines(ceramicgriddles),grindingstones,
and coral gratersconstitute the remaining food
items.Theceramicassemblageis overpreparation
whelminglydominatedby Carrierpottery,a local
variantof the Chican-Ostionoidsubseriesdistinguishedby paste, manufacturingtechniques,decorative modes and vessel forms (Cusick 1989,
1991; Rouse 1939:43, 55-56, 1941:122-154,
ceramicsin gen1992:110-112).Chican-Ostionoid
eral are associatedwith the rise and spreadof the
Taino in Hispaniola, and they dominatedTaino
assemblagesthroughoutmuch of the island at the
time of contact(Rouse 1992:112).White-slipped
subpottery,a subcategoryof theChican-Ostionoid
occurs
and
Saline
Bas
En
at
is
also
series,
present
most commonlyin bottle forms.The paste is thin
anddistinctive,andthebottlesaresometimeselaboratelysculptedandincised in effigy images (Figure 6).
Therewereno significantdifferencesin theproportions of ceramic types or ceramic decorative
modes amongthe threehouseholdsin the sample.
Although the relativeproportionof undecorated
potteryincreasedslightly after contact, this was
not a statistically significant change, and is
accountedfor by a concomitantdecreasein whiteslippedwares.This observationapplies,however,
only to the domestic household samples, in that
white slipped wares in ritual contexts increased
aftercontact,while undecoratedwaresdecreased.
The proportionsof decoratedwaresin the ceramic
assemblagesdid not changeeitherthroughtime or
acrosshouseholdsocial divisions.These patterns
implythatneitherceramicproductionnorceramic
distributionpatternsat En Bas Saline underwent
significantalterationin thepost-contactperiod.The
similarityof theeliteandnon-elitedomesticassemblagesfurthermoresuggeststhatthe ceramictypes
themselvesdidnotreflectdistinctionsin socialaffiliationwithinthe community.
The major differences between the ceramic
Results
assemblagesof elite and non-elitehouseholdsare
seenin the abundanceof potteryandin vessel form
Foodand DomesticPractice
diversity.The peripheralnon-elitehouseholdhas a
Food preparation,potteryproduction,anddomes- dramatically lower ceramic density (142
tic activitiesare assumedto have been dominated sherds/cubicmeter) than does either of the elite
by andlargelyunderthe controlof Tainowomen. households (704 sherds/cubicmeter in the post-
Comparativeanalysesof householdsandritual
eventsthroughtime,acrossclass,andbetweenpublic anddomesticpracticewere organizedby these
units (Table3). Because labor,gender,andpower
were centralto ourquestionsaboutTainoresponse
to Spanishencomiendadomination,artifactswere
quantifiedand groupedin categoriesthat materiallyreflectgenderedeconomicactivities(foodtechnology, fishingtechnology,tools andimplements,
lithicproductionby-products)andaccessto valued
goods (ornamentsand ritualitems). Ethnohistorical documentation,the corpusof previousarchaeological work on the Taino, and archaeological
contextprovidedthe basis for assignmentof artifacts to specificgroups.
The organizationof archaeologicalmaterials
into behavioralor functionalcategoriesfor purposes of quantitative comparison is widely
employedby historicalarchaeologistsas an analyticalmethodology,derivedfromStanleySouth's
"patternrecognition" methods (1977). Pattern
recognitionhas receivedwidespreadcriticismfor
its reductioniststatisticalapproach,and its often
arbitraryassignment of function. The "pattern
method"has, in truth,been too often used inapandwithoutcarefulthought
propriately,arbitrarily,
(see SouthandDeagan2002:44-45). Nevertheless,
it is one of the few analyticaltechniquesthatpermits us to organizeandcomparematerialremains
fromhouseholds(whetherfromhistoricor prehistoric) into informedcategoriesappropriateto our
questions.Such an organizationalapproachadditionallyhelpsavoidtheprivilegingof a singleactivity such as food preparation(as representedby
ceramics) in the materialassessment of cultural
practice.I suggest as a methodologicalnote that
comparativeanalysesatthe scale of householdand
eventrely somewhatmoreheavily on the articulation of artifactpatternsthando the regional-scale
or community-widespatial approachin contact
period studies called for by Lightfoot
(1995:210-211).
Table 3. Distributionof CulturalMaterialsthroughSociotemporalDivisions at En Bas Salin
Pre-Contact
Ritual
(Feast)
14
581
Soil volume (m3)
Artifactdensity (/m3)
Post-Contact
Ritual
(Elite Burial)
18
416
Proportion
FOOD TECHNOLOGY"
Carrierpottery
Decorated
Undecorated
White slipped
Subtotal,Carrier
Otherpotteryb
Buren (griddle)
Coral grater
Metate
All food preparation
Proportion
#
Po
R
(E
Proportion
525
6188
1052
7765
23
269
.07
.77
.13
.96
.00
.03
274
2827
744
3845
25
107
.07
.71
.19
.97
.01
.03
1068
12676
2190
15934
29
634
1
.06
.76
.13
.96
.00
.04
230
3100
443
3774
5
92
1
8058
1
3977
1
16598
1
3872
2
2
.07
4
4
8
.03
4
.13
95
.39
FISHINGTECHNOLOGY
Shell fishhook
Net weight
Subtotal
DEBITAGE/MICROLITHS
(GRATERS?) 24
ORNAMENTS/RITUALITEMS ITEMS
Beads
Pendant
Earplug
Shell ornament
Coral ornament
Clay disc
Polished celt
Stone Zemi fragment
Cohobainhaler
Subtotal
TOOLSAND IMPLEMENTS
Anvil stone
Blade
#
Pre-Contact
Residence
(Elite Mound)
28
601
.28
4
2
5
1
2
1
1
3
4
.05
1
3
.10
7
13
.05
89
Scraper
Hammerstone
Stone tool fragment
Shell adze
Shell awl/punch
Shell hammer
Shell tool fragment
Coral tool fragment
Ceramiccloth stamp
Subtotal
4
6
1
1
3
12
LITHICPRODUCTIONBY-PRODUCTS
Preformhammer
Preformtool
Chertcore
44
Flake
1
Unidentifiedworked objects
45
Subtotal
SUMMARY
Food preparation
Otheractivities
All Taino
1
1
2
2
5
3
.14
7
.23
1
2
3
3
1
20
.08
1
1
1
.40
95
4
101
.41
#
% all
#
% all
3977
30
4007
.99
.01
16598
245
16843
.99
.01
.53
9
3
12
#
% all
8058
85
8143
.99
.01
1
387
10
398
EUROPEANITEMS:FIFTEENTHCENTURY
ColumbiaPlain majolica
Melado ware
Bizcocho
Clear glass
Latticinio glass
Opaquered glass
Patinatedglass
White glass
Iron object
Subtotal European
a The materialassemblage of En Bas Saline is so overwhelminglydominatedby food preparationelements that any statistically measurab
masked when they are quantifiedand considered as proportionsof the total assemblage. Food preparationelements are thereforestatistica
behavioralcategories.
b Boca Chica, Meillacan
614
AMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
Figure 6. Taino ceramics from En Bas Saline. Left: White slipped, decorated bottle fragments. Right: Typical decorated
Carrier sherds (local variety of the Chican-Ostionoid ceramic subseries).
contactelite household).The non-elitehousehold
furthermore
useda morerestrictedrangeof vessels,
which includedonly five of the eight vessel forms
foundin theelitehouseholds(Table4). Boat-shaped
bowls, platters,and small roundbowls are absent
from the non-elitehousehold,and were probably
associatedwith consumptionor specializedfuncThisdistinction
tionsunrelatedto food preparation.
suggeststhatthe elite householdshadenhancedor
exclusive access to vessels used for presentation,
dining, and possibly ritualactivity.They did not,
however,evidenceprivilegedaccessto food preparationvessels. Although the elite household had
manymorepotsthanthenon-elitehousehold,there
was little differencebetweenthemin the formsor
decorativestyles of cookingceramics.
These distributionsimply a broadconsistency
in culturalpracticesrelatedboth to ceramicproduction and to food preparation-domains of
women-both throughtime and across community elements.Thereis no indicationthateitherthe
relationsof potteryproductionor preferentialelite
access to potterychangedaftercontact.Unfortunately,withouta non-elite,pre-contactsample,we
cannotassess patternsof non-eliteaccess priorto
contact.It seems likely, however,thatthe choices
of the non-elitehouseholdsin quantityandvariety
of potterywere considerablymorerestrictedthan
those of the elite householdsbothbeforeandafter
contact.
A puzzlingcontradictionin assessingdomestic
practiceat En Bas Salineis presentedby the materialevidenceformaniocuse. Bittermanioc(Manihotesculenta)was the staplecropof theTainodiet,
andits cultivationandarduouspreparation
werethe
province of Taino women. Manioc also figured
prominently-both literallyandsymbolically-in
Tainoreligion(for discussionsof maniocin Taino
spiritual life and daily practice see Arrom
1989:20-44; Moscoso 1981:351-88; Newsom
1993:323-334; Sauer 1966:51-55; Sturtevant
1961).
RECONSIDERING
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
Deagan]
615
Table 4. CeramicVessel Forms at En Bas Saline.
Precontact
Ritual
(Feast)
#
Bowlforms
Boat shaped
1
Carinated
88
Round
5
Shallow
13
Unidentified 39
Otherforms
Platters
3
Bottles
104
Jars
110
Totalforms 484
Postcontact
Ritual
(Burial)
Postcontact
Residence
(Elite)
Precontact
Residence
(Elite)
Proportion
#
Proportion
.00
.18
.01
.28
.08
39
13
54
42
7
.15
.05
.21
.16
.01
157
2
113
153
6
.23
.00
.16
.22
.01
308
15
198
122
.00
.28
.15
1
109
153
695
.00
.16
.22
2
175
165
991
.01
.21
.23
1
74
38
261
#
The most frequentlyused archaeologicalindex
of manioc preparationand use are the ceramic
griddlesknownas burines.As noted,thesearedistributedevenly at En Bas Saline across all time
periods,functionalareas,andresidentialstatusdistinctions,implyinga stable,relativelyunrestricted
resource(Table3). Anotherartifactcategorygenerally relatedto manioc preparationis thatof the
chertmicrolithchips or debitagethoughtto have
been embeddedas gratingteeth in wooden manioc grating boards (Figure 7). The use of
microlithicdebitage in manioc gratinghas been
discussedat lengthin the archaeologicalliterature
(Berman 1995; DeBoer 1975; Lewenstein and
Walker1984; Roosevelt 1980:129-130, 236) and
many or most of those from En Bas Saline
undoubtedlyserved this food preparationfunction. In contrastto manioc griddles,however,the
proportional
frequencyof microlithsincreaseddramaticallyaftercontact,in bothritualandresidential contexts(Table3).
Theincreasein microlithdebitagewouldappear
initiallyto imply a significantincreasein the use
of manioc gratersduringthe post-contactperiod.
However,becausechertmicrolithsused as manioc
graterteeth and chertmicrolithsthatwere simply
debitagewerenotdistinguishedduringanalysis,we
cannotdismissthepossibilityof sampleerrorin this
distribution.The increase in chert debitage may
thereforealso imply a change in the regimen of
lithic production, possibly including increased
householdproductionof stone tools aftercontact.
This questionis consideredbelow.
#
Proportion
Postcontact
Residence
(Non-Elite)
Proportion
#
.31
.02
.20
.12
42
.25
18
23
.11
.14
28
55
166
.17
.33
.00
.18
.17
Proportion
Food Remains
Unlike either burines (which remain constant
throughtimeandsocialcontext)orchertmicroliths
(whichincreasethroughtime),theremainsof manioc tubersthemselvesat En Bas Salinevaryin different ways both throughtime and accordingto
social context.Carbonizedtubersdeclinedin frequency aftercontactin both ritualand residential
contexts,althoughthey were primarilyassociated
with ritualactivities(Table5). Lee Ann Newsom,
in herstudiesof plantremainsfromEn Bas Saline
(Newsom 1993;Newsom andDeagan1994;Newsom andWing2004), identifiedmorethan700 carbonized tuber ends in the pre-contact feast
pit-undoubtedly remnantsof a community-wide
feast (discussedbelow). This was a dramatically
higherconcentrationthanthatencounteredin other
site areas;however,it shouldbe noted that these
would have been the intactends of tubers,which
are inedible in their unprocessedstate. The low
proportionsof tuberremainsin other contextsand particularlytheirdecline in post-contactcontexts-must be interpretedwith caution, since
tubersthemselveswould only be foundin areasof
grating activity,and then only if carbonized.As
Table5 shows, however,the overallproportionof
cultivatededibleplantremainsdeclinedin bothritual andresidentialcontextsaftercontact,a decline
thatcontrastswiththepatternsof plantfood preparationtechnology.
Patternsof animalfood use in the elite households of En Bas Saline also changedmeasurably
AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
616
[Vol. 69, No. 4, 2004
1
Centimeter
Figure 7. Chert microliths. Chert debitage possibly used as manioc grater teeth (the two lower right chert fragments have
the lime mortar used to affix them to graters or other implements still adhering).
aftercontact,althoughthe changeswere not sufficiently dramaticto provokea concomitantalterationin foodpreparation
technology.Althoughthey
small
a
comprised relatively
partof the Tainodiet
at En Bas Saline,therewas a sharpreductionafter
contactin the use of terrestrialmammals,whose
huntingis thoughtto havebeenthe domainof men
(primarilyCapromyidaeand Isolobodonportoricensis rodents,Table6). Trappingand huntingof
these animalsappearsto have declinedaftercontact,most likely throughthe removalof men from
the community. Marine mammals (manatee),
althoughrarein the community,occurredonly in
elite householdandritualcontexts.Europeanterrestrialmammals(rats,mice, pigs, cats, anddogs)
did not constitutea majorportionof the diet either
numericallyor in termsof biomass (Wing 1991).
They were foundmost frequentlyin elite andcontexts on the central mound, suggesting greater
access to these exotic species by elite membersof
the community,eitheras food or curiosities.
There is a strong associationof mammalsin
generalwith elite diet at En Bas Saline, and their
acquisitionmay havebeen controlledor restricted
by elites.Inthisregard,however,eliteswereappar-
ently unable to sustain their dietarypreferences
afterthe Spanishlabor draftsbegan. Neither the
members of the elite household nor those less
affectedby thelabordraft(presumablywomenand
children)were able to provideterrestrialmammal
food resourcesata pre-contactlevel.Thepost-contact decrease in land mammals after contact is
accompaniedinsteadby a significantincrease in
otherkindsof terrestrialanimalresources,such as
turtlesand lizards,which could be gatheredwithout specializedhuntingor capturetechniques.
Marinefishesprovidedthe majorsourceof vertebratebiomassbothbeforeandaftercontact.There
was a slight (althoughnot statisticallysignificant)
increasein the use of bony fishes duringthe postcontactperiodin general,particularlyin the nonelite household (Table 6); however, the
predominantfish families exploited by the elite
householdsremainedthe same. Scaridae (parrotfish), Lutjanidae(snappers),Carangidae(jacks),
Serranidae(sea bass), and Haemulidae (grunts)
togetherprovidedmorethan50 percentof the fish
consumed by both pre- and post-contact elite
households.All of thesefishcan occurin relatively
shallowinshorewatersor on reefs, andcouldhave
Table 5. Distributionof Plant Remains at En Bas Saline (After Newsom 1993).
Float sample (liters)
Charcoal(grams)
Precontact
Ritual
(Feast)
30
486.79
#
CULTIVATEDEDIBLE
Maize
Manioc
Palm
Guava
Soursop
Pimiento
Subtotal
34
746
2
Postcontact
Ritual
(Burial)
30
532.27
Proportion
#
.04
.95
2
Proportion
Precontact
Residence
(Elite)
20
142.8
Postcontact
Residence
(Elite)
62
183.2
Post
Res
(Non
1
3
#
Proportion
#
Proportion
#
6
43
.07
.49
14
17
1
1
.05
.06
3
6
1
1
782
1.00
2
.33
49
.56
5
38
.13
11
CULTIVATEDMEDICINAL(?)
Primrose
Subtotalall cultivated
782
1.00
2
.33
3
52
.06
.60
214
252
.71
.84
2
13
WILD EDIBLE
Amaranth/chenopod
Sapote family
Goosefoot
Guaba(tree bean)
Nightshade
Panicoid grass
Purslane
Trianthema
Subtotalwild edible
TOTAL PLANTS
1
3
2
1
2
2
2
3
785
.00
4
6
.66
1
25
6
35
.40
87
3
3
2
1
4
32
48
300
2
6
.16
19
24
2
53
66
618
ANTIQUITY
AMERICAN
been capturedby line, traps,or net fishing from
boatson reefs,oron foot in shallowinshorewaters.
There is a slight increaseduringthe post-contact
periodin the size of some of thegroupersandsnappers,possibly suggestingan increasein hook and
line fishing,ora changein trapsize selection(Wing
2001:Table6; Newsom and Wing 2004:TableC3). ChroniclersrecordedthatbothTainomen and
women fished, althoughthere is no direct informationaboutdifferencesin male andfemale fishing practices.It is likely that with the removalof
menaftercontact,morewomenfishedforthecommunity,perhapsemphasizingline or trapfishing
over net fishing.
The fish consumedin the non-elitehousehold
were quitedifferentfromthose usedby the central
mound elite residents.Three families, including
Chaetodontidae (butterfly fish, 23 percent),
Haemulidae (grunts, 15 percent), and Scaridae
(parrotfish,15 percent)comprisedmore than 50
percentof thefishin theirdiet.Butterflyfish,prized
todayas tropicalaquariumspecies, arevery small
andbony andarenot generallyused as a food fish.
They were not presentin the pre- or post-contact
elite households, and their relatively abundant
occurrencein thenon-elitehouseholdmay suggest
that the peripheralhouseholdwas using the nonpreferredfishleftfromtrapsornetsafterthosewith
morepowerto exercisechoice were supplied.
Dietary differences between the post-contact
elite and non-elitehouseholdsare also evidentin
the overallmeasuresof faunalrichness,diversity,
andequitability(Table6). The elite householdvertebratespeciesrichnessanddiversityvaluesarethe
highest at the site, implying that a wide rangeof
species was availableto them. This was coupled,
however,with a very low vertebrateequitability
value, suggestingaccess to a wide rangeof vertebratespecies, but with consumptionfocused on a
few (presumablypreferred)resources.The nonelitehousehold,in contrast,hadthelowestsite-wide
vertebrateand invertebraterichnessand diversity
values, as well as dramaticallyhigherequitability
values than did the elite households(althoughit
shouldbe notedthatthese valuesmay be exaggeratedby the smallnon-elitesamplesize). This pattern suggests not only that non-elite membersof
the community had a restricted access to food
species, but also that they made broader, less
choice-drivenuse of them.Regardlessof who was
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
actuallydoingthefishingduringthecontactperiod,
the elite householdseems to have exercisedcontrol overprocurementanddistribution.
Crafts
Althoughthey constitutea very smallpartnumerically of the En Bas Saline assemblage,the proportionsof ornamentalitems, finishedtools, and
non-debitagelithicproductionelementsdecreased
significantlyin elite domesticcontextsduringthe
post-contactperiod.At the same time, therewas a
dramaticincreasein chertdebitage,discussedearlier.These materialchanges suggestthatthe regimens of production,distribution,andperhapsuse
of nonceramiccraftitems were alteredafter 1492
at En Bas Saline.
If a largeportiontheproducersof essentialtools
andimplementswerelostto Spanishlabordemands
orotherSpanish-inducedreasons,thoseremaining
in Taino communitiesand households may well
haveattemptedto assumethose necessarytasks.It
is possible,forexample,thattheproductionof critical foodways-relatedimplementssuch as manioc
gratersand stone knives shiftedto householdproduction,undertakenby those sparedfromthelabor
drafts,accountingfor largeramountsof debitage
in households.
More specialized artistic activities, however,
such as productionof carved ornamentalitems,
may have declinedas a consequence.This is consistentwith the hypothesisthatmen were the primaryproducersof ornamentalcraftitems,andthat
theremovalof menfromthe communityshouldbe
reflectedby a change in the materialproductsof
theirwork.The productionof beads andpendants
did, in fact,continuein thepost-contactperiod,but
at a markedlyreducedlevel. It shouldbe notedthat
the highest proportionof such items at the site
occurred in the post-contact burial (discussed
below).Possiblyas a consequenceof reducedproduction, these ornamentalobjects seem to have
been emphasizedin ritualperformanceratherthan
in householduse aftercontact.
RitualActivity
The ritualactivitycomplexesat En Bas Salineare
particularlyrevealingof Tainosociopoliticalrelations in that they involved the concentrationand
controlof resources,includingfood, crafts,symbols, andlabor.In the case of the Taino,it is likely
Deagan]
RECONSIDERING
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
thatthis was not a gender-specificarena,butrather
one tied to politicalpower and class (since Tafno
caciques, nobles, and ceremonial participants
includedbothmen andwomen).The ritualassemblages used in this discussionincludeda pre-contact feasting pit and a post-contact burial with
associatedfeasting.
Archaeological studies have underscoredthe
importanceof ritualfeasts in providingimportant
insightsinto politics andthe negotiationof power,
as well as intoa varietyof practicesrelatedto social
cohesion,economicandcraftspecialization,symbolic systems,commodityvalue,andredistribution
(amongthem,DietlerandHayden2001; Pauketat
et. al 2002; Spielmann2002). The Tainocommunity ritualsknownas areytoswere documentedin
considerable detail in Spanish accounts, and
involved feasting, dancing, singing, offerings to
spiritdeitiesandancestors,andritesof purification
(includingthe use of hallucinogensand induced
vomiting).Areytoswere held in the plaza to celebrate deeds of ancestors,at the time of harvest,
before and after battles, in associationwith ball
games, at the marriageor death of a chief, and
undoubtedlyon other occasions as well (Cassa
1990:174-177; Rouse 1992:14-15; Wilson
1990a:23,58).
Thesocialfunctionsof ritualfeastingamongthe
Taino are not yet well understood, and they
undoubtedlyvariedthroughtime andamongcommunities accordingto local traditions,resources
bases, and political economy. Nevertheless, the
comparisonof pre-contactand post-contactritual
events at En Bas Saline provides an important
insightintothedegreeto whichcontinuityin power
relations,resourcevalues,andsymbolicattribution
were sustained (or lost) during the post-contact
periodby the Tafnoof En Bas Saline.
Despitethethreecenturiesandthedifferentpurposes separatingthem,thepre-contactfeastandthe
post-contactburialpossess similar materialprofiles and imply a consistentvision of appropriate
ritual performance(Table 3). Obviously,certain
differences materialresulted from the different
functionsof thetwo ritualevents,suchas thehigher
proportionof whiteslipped,moldedandsculptural
Carrierbottleformsin the post-contactburialfeature (Figure6). The emphasison these bottles in
the post-contact burial suggests their symbolic
importancefor residentsof En Bas Saline,andthe
619
persistenceof corollarybelief structureand practice after Spanish dominion.A cut and polished
bone tube made from an avian legbone was also
presentin the burialpit, and may have been associated with the inhalationof hallucinogenicpowder during the Taino cohoba ritual (Alegrfa
1997a:24;CaroAlvarez 1977).
Inadditionto theirsimilarceramicassemblages,
both of the ritualcontexts containedhigher proportionsof objectsrelatedto craftproduction,ritual, and ornamentationthan did the residential
contexts.Stone beadswere, for example,twice as
common proportionatelyin the ritualcontexts as
theywerein theresidentialcontexts(althoughthey
were few in numberthroughoutthe undisturbed
contextsat the site).Thepre-contactfeastpits containedfewer finishedornaments,tools, andimplements than did the burial, but also many more
productionby-products(includingtheproblematic
chertmicroliths)thandidtheburial.Thismayimply
thatthe socially valuedgoods associatedwith the
post-contact burial were gathered from those
alreadyexisting, while the productionof implementsandcraftitemsforritualfeastingorexchange
was incorporatedas partof the pre-contactevent
(see Spielmann2002).
Food remainsfrom both of the ritualcontexts
also illustrate the aggregationof resources and
labor for these events both before and after contact. Although the kinds of animals targetedfor
feasting did not differ from those in the residential contexts, the vertebrateand invertebratefaunal species richnessof the two ritualcontexts(63
and69) is muchhigherthanin any of the residential contexts (46, 45, and 16 respectively)(Table
6). The high species richnessand diversityin the
ritualcontexts suggests an intensive but broadly
focused effort to accumulatea large amount of
food fora singleevent.Likethedietof elite domestic households,however,theverylow speciesequitability suggests that consumption was
concentratedon certain preferredresources for
these events.
Plant remains are less consistent between the
two ritual contexts--in the pre-contact feast pit,
more than 99 percent of the edible plants were
corn or manioc, while in the post-contact burial pit
only 33 percent of the edible plants were domesticated (Table 5). This decline in the proportion of
cultivated edible plants after contact, as noted, is
620
[Vol.69, No. 4, 2004
AMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
Table6. SummaryFaunalDistributionsand Proportions(Prop.) at En Bas Saline.a
Precontact
Ritual
MNI
Prop.
VERTEBRATES
Terrestrialmammals
Marinemammals
Europeanmammals
Freshwaterturtles
Marineturtles
Snakes
Lizards
Toads
Birds
Bony fishes
Sharks
SubtotalVertebrateMNI
27
0
.08
9
9
8
18
4
8
269
3
355
.03
.03
.02
.05
.01
.02
.76
.01
# families
# species
Class diversity(H')
Species diversity(H")
Species equitability
37
64
1.44
3.57
.04
INVERTEBRATES
Crustaceans
Bivalves
Gastropods
SubtotalInvertebrateMNI
35
2508
233
2776
# families
# species
Class diversity(H')
Species diversity(H")
Species equitability
TOTALFaunalMNI
MNI
27
4
4
9
13
3
19
4
9
428
4
524
.01
.90
.08
159
4936
288
5383
Prop.
MNI
Prop.
MNI
Prop.
26
1
.14
.01
13
2
.06
.01
1
0
.03
.00
1
1
4
2
2
2
147
2
188
.01
.01
.02
.01
.01
.01
.78
.01
6
6
3
4
0
3
176
3
216
.03
.03
.01
.02
.00
.01
.82
.01
1
1
1
1
0
0
28
0
33
.03
.03
.03
.03
.00
.05
.01
.01
.02
.03
.01
.04
.01
.02
.82
.01
.03
.92
.05
5907
21
1653
121
1795
.01
.92
.07
1983
.02
.91
.08
.00
1377
8
147
22
1
.05
.83
.12
22
27
.93
2.66
.28
28
44
.3
2.12
.08
29
45
.29
2.35
.08
.00
19
1054
88
1161
.88
18
16
.36
2.77
.34
38
45
1.63
3.67
.08
37
46
1.63
3.36
.08
37
68
.21
2.8
.05
.00
Postcontact
Postcontact
Precontact
Elite Residence Elite Residence NoneliteResidence
Prop. MNI
46
69
1.66
3.52
.05
40
60
.16
1.12
.04
3131
Postcontact
Ritual
.00
210
% all MNI
% all MNI
% all MNI
% all MNI
% all MNI
.16
33
.16
216
.10
SubtotalVertebrates
188
.09
355
.11
524
177
.84
.84
.91 1161
Subtotal Invertebrates
1795
2776
.91
.89
5383
aBasedon 42 field proveniencesanalyzed underthe directionof ElizabethWing, FloridaMuseum of NaturalHistory,
Universityof Florida. NISP=65,850
a generaltrendbetweenthe pre-contactandpostcontactperiods at En Bas Saline, albeit with the
caveats of preservationvagaries as a source of
sample error.Overall,however,it is the continuity in materialprofiles that is the most striking
aspect of the ritualcontexts, suggesting the continuing ability of leaders duringthe post-contact
period to commandwhat were probablyincreasingly scarce labor and commodity resources
requiredfor communityritual and social reproduction.
Discussion and Summary
This studyhasbeenconcernedwiththereasonsfor,
and consequencesof, the dearthof archaeological
information generated about Native American
responsesto the arrivalof the first Europeansin
America.Using archaeologicaldatafromtheTaino
town site of En Bas Saline, Haiti, it has also has
exploredthe natureof thoseresponses,andoffered
substantiveinsightsintoTainoculturalsurvivaland
dynamicsafter1492.
Deagan]
TAINOSOCIALDYNAMICS
RECONSIDERING
Theabsenceof archaeologicalattentionto postcontactTainosites in the Caribbeanis attributedto
bothmethodologicalandepistemologicalbiasesin
archaeologicalpractice.One importantfactorhas
been a largelyuncriticalacceptanceof the assumption-based in documentarysources-that Taino
demographicand social disintegrationtook place
so rapidlyaftercontactthatno recognizableTaino
occupationsiteswereformed(orif theywere,their
ephemeralitymadethemmateriallyinaccessible).
Not only has text-basedassessmentof Tainocollapse limitedarchaeologicalproblemdefinitionin
theregion,butarchaeologicalpracticehasalsobeen
biasedby assumptionsabouthow we identifypostcontactNative Americancontexts.In the case of
En Bas Saline, Europeanartifactsare few, unremarkable,andnot easily recognizable.Manypostcontactoccupationstrataand depositionalevents
aredateableonlythroughthepresenceof European
fauna,implyinga need to incorporatetotalrecovery and sortingof these remainsas a standardpart
of researchstrategyin suspectedpost-contactsites.
Withtheseconcernsin mind,archaeologyatEn
Bas Salinehasdemonstratedthattherewas,in fact,
a substantialpost-1492 Taino occupationat this
site, andthattraditionalTainosocial and communitypracticein generalwas sustainedherewithfew
materialalterationswell intothe sixteenthcentury.
Thedocumentaryrecordmakesit apparentthatthe
most disruptiveaspect of Spanishdominationof
Hispaniola(otherthanepidemicdisease) was the
annuallabordraft,which removedTafnoworkers
fromtheirtownsforpartof eachyear.Spanishpolicy accordedcaciquesthemselvespoliticalrecognitionandexemptionfromlabor,andit is probable
thatthey, in turn,extendedpreferentialtreatment
to kinsmenandelite communitymembersin their
organizationof the labordrafts.These labordrafts
furthermoreseem to haveimpactedmen (as workers in mines, construction,and agriculture)to a
considerablygreaterextentthey did thanwomen.
Thearticulation
of archaeologicaldatawithtextbased informationabout this aspect of SpanishTainointeractionhas madeit possible to elicit the
essentialdiversityof Tainopost-contactexperience
withinthe community,andthe importanceof gender and social class in conditioningthatdiversity.
Archaeologicallyvisible changesin Tainodomestic culturalpracticeat En Bas Saline afterEuropeanimpositionof theencomiendaaremostclearly
621
manifestedin activitiesassociatedwithmen.These
include lithic tool production,the productionof
shell, stone, and bone ornaments,huntingof terrestrialanimals,and possibly some fishing practices. During the same period, there was a high
degree of continuityin the kinds and proportions
of items presumedto be associatedwith women's
activities, or to have been producedby women,
includingmanioc processing,shellfishgathering,
food preparation,andceramicproduction.Thereis
the possible implicationas well-at least in the
case of lithicproductionandfishing-that women
may have assumedsome of the most criticalsubsistenceandproductiontasksthoughtto havebeen
traditionally
performedby men.Therelativelynonspecializedgenderroles andrelationsof theTaino,
outlinedin this discussion,mayin facthaveserved
as a mitigatingfactorin the disruptionof cultural
practiceprovokedby the removalof men fromthe
community.
The alterationsin genderratioscreatedby the
labor draftsdo not appearto have affectedritual
practice,or by extension,the powerof leaders(be
they male or female) to marshal people and
resourcesfor ritualevents that were fundamental
to communitycoherenceand social reproduction.
Residentsof the elite householdhad access to and
possessed a greaterdiversityof materialobjects
andchoice in food resourcesthandidthepost-contact, non-elite household, clearly implying a
markedsocialinequalityamonghouseholds.Inthe
absenceof a pre-contactnon-elitehouseholdsample, we can only presumethatthe social differentiation seen in the post-contact archaeological
recordof En Bas Saline representsthe continuation of similar patternsbefore contact. Spanish
accounts of such differentiation made at the
momentof contactsupportthis presumption.
The scarcity of Europeanartifactsat En Bas
Salineis conspicuous.Despitetheirlocationwithin
a few kilometersof the Spanish town of Puerto
Real, the people of at En Bas Saline only rarely
incorporatedSpanishitemsinto theirmateriallife.
This is consistentwith Anderson-C6rdova'ssuggestionthatmostTainosretreatedto theirhomevillages when not workingin labordrafts,and were
largelyinsulatedtherefromthe Spaniards(1990).
It also supportsthe suggestion of Tafnoindifference to andrejectionof Spanishculturalelements
andvalues.
622
[Vol. 69, No. 4, 2004
AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
This rejectionpresentsa strikingcontrastto the
otherside of thecontactequation,thatis, European
responseto interactionwith Tainos.It is well-documentedarchaeologicallythat Spanishdomestic
culturalpracticeatPuertoRealandothersixteenthcentury Spanishtowns throughoutthe Americas
was quickly transformedin response to contact
withAmericanIndians.Withina decadeof contact,
women'sdomainsof food preparation
andceramic
in
most
households
in
these
production
Spanish
townshadthoroughlyincorporated
Tainopractices
throughthe agency of Tainowomen who married
orlivedwithSpanishmen(see Deagan1995, 1996;
Ewen 1991).
Thereversesituation-Spanish influencein the
households of En Bas Saline communicated
throughIndianmen in contact with Spaniardsdid not occur,providinga provocativeillustration
of how the natureof contact-provokedchangecan
be grounded in gender roles, particularly as
embodiedin culturalbrokerage.Italso offersa dramaticdeparturefromearliermodels of acculturation and Euramericanculturecontact(see Cusick
1998b).Fromanarchaeologicalperspective,Taino
culturalcontinuityand Spanishculturaltransformation in sixteenth-centuryHispaniolasuggests
thatcontact-inducedculturalchangein household
domestic practice was largely unidirectionalfromTainoto Spaniard.
En Bas Saline is the first post-contactTaino
communitythathas been studiedarchaeologically
in orderto understandpost-contactresponseand
action,and as such, may reflecta very local set of
circumstances. There were undoubtedly many
otherTainohouseholdsandcommunitiesthathad
very differentexperiencesafter 1492, althoughit
is unlikelythatthepeople of at En Bas Salinewere
the only Tainos who retainedtraditionalcultural
practices until epidemic disease finally overwhelmedthem.The full panoramaof post-contact
organizationalandexperientialdiversitycannotbe
articulatedwithoutan archaeologicallyinformed
reconsiderationof documentarysources, a concerted effort among prehistoric and historical
archaeologiststo coordinatescale and strategyin
the studyof theearlyAmericancontactperiod,and
a genuineintellectualcommitmentto incorporate
genderintothose studiesas a basic structuringelement.
Acknowledgments.The research upon which this study is
based was provided by grants from the National Science
Foundation (BNS 8706697), the National Endowment for
the Humanities (RO2093585), the National Geographic
Society, the Organization of American States, and the
Institutefor EarlyContactPeriodStudies at the Universityof
Florida. Funds were also provided by the by the Florida
Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida
Division of Sponsored Research. George Avery, James
Cusick, Michael Gannon,William Hodges, William Keegan,
Jean Massena, Jerald Milanich, Lee-Ann Newsom, Jean
Claude Selime, MauriceWilliams, and ElizabethWing have
all contributedin importantways to this project. I particularly appreciatethe criticalreadingand thoughtfulcomments
on earlier drafts of this paper made by Antonio Curet, Bill
Keegan, Bill Marquardt,Jerry Milanich, Bonnie McEwan,
ClarkMoore, ElizabethWing, and Sam Wilson.
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ReceivedJanuary12, 2004; RevisedMay 10, 2004; Accepted
May 19, 2004.

RECONSIDERING TAINO SOCIAL DYNAMICS AFTER SPANISH

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