Les Antilles, un des derniers peuplements précolombiens de l'Amérique

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the Caribbean region, the movements of peoples and their development during the different periods of settlement played a fundamental role from the beginning of the Holo- cene. It can be said that, little by little, they formed the natural and human aspect of these tropical regions and that they are at the base of their specific cultural evolution. From this point of view, the historical "créolisation" could be considered the actual phase of a phenomenon linked to insularity, the origins of which are very ancient, as they integrate an Amerindian heritage constituted in itself of ethnic and cultural mixes which archaeology is only just beginning to identify. The first peoples arriving in the islands are prehistoric, their livelihood depending on fishing, gathering and the making of stone and shell instruments. Neolithic societies then followed, their economy based on agriculture and the making of ceramics. From these societies emerged an entirely original people, admirably adapted to their insular environment, but, at the same time, maintaining relations with their continental neighbours. In order to present these founding events in chronological order, we will go back to a general outline proposed by the author in a previous article (1991), which was inspired by the works of Rouse and Cruxent (1963), Willey (1971), Meggers and Evans (1978) and Rouse and Alegria (1990). This comprises for the mo ment three chronological periods defined by socio-economic traditions: 1 - Archaic period (4000 ВС / 100 ВС) corresponding to the moment when the islands were occupied by nomadic fishermen-hunters and gatherers; 2 - Formative period (100 ВС / 300 AD) when the establishment of a complex hierarchy of settled cultivators first becomes apparent, as well as their interactions with groups belonging to the former prehistoric cultures; 3 - Caribbean period (300 AD / 1500 AD), which is the result of previous socio-economic interactions, culminating in the development of a new civilisation that intensifies its relations with the rest of America.