Abstract
This research aims to provide a better understanding of the diffusion of ceramic morphological traits in the Greater Antilles and how communities experienced and integrated new ideas into their manufacturing traditions. The chaîne opératoire approach together with the communities of practice theory produce a holistic methodology to unveil social and temporal connections between artifacts, sites and communities. A detailed petrographic and macro-trace analysis of the ceramic manufacturing techniques for the site of El Cabo (Dominican Republic) is provided. Results evidence a complex homogeneous assemblage characterized by one major techno-group but petrographic heterogeneity. The communities, who lived in El Cabo, experienced and integrated changes in vessel shape and style (from Ostionoid to Chicoid features), though maintained conservative and stable traditions in the main technological steps. The petrographic heterogeneity implies that the inhabitants of El Cabo were probably involved in a broader regional network of interaction and were thus not limited to their community for the production of their pottery. Communities from different locations were, as shown by the presence of raw materials from various and distant geological environments, affiliated with a common ancestor represented by the persistence of one shared technical tradition.
Highlights
In Caribbean archaeology establishing pottery typologies has a crit ical role in untangling large-scale socio-cultural processes
This research contributes to the understanding of pre-colonial Indigenous social life by integrating manufacturing practice theory with petrographic analysis and chaîne operatoire approach
The results propose a continuity in the pottery production at the site of El Cabo over 1000 years of occupation
Summary
In Caribbean archaeology establishing pottery typologies has a crit ical role in untangling large-scale socio-cultural processes. It is difficult to assess a direct relationship between cultural boundaries and communities’ social identities. Interaction can involve the movement of people, ideas or objects (Hofman et al, 2010). Stylistic traits (deco ration and morphology) for instance are more transmissible between people. They tend to follow consumption demands and can be imitated by potters across wide geographical areas, spreading faster than technological traditions, which are more rooted in the cul tural identity of the communities that manufactured the object (Gosse lain, 2000; Gelbert, 2003; Roux, 2015; Roux et al, 2017)
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