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ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES AND PROJECTS
 
  • "Caribbean-Indian Spring: Clues to early Tainos?", by Marion Lloyd, Associated Press: "SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Deep in a cave in the remote rain forest of the Dominican Republic, an underground spring may hold clues about the first Indian group to make contact with Spanish explorers. U.S. archaeologists won permission Wednesday night to explore the spring, which they believe was the ceremonial heart of the Tainos (tah-EE-nohs) Indians five centuries ago. The Indiana University team, along with local archaeologists, will dive more than 200 feet beneath the jungle floor to recover artifacts, and will excavate a nearby cave. Preliminary dives have recovered more than 200 artifacts from the spring, including dozens of pottery vessels and a chieftain's wooden ceremonial chair. 'We believe this area was the heart of the Taino Caribbean civilization, and our findings should yield priceless information about the first contact between the Spanish and the Indians in the New World," said Charles Beeker, director of Indiana's underwater science program'…"

  • Carriacou—Who’s Involved?—a brief page outlining the international participants in an archaeological project focused on the history of Carriacou.

  • Grenada Archaeological Artifacts: “About The Artifacts: Excavated at the Pearls Site on the Island of Grenada. This collection consists of decorative pottery elements. The elements depict a variety of motifs, sculpted as mythological creatures, birds, bats, frogs, monkey etc. The pottery elements date from the First through the Fourth Centuries AD.”

  • "Hello Columbus", by Matt Crenson, AP Science Editor: [the article itself is located half way down the page] "…A professor of underwater science at Indiana University, Beeker first saw the well at La Aleta last year, while searching for shipwrecks from Columbus' second voyage to the New World. Now, in the dense tropical forests of the easternmost Dominican Republic, he and his colleagues are uncovering lost remnants of the first contact between the Old World and the New. 'There's no doubt that this is a very special place for archaeologists in terms of what we stand to learn,' says Geoff Conrad, director of Indiana University's Mathers Museum.…The Indian side of the story has been lost to history. But archaeologists have found cave paintings near La Aleta that may give a partial account from the Indian point of view. The walls of Jose Maria Cave, a few miles from the well, depict Indians growing, harvesting and making bread from a local plant known as guayiga. The paintings also show the Indians offering the bread to the Spanish as a tribute. Because the conquistadors were more interested in gold than farming, they needed the bread to feed the inhabitants of Santo Domingo and other nearby colonies…"

  • Pre-Columbian People of Anguilla, from the Anguilla Guide: “The rich and dynamic Amerindian history of the island is beginning to be reconstructed as a result of recent work by the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society and archaeologists from numerous institutions such as the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the University of Maine at Farmington, and the University of Pittsburgh….” (not the usual rehashing of exotic myths of cannibalism and, this site provides a useful synopsis of key archaeological and ethnohistoric data.)

  • Pre-Columbian: "The rich and dynamic Amerindian history of the island is beginning to be reconstructed as a result of recent work by the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society and archaeologists from numerous institutions such as the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the University of Maine at Farmington, and the University of Pittsburgh."

  • “Rediscovering the Taino Indians”—extract: “Director of the SPEA Environmental Systems Application Center, Professor Bill Jones was back in the Domnican Republic again this past summer. For the past two years, Jones has been a member of the team of archaeologists searching for evidence of the Taino Indians in a remote tropical forest in the Domincan Republic….”

  • Taino: Voices from the Past-A brief introduction to Taino culture history: "In recent years, however, spectacular finds have rekindled interest in the original inhabitants of the Caribbean. In 1997, for instance, archaeologists found the remains of a major Taino city on the eastern most part of the Dominican Republic. The discovery of the city's long-hidden ceremonial plazas and homes "is going to give us more insight into the Taino than has ever been known before," says Indiana University archaeologist Charles Beeker."

Page last updated: Tuesday, 30 December, 2003