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Ghosts of the Taíno

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Bianca
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« on: March 08, 2008, 09:05:24 am »



These images of Taíno gods, carved at least 500 years ago, have caused the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers to radically alter dam construction plans on Puerto Rico's Portugues
River.

(Courtesy David Diener)









                                                                Ghosts of the Taíno 





Volume 61 Number 2,
March/April 2008 

by Mike Toner 

                           Mystery and controversy haunt a pre-Columbian ceremonial site in Puerto Rico.




Archaeologist Chris Espenshade's instructions were clear: excavate a marginally interesting settlement (designated only as PO 29) along Puerto Rico's Portugues River that had once been occupied by the Taíno people, recover artifacts, record useful data, and get out. The bulldozers were waiting. After more than 20 years of budget delays, escalating costs, and engineering challenges, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was finally ready to build the last phase of a $580-million flood-control project that would protect Ponce, the island's fifth-largest city, from the devastating floods that sweep down the valley after heavy rains.

Then Espenshade, a consulting archaeologist with New South Associates in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and his team began turning up evidence of one of the largest, best-preserved pre-Columbian ceremonial centers known in the Caribbean.

Last summer, they unearthed a huge four-sided ceremonial plaza, a batey or ball court, measuring 130 by 160 feet. Other finds included a 90-foot-long artifact-laden midden mound, the first of what could be as many as 400 prehistoric burials, patterns of post holes that delineate ancient dwellings, and a 60-foot-long row of intricately carved granite and sandstone petroglyphs that appear to date to shortly before the arrival of the Spanish in the fifteenth century.

"When I went to the site right after the wall of petroglyphs had been exposed, my jaw just dropped to the floor," recalls co-investigator Peter Siegel, a specialist in pre-Columbian Caribbean cultures from Montclair State University. "I am five-and-a-half-feet tall and I was looking at a wall of well-executed carvings as tall as I am."

Staring back at Siegel from the stone slabs was a matched pair of full-length human figures: a man and a woman wearing a headdress and ear spools, arms outstretched, legs splayed in a frog-like stance, sexual organs clearly visible. He says the regalia shows that these were high-status people.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2008, 09:14:09 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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Bianca
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« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2008, 09:06:39 am »



The face of a bat
from a pottery shard
found at the site

(Courtesy David Diener)
 







The discovery of the batey and other features prompted Espenshade to tell the Corps in June that the archaeologists would need more time and money to complete the work. Then he began finding burials in the midden mound and a west wall of the batey that suggested the plaza might be a lot larger than expected. The Corps agreed to another extension. And, as the summer wore on, another. Then, with the discovery of what Espenshade calls a "gallery of rock art" along the steeply sloping hillside at the site's northern boundary, it was clear a whole new strategy was needed.

"The north wall was just spectacular," says David McCullough a staff archaeologist with the Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville district which includes Puerto Rico. "Once we realized that this was such an extraordinary site, I went to my engineer and told him we were going to have to shift from frantically trying to recover information to finding a way to preserve the site."

Future archaeology at the site is certain to have more direct Puerto Rican oversight. "Areas of the site that have not been excavated have a great research potential," says Tamara Gonzalez Vega, director of the Archaeological Council of Puerto Rico. "A more detailed archaeological investigation will proceed as soon as the dam's construction is finished."

But Espenshade is concerned about what remains in the ground. With only a small portion of the site excavated, reburial of the site is intended to assure that the artifacts, human remains, and petroglyphs stay in place for future study. For now the Corps has the site "heavily guarded," but the intense publicity generated by the discovery poses a new dilemma.

"I'm worried," he says. "We're only 15 to 20 minutes from downtown Ponce and everyone now knows what's here. Some of these glyphs would fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the antiquities market. If this site is not fenced and watched closely, somebody is going to come in with a backhoe some night and take everything."

Mike Toner is a freelance writer and former science writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.


© 2008 by the Archaeological Institute of America
www.archaeology.org/0803/abstracts/taino.html
« Last Edit: March 08, 2008, 09:08:48 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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Jill Elvgren
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« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2008, 02:35:57 am »

Cool stuff, Bianca! Here's some more. Follow the link and there's even a video:

Archaeological site offers peek into Puerto Rico's past

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-taino14x08mar14,0,5542569.story



Jeannette Rivera-lyles | Sentinel Staff Writer
March 14, 2008

PONCE, Puerto Rico - For centuries, the undulating banks of the Portugu�s River trembled beneath the feet of Taino dancers as they celebrated their most sacred rites.

But as their civilization died out, so did the story of the mystical place by the river Tainos called J�cana -- until last fall, when the Army Corps of Engineers stumbled upon it while surveying the land for the construction of a dam. It soon became clear that this was the most important archaeological treasure ever to be found in Puerto Rico.

The discovery has excited scientists and Puerto Ricans, who take pride in their native roots. But it has also led to controversy over who will finish the excavation and the future use of the site.
It has also ignited tensions between the Corps of Engineers and island archaeologists, who say parts of the historically sensitive site may have been destroyed.

It was late October when corps engineers noticed they were digging up more than just dirt. Buried 6 feet under, perfectly preserved by mud and vegetation, were the remnants of the largest Taino ceremonial field, or batey, ever discovered. There also was a stone road, foundations of buildings, a trash depository and about 400 grave sites.

This is likely just a sample of what lies beneath -- barely 15 percent of the site has been excavated.

"This site is a great exercise in engineering ingenuity," said Aida Bel�n Rivera, an archaeologist and director of Puerto Rico's State Historic Preservation Office.

The Tainos were the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Caribbean and one of three ethnic groups from which Puerto Ricans descended. With the exception of a few writings by 16th-century priest Bartolom� de las Casas, one of the first missionaries in the New World, almost nothing about their daily life was recorded. Early historians thought the Tainos were virtually wiped out 40 years after the Europeans arrived, exposed to new illnesses, enslaved and killed off.

Some academics and groups who claim Taino heritage have long argued against the extinction claims. Because of the site's size and diversity of archaeological elements, it opens an extraordinary window into Taino life that could settle the dispute and provide details about this forgotten people.


'Work of a great Taino artist'

Karen Gonz�lez brushed the tall grass aside and lowered herself inside a recently dug ditch to look at what she calls "la nena" (the girl), a petroglyph depicting a woman with an intricate headdress.

"The first time I saw her, I got goose bumps," said Gonz�lez, deputy director of the State Historic Preservation Office of Puerto Rico. "Look at the richness of the details. . . . I think we're before the work of a great Taino artist."

The raised-stone carving is more sophisticated than any known Taino artwork. It is a piece of a partially excavated stone hedge on the north end of the batey, facing the river. It was here that the Tainos held their most important religious ceremonies and social events.

Although several of these ceremonial fields have been discovered on the island, this one is by far the largest.

"This was the coliseum of the bateyes," Gonz�lez said. "We believe it had to be more like a regional center that served several communities, not just the village that was found here."

It is estimated that J�cana was in constant use from the year 700 to the early 1500s. This lengthy period of use, Rivera said, is likely to shed light on the origin of the Taino people. A popular theory is that they were the product of migrations from Central and South America. Some academics, however, think they originated in Puerto Rico.

"We might now have an opportunity to show that scientifically," Rivera said.


Concerns about excavation

The importance of the finding has stirred a variety of emotions. Tensions are still running high after the Army Corps of Engineers excavated the site using heavy machinery.

"We might have lost important information forever because of the haste with which they handled it," said Laura del Olmo, director of the archaeology division of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, the government agency charged with protecting the island's cultural heritage. "Their work lacked scientific methodology."

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Jill Elvgren
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« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2008, 02:37:59 am »

Del Olmo complained that her agency was not initially contacted, a violation of Puerto Rican law that requires the involvement of a state archaeology board in the handling of historic sites.

Local Taino organizations also have raised concerns about the corps' excavation methods, particularly about the exhumation of tombs.

"Because things have been carelessly disturbed, we might have lost clues that are important," said Martin Veguilla, head of the Taino Council Guatu-Ma-cu, whose members claim Taino lineage. "The Taino were deliberate in how they did things, in the way they buried people. Everything bore a meaning: the position of the body, its orientation, the things they buried with them. We have lost all of that."

The corps said its methods were sound.

"The use of heavy equipment in archaeology projects is common," said David McCullough, an archaeologist with the agency's Jacksonville office. "Everything we did was in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and followed a scientific protocol."

Gonz�lez sided with the corps. She said pictures and videos of the human remains were taken for later study before they were removed.

The site will now be transferred to the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources, which will sort out with other local agencies just who will finish the excavations as well as determine J�cana's future use. This has already caused some disagreements.

"We have different ideas," Rivera said of the various agencies that have gotten involved. "We [State Historic Protection Office] believe in using this place for long-term investigations."


'Uncharted territory'

But other agencies, such as the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, would like to have a park at the site.

"This is uncharted territory," said Javier V�lez Arocho, Puerto Rico's natural-resources secretary. "We have to all come together now and make decisions as a group, as a country."


Jeannette Rivera-Lyles can be reached at jrivera@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5471.
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Bianca
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« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2008, 12:00:57 pm »









Hi, Jill!!!

I find this a fascinating subject and I am outraged by the tale that the 'conquistadores'
promulgated about the Tainos 'dieing out'......

I am thrilled that their descendants are making their voices heard.

I am a great proponent of aboriginal groups reclaiming their heritages, worldwide!

Thanks for these articles!

b
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Bianca
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« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2008, 12:06:29 pm »



Photo courtesy of Connie Laboy
« Last Edit: March 17, 2008, 12:10:46 pm by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2008, 12:10:11 pm »








                                        The Voice of the Taino People Online





        A News Service dedicated to increasing the visibility of Taino and other Indigenous Peoples


           from throughout the Caribbean region and the Diaspora in the Spirit of Our Ancestors.
 




12/18/2007 



                           Third Taino Council Meeting with Jacanas Community



Jacanas, Boriken (UCTP Taino News) -

The Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos held their third community gathering at the Jacanas PO 29 site in Ponce, Puerto Rico this past weekend. Taino activists and supporters from around the island, met with local residents as well as interested archeologists to plan follow-up strategy around this controversial archeological site.

Workshops, discussions, cultural presentations, and ceremony were led by various representatives of the Consejo.

With the support of the United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP) and concerned community members, the Consejo has maintained a consistent vigil as well as an information camp in Jacanas.

Among the Consejo’s future plans is major clean-up of the area scheduled for February 2008.

Photo courtesy of Connie Laboy


http://uctp.blogspot.com/2007/12/third-taino-council-meeting-with.html
« Last Edit: March 17, 2008, 12:12:16 pm by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2008, 12:36:35 pm »









                                      Caribbean Indigenous Photo Exhibition to Close





Posted: 2008-03-15
12:45:27
UTC-05:00

UCTP Taino News – The National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustuv Heye is closing its Caribbean Indigenous focused photo exhibition, “The New Old World” after several extensions on March 17, 2008.


The exhibition featuring photographs by Marisol Villanueva have been on display at the Heye since June 2007. According to Villanueva the concept of The New Old World project emerged from her being a witness of the demonstrations and protests of the indigenous people on the so celebrated five hundred anniversary of the invasion of the land that is today known as the Americas or the New World.

In an interview with UCTP Taíno News, Villanueva also notes that “the initial phase of the project Antilles: Living Beyond the Myth, currently exhibiting at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in New York, takes place in the Caribbean Antilles, where most people think all indigenous people vanished after the Europeans got there.”

She continued stating “this exhibition challenges that myth of extinction, represented not only by the survival of the indigenous people of the Caribbean, but also by the revitalization movements and legacy that still lives in our culture.”

NMAI is also working on updates to the exhibition’s online version, adding video interviews and excerpts of a forum that accompanied it when it traveled to Puerto Rico in 2005.

Villanueva hopes the project will provide the public with the “opportunity of learning a little more about the true story of the indigenous people of the Caribbean Antilles, their way of living and to be conscious of how much of our culture still lives on.”


Photo: Melanie Calderón, Trinidad (Credit: Marisol Villanueva)

UCTPTN 03.15.2008
A Communications Service of the United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP)
« Last Edit: March 17, 2008, 12:38:21 pm by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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