Island Rhythms: The Web of Social Relationships and Interaction Networks in the Lesser Antillean Archipelago between 400 B.C. and A.D. 1492

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne L. Hofman ◽  
Alistair J. Bright ◽  
Arie Boomert ◽  
Sebastiaan Knippenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Ceramic Age ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Web

The precolonial communities of the Caribbean archipelago were not insular. The discontinuous natural resource distribution, the maritime orientation of the Caribbean Amerindians, and the complexities of regional social interaction ensured that the precolonial Caribbean islandscape was dynamic and highly interconnected. This report explores the socicultural behavior and intercommunity exchange relationships of the inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles. It combines related archaeological case studies encompassing the procurement and exchange of: (1) raw materials and utilitarian goods with a wide spatial and social distribution, (2) goods with high stylistic visibility and presumed social function as markers of identity or status, and (3) prestige goods with profound ceremonial value. The study of these objects reveals overarching social and ideological dimensions to Caribbean life. Data suggest that social relationships manifest themselves at different levels and through distinct rhythms while taking on various material guises during the Ceramic age Amerindian occupation of the Caribbean islands (400 B.C. to A.D. 1492). While there is great potential in unraveling interaction networks through the careful study of distribution patterns, the incorporation of ethnohistoric and ethnographic information is imperative to elucidate the web of social relationships underlying these material manifestations.

scholarly journals A database of lapidary artifacts in the Caribbean for the Ceramic Age

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Queffelec ◽  
Pierrick Fouéré ◽  
Jean-Baptiste Caverne
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Literature Survey ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Ceramic Age ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Materials Used

Lapidary artifacts show an impressive abundance and diversity during the Ceramic period in the Caribbean islands, especially at the beginning of this period. Most of the raw materials used in this production do not exist naturally on the islands of the Lesser Antilles, nevertheless, many archaeological sites have yielded such artifacts on these islands. In the framework of a four-years-long project, we created a database by combining first hand observations and analysis, as well as a thorough literature survey. The result is a database including more than 100 sites and almost 5000 beads, pendants, blanks and raw material fragments.

scholarly journals A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Fernandes ◽  
Kendra A. Sirak ◽  
Harald Ringbauer ◽  
Jakob Sedig ◽  
Nadin Rohland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
The Bahamas ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Population Size Estimates ◽  
Ceramic Age ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean

Humans settled the Caribbean ~6,000 years ago, with intensified agriculture and ceramic use marking a shift from the Archaic Age to the Ceramic Age ~2,500 years ago. To shed new light on the history of Caribbean people, we report genome-wide data from 184 individuals predating European contact from The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, and northwestern Venezuela. A largely homogeneous ceramic-using population most likely originating in northeastern South America and related to present-day Arawak-speaking groups moved throughout the Caribbean at least 1,800 years ago, spreading ancestry that is still detected in parts of the region today. These people eventually almost entirely replaced Archaic-related lineages in Hispaniola but not in northwestern Cuba, where unadmixed Archaic-related ancestry persisted into the last millennium. We document high mobility and inter-island connectivity throughout the Ceramic Age as reflected in relatives buried ~75 kilometers apart in Hispaniola and low genetic differentiation across many Caribbean islands, albeit with subtle population structure distinguishing the Bahamian islands we studied from the rest of the Caribbean and from each other, and long-term population continuity in southeastern coastal Hispaniola differentiating this region from the rest of the island. Ceramic-associated people avoided close kin unions despite limited mate pools reflecting low effective population sizes (2Ne=1000-2000) even at sites on the large Caribbean islands. While census population sizes can be an order of magnitude larger than effective population sizes, pan-Caribbean population size estimates of hundreds of thousands are likely too large. Transitions in pottery styles show no evidence of being driven by waves of migration of new people from mainland South America; instead, they more likely reflect the spread of ideas and people within an interconnected Caribbean world.

Geology and hydrogeology of the Caribbean islands aquifer system of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Renken ◽  
W. C. Ward ◽  
I.P. Gill ◽  
Fernando Gómez-Gómez ◽  
Jesús Rodríguez-Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The U.S

Leishmania spp. and leishmaniasis on the Caribbean islands

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoqun Yao
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Trinidad And Tobago ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
Sand Fly ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Leishmania Spp ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Human Infections ◽  
Sand Fly Vectors

Abstract The kinetoplastid protozoan Leishmania spp. cause leishmaniasis, which clinically exhibit mainly as a cutaneous, mucocutanous or visceral form depending upon the parasite species in humans. The disease is widespread geographically, leading to 20 000 annual deaths. Here, leishmaniases in both humans and animals, reservoirs and sand fly vectors on the Caribbean islands are reviewed. Autochthonous human infections by Leishmania spp. were found in the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as Trinidad and Tobago; canine infections were found in St. Kitts and Grenada; and equine infections were found in Puerto Rico. Imported human cases have been reported in Cuba. The parasites included Leishmania amazonensis, Le. martiniquensis and Le. waltoni. Possible sand fly vectors included Lutzomyia christophei, Lu. atroclavatus, Lu. cayennensis and Lu. flaviscutellata as well as Phlebotomus guadeloupensis. Reservoirs included rats, rice rats and mouse opossum. An updated study is warranted for the control and elimination of leishmaniasis in the region because some of the data are four decades old.

scholarly journals Unraveling the Gut Microbiome of the Invasive Small Indian Mongoose (Urva auropunctata) in the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 465
Author(s):  
Anne A. M. J. Becker ◽  
KC Hill ◽  
Patrick Butaye
Keyword(s):  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Microbial Profile ◽  
Vegetation Zones ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Metabolic Properties ◽  
Small Indian Mongoose

Small Indian mongooses (Urva auropunctata) are among the most pervasive predators to disrupt the native ecology on Caribbean islands and are strongly entrenched in their areas of introduction. Few studies, however, have considered the microbial ecology of such biological invasions. In this study, we investigated the gut microbiota of invasive small Indian mongooses in terms of taxonomic diversity and functional potential. To this end, we collected fecal samples from 60 free-roaming mongooses trapped in different vegetation zones on the island Saint Kitts. The core gut microbiome, assessed by 16S rRNA amplicon gene sequencing on the Ion S5TM XL platform, reflects a carnivore-like signature with a dominant abundance of Firmicutes (54.96%), followed by Proteobacteria (13.98%) and Fusobacteria (12.39%), and a relatively minor contribution of Actinobacteria (10.4%) and Bacteroidetes (6.40%). Mongooses trapped at coastal sites exhibited a higher relative abundance of Fusobacterium spp. whereas those trapped in scrubland areas were enriched in Bacteroidetes, but there was no site-specific difference in predicted metabolic properties. Between males and females, beta-diversity was not significantly different and no sex-specific strategies for energy production were observed. However, the relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria, and more specifically, Enterobacteriaceae, was significantly higher in males. This first description of the microbial profile of small Indian mongooses provides new insights into their bioecology and can serve as a springboard to further elucidating this invasive predator’s impact throughout the Caribbean.

scholarly journals Chikungunya Fever in Japan Imported from the Caribbean Islands

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Imai ◽  
Eri Nakayama ◽  
Takuya Maeda ◽  
Kei Mikita ◽  
Yukiko Kobayashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chikungunya Fever ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
The Caribbean

scholarly journals Maternal Infection and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes among Pregnant Travellers: Results of the International Zika Virus in Pregnancy Registry

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 341
Author(s):  
Manon Vouga ◽  
Léo Pomar ◽  
Antoni Soriano-Arandes ◽  
Carlota Rodó ◽  
Anna Goncé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pregnancy Outcomes ◽  
Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes ◽  
Minimal Risk ◽  
Maternal Infection ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Multicentre Cohort Study ◽  
Epidemic Period ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Adverse Pregnancy ◽  
Multicentre Cohort

In this multicentre cohort study, we evaluated the risks of maternal ZIKV infections and adverse pregnancy outcomes among exposed travellers compared to women living in areas with ZIKV circulation (residents). The risk of maternal infection was lower among travellers compared to residents: 25.0% (n = 36/144) versus 42.9% (n = 309/721); aRR 0.6; 95% CI 0.5–0.8. Risk factors associated with maternal infection among travellers were travelling during the epidemic period (i.e., June 2015 to December 2016) (aOR 29.4; 95% CI 3.7–228.1), travelling to the Caribbean Islands (aOR 3.2; 95% CI 1.2–8.7) and stay duration >2 weeks (aOR 8.7; 95% CI 1.1–71.5). Adverse pregnancy outcomes were observed in 8.3% (n = 3/36) of infected travellers and 12.7% (n = 39/309) of infected residents. Overall, the risk of maternal infections is lower among travellers compared to residents and related to the presence of ongoing outbreaks and stay duration, with stays <2 weeks associated with minimal risk in the absence of ongoing outbreaks.

Retrospective Outcomes Review of Laparoscopy Training at a Small Private Hospital in the Caribbean Islands

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. S152
Author(s):  
S.J. Martin ◽  
O. Valle ◽  
K.S. Smith ◽  
J. George ◽  
E.T. Bennet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Private Hospital ◽  
Laparoscopy Training ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
The Caribbean

Attitudes toward Love in the Caribbean

1987 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 715-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Payne ◽  
Michel Vandewiele
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
West Indians ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
Conjugal Love ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Caribbean

The Munro-Adams Love Attitude Scale was administered to 369 subjects aged 15 to 35 yr. in the Caribbean islands of Barbados and St. Lucia. Unlike North American and African samples surveyed with this instrument, West Indians endorsed Romantic Idealism more strongly than Conjugal Love. Data are interpreted in terms of Caribbean household structures and patterns of males' and females' relationships.

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