Emma Slayton

The Caribbean in the late 15th century was a complex landscape of Amerindian island cultures, interacting through maritime exchange networks. Despite the already present diversity in the long history of the Amerindian societies, the arrival of the Europeans severely altered existing landscapes and exchange networks. The impact of this encounter on the indigenous population is the focus of three interdisciplinary research projects hosted at Leiden University in collaboration with the universities of Konstanz, Amsterdam and Leuven.
A common goal for these projects is to identify cultural, social, economic and political changes as a result of the influence of European presents. Research foci for this poster are transformations of: Amerindian settlement patterns and cultural landscapes; exchange and trade between the islands; local traditions in the early colonial period. And how does the archaeological knowledge, traditions and historic sources connect to current issues in local communities?
To approach these research problems we will apply different methods and theories. Firstly, GIS is one tool to investigate these topics, and provides a platform to connect the very diverse research approaches, to ultimately create a data base for heritage management. Second, any kind of exchange within the Caribbean islands was only possible through seafaring. By implementing seasonal current and wind data, these pre- and early colonial trading networks can be modelled on base of a least-cost-pathway algorithm and may provide further understanding of the inter-island network. Identifying potential arrival spots on the islands may assist in the identification of more Amerindian settlements close to the coast. For this, an area in the northern Dominican Republic and several islands of the Lesser Antilles are used as sample cases to map potential changes in settlement patterning. Thirdly, Aerial and satellite remote sensing analysis of different scales, resolution and type provide a base for surface models of the current landscape. To provide information on settlement types, data from on-site survey evidence of material cultural will be used in combination with historic maps, literature and archaeological excavations. And finally, Spatial Statistics, such as point pattern analysis and predictive modelling, extend this analysis to reconstruct the diverse cultural landscapes. The different inputs will aid in the creation of the micro-environment in the excavation areas across the historical divide.

Approche expérimentale de la navigation précolombienne dans les Antilles
B. Bérard, J.-Y. Billard, T. L'Etang, G. Lalubie, C. Nicolizas, B. Ramstein, E. Slayton


Résumé :
Devenue plus centrale au cours des dernières années, la question des capacités de navigation des populations amérindiennes n'est pas nouvelle dans l'archéologie antillaise. Nous avons choisi de principalement concentrer nos efforts sur une approche expérimentale de ces techniques. Notre ambition était de mettre en place un programme d'expérimentation prenant en compte les différents aspects liés à la construction et à l'utilisation des kanawa. Nous avons donc mené une étude ethnoarchéologique de la chaîne opératoire de construction des kanawa mise en place par les artisans Kali'ña en Guyane Française. Puis, une fois produite, la kanawa « Akayouman » a fait l'objet d'une modélisation numérique 3D qui a servi de support à une analyse hydrostatique. Enfin, le cœur du projet a été constitué par la collecte et le traitement des données issues de notre programme de navigation.

Mots Clefs : Antilles, navigation amérindienne, ethno-archéologie, archéologie expérimentale, sociétés maritimes

Experimental approach of the pre-Columbian navigation in the Antilles

Abstract:
Understanding the navigation capacities of the Eastern Caribbean pre-Columbian population is crucial for the community working in the Antilles. We have chosen to focus our work on an experimental approach of these techniques. Our ambition was to set up an experimental program including all the aspects associated with the building and the utilization of the kanawa. Thus, we have conducted an ethno-archaeological study of the kanawa building process followed by the Kali’ña from French Guyana. Then, the « Akayouman » kanawa was made into a 3D model to support a hydrostatic analyse. Finally, the heart of the project was composed of gathering and studying the data collected during our expeditions in the kanawa.

Keywords: Antilles, Amerindian navigation, ethno-archaeology, experimental archaeology, maritime societies



Enfoque experimental sobre la navegación precolombina en las Antillas

Resumen:
La comprensión de las capacidades de navegación de las poblaciones precolombinas del Caribe Oriental es actualmente fundamental para la comunidad que trabaja en las Antillas. Hemos optado por centrar nuestro trabajo en una practica experimental de estas técnicas. Nuestra ambición era crear un programa de experimentación que incluye todos los aspectos asociados a la construcción y la utilización de las kanawa. Por lo tanto, hemos realizado un estudio etnoarqueológica del proceso de construcción de las kanawa seguido por los Kali'na de Guyana Francesa. Entonces, la kanawa « Akayouman » ha sido modelizado en 3D para apoyar un estudio hidrostático. Por fin, el corazón del proyecto está constituido por la recopilación y el estudio de los datos recogidos durante nuestras expediciones .

Palabras claves: Antillas, navegación amerindia, etnoarqueología, arqueología experimental, sociedades marítimas

Nous disposons d'un très grand nombre de descriptions historiques des embarcations amérindiennes antillaises. Ces textes constituent une série continue allant du récit des premiers moments aux études ethnologiques sub-contemporaines. Cet article s'appuie sur une recension d'une ampleur inédite des informations contenues dans ces sources espagnoles, hollandaises, anglaises et françaises précoces ainsi que sur les quelques données archéologiques directes disponibles. Nous avons par ce biais tenté de dégager la nature du rapport entretenu par les populations amérindiennes des Antilles avec l'élément marin, mais aussi d'obtenir la description la plus précise possible des différentes embarcations constituant leur flotte et enfin d'établir la chaîne opératoire de construction des kanawa l'un de ces navires spécifiquement conçu et préférentiellement utilisé pour la navigation en haute mer.
[Mots-clés : Antilles, navigation amérindienne, histoire, archéologie, sociétés maritimes.]
Lesser Antilles Kalinago Maritime Technology During the 16th and 17th centuries. A large set of historical documents give us descriptions of Antillean Amerindian boats. These texts constitute a continuous series from the time of first contact to sub-contemporaneous anthropological descriptions. This paper is based on extensive review of the data contained in those early Spanish, Dutch, English, and French sources and also on a review of the few direct archaeological evidences. In this way we tried to analyse not only the nature of the relationship that existed between Antillean Amerindians and the sea but also to obtain an accurate description of their different boat types. Finally we have reconstituted the building process chaîne opératoire of the kanawa, which were the boat type specifically designed and preferentially used for over-sea navigations.
[Key words: Antilles, Amerindian navigation, history, archaeology, maritime societies]
Un gran conjunto de documentos históricos nos dan descripciones de los barcos de los amerindios antillanos. Estos textos constituyen una serie continua desde los primeros tiempos del contacto asta las descripciones antropológicas sub-contemporánea. Este articulo se basa en una gran revisión de los datos contenidos en las fuentes históricas españolas, holandeses, ingleses y francesas tempranas y también en una revisión de las pocas evidencias arqueológicas directas. De esta manera tratamos de analizar la naturaleza de la relación que ha existido entre los amerindios antillanas y el mar y también de obtener una descripción precisa de ellos diferentes tipos de barcos. Finalmente hemos reconstituido la chaîne opératoire de construcción de las Kanawa, que eran el tipo de barco diseñado específicamente y utilizado preferentemente para la navegación en alta mar.
Palabras claves: Antillas, navegación amerindia, historia, arqueología, sociedad marítimas

The Caribbean Sea was a conduit for human mobility and the exchange of goods and ideas during the whole of its pre-colonial history. The period cal. AD 1000-1800, covering the Late Ceramic Age and early colonial era, represents an archaeologically understudied time during which the Lesser Antilles came under increasing influence from the Greater Antilles and coastal South America and participated in the last phase of indigenous resistance to colonial powers. This article summarizes the results of the Island Network project, supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in which a multi-disciplinary set of archaeological, archaeometric, geochemical, GIS, and network science methods and
techniques have been employed to disentangle this turbulent era in regional and global history. These diverse approaches reveal and then explore multi-layered networks of objects and people and uncover how Lesser Antillean communities were created and transformed
through teaching, trade, migration, movement, and exchange of goods and knowledge.

The Caribbean Sea was a conduit for human mobility and the exchange of goods and ideas during the whole of its pre-colonial history. The period cal. AD 1000-1800, covering the Late Ceramic Age and early colonial era, represents an archaeologically understudied time during which the Lesser Antilles came under increasing influence from the Greater Antilles and coastal South America and participated in the last phase of indigenous resistance to colonial powers. This article summarizes the results of the Island Network project, supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in which a multi-disciplinary set of archaeological, archaeometric, geochemical, GIS, and network science methods and techniques have been employed to disentangle this turbulent era in regional and global history. These diverse approaches reveal and then explore multi-layered networks of objects and people and uncover how Lesser Antillean communities were created and transformed through teaching, trade, migration, movement, and exchange of goods and knowledge.