This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest,... more This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest, most widespread ceramicists in the Caribbean—members of a culture that settled the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico over two millennia ago during an era known as the Saladoid. Analysis of the sculptural and painted adornments on Saladoid ceramics suggests that the vessels embodied important Pre-Columbian Caribbean ideas about spirituality, the natural world and the cultural sphere, including gender. Employing archaeological, ethnographic and art historical research, this essay offers interpretations of key Saladoid ceramic adornments, and relates these motifs to the question of gender among the Saladoid potters.
I used to be firmly of the opinion that diversity in the curriculum was far more important than d... more I used to be firmly of the opinion that diversity in the curriculum was far more important than diversity in the faculty. As far as I was concerned, it would not do students nearly as much good to have a rainbow of professors teaching them the same old Herodotus, Ruskin, and Michelangelo as having
Proceedings of the XXVII Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology, 2019
In one of many versions of the popular early twentieth century calypso, "West Indian Weed Woman,"... more In one of many versions of the popular early twentieth century calypso, "West Indian Weed Woman," the song's namesake (an unusual street vendor encountered by the singer, Bill Rogers) lists over sixty herbal folk remedies. After carefully transcribing the popular names of the herbs mentioned in the song, the investigators proceeded to locate the botanical names of the species. In the process, they discovered that more than half were endemic to the Caribbean and South America. Further research revealed that all of these endemic herbs have Indigenous medicinal applications, some of which are mentioned in the verses of the Rogers calypso. Thus, the song represents not only an intersection between West Indian folk medicine and popular culture and music, but reveals the extent to which Amerindian pharmacology was retained by an overarching Afro-Caribbean culture during the colonial and early modern period of the region.
An illustrated overview of the role of Trinidad and Tobago in the artistic and cultural developme... more An illustrated overview of the role of Trinidad and Tobago in the artistic and cultural development of the pre-Columbian Lesser Antilles and the greater Caribbean. From the book, SEASON OF RENEWAL, an exhibition catalogue, published in 2012 by the Art Society of Trinidad & Tobago. Not peer reviewed. Minor spelling errors.
Proceedings of XXV Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology, 2013, 2015
While crocodilian imagery is rare in pre-Columbian Caribbean ceramics, and in other materials as ... more While crocodilian imagery is rare in pre-Columbian Caribbean ceramics, and in other materials as well, the island of Carriacou in the Grenadines presents a relatively high incidence of adornos appearing to represent the caiman. The ceramic caimans of Carriacou would seem to evince a cultural distinction within the greater family of ceramic styles and phases of the Island Saladoid, and would also seem to indicate a unique set of concerns with the forces, cycles and entities that these creatures might represent. This essay explores the form, style, and possible cultural significance of caiman imagery during the early Ceramic Florescence in the Caribbean and in this unique Caribbean territory.
Tracing both the myriad origins and uniquely Caribbean emergence of the fretwork house, or “ginge... more Tracing both the myriad origins and uniquely Caribbean emergence of the fretwork house, or “gingerbread house”, this essay approaches the master-less masterpiece of residential architecture as simultaneously cultural product and democratic process, as synthesis and genesis. The gingerbread house is considered here as the elegant result of countless negotiations among the building traditions of no less than twenty countries, indigenous and foreign. The only single place where all the fretwork house’s antecedents were ever present at the same time, was the Caribbean of the 19th century, especially cosmopolitan Trinidad. The architectural form that emerged from this mélange has evaded easy categorization but this has never detracted from the fretwork house's equipoise between form and function. And despite its unworried embrace of tropical temporality it offers ageless wisdom to future generations of Caribbean builders, if they would look more closely.
This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest,... more This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest, most widespread ceramicists in the Caribbean—members of a culture that settled the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico over two millennia ago during an era known as the Saladoid. Analysis of the sculptural and painted adornments on Saladoid ceramics suggests that the vessels embodied important Pre-Columbian Caribbean ideas about spirituality, the natural world and the cultural sphere, including gender. Employing archaeological, ethnographic and art historical research, this essay offers interpretations of key Saladoid ceramic adornments, and relates these motifs to the question of gender among the Saladoid potters.
This article identifies over 20 different species
and/or genera of animals represented in Saladoi... more This article identifies over 20 different species and/or genera of animals represented in Saladoid ceramics. It surveys thousands of Saladoid zoomorphic ceramics in some 15 institutional collections in the Lesser Antilles and the United States with the aim of tracking the geographic distribution of zoomorphs. Not all important Saladoid collections were visited in this survey, with collections in St. Lucia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico being some notable omissions. In the surveyed collections, strong regional interests in certain zoomorphs are appreciable in the distribution of animal and bird images. Chief among these regional variances are those between the Lesser Antilles and mainland Saladoid ceramics of the Lower Orinoco. Regional differences are also discernable between different groups of islands within the Lesser Antilles.
This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest,... more This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest, most widespread ceramicists in the Caribbean—members of a culture that settled the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico over two millennia ago during an era known as the Saladoid. Analysis of the sculptural and painted adornments on Saladoid ceramics suggests that the vessels embodied important Pre-Columbian Caribbean ideas about spirituality, the natural world and the cultural sphere, including gender. Employing archaeological, ethnographic and art historical research, this essay offers interpretations of key Saladoid ceramic adornments, and relates these motifs to the question of gender among the Saladoid potters.
I used to be firmly of the opinion that diversity in the curriculum was far more important than d... more I used to be firmly of the opinion that diversity in the curriculum was far more important than diversity in the faculty. As far as I was concerned, it would not do students nearly as much good to have a rainbow of professors teaching them the same old Herodotus, Ruskin, and Michelangelo as having
Proceedings of the XXVII Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology, 2019
In one of many versions of the popular early twentieth century calypso, "West Indian Weed Woman,"... more In one of many versions of the popular early twentieth century calypso, "West Indian Weed Woman," the song's namesake (an unusual street vendor encountered by the singer, Bill Rogers) lists over sixty herbal folk remedies. After carefully transcribing the popular names of the herbs mentioned in the song, the investigators proceeded to locate the botanical names of the species. In the process, they discovered that more than half were endemic to the Caribbean and South America. Further research revealed that all of these endemic herbs have Indigenous medicinal applications, some of which are mentioned in the verses of the Rogers calypso. Thus, the song represents not only an intersection between West Indian folk medicine and popular culture and music, but reveals the extent to which Amerindian pharmacology was retained by an overarching Afro-Caribbean culture during the colonial and early modern period of the region.
An illustrated overview of the role of Trinidad and Tobago in the artistic and cultural developme... more An illustrated overview of the role of Trinidad and Tobago in the artistic and cultural development of the pre-Columbian Lesser Antilles and the greater Caribbean. From the book, SEASON OF RENEWAL, an exhibition catalogue, published in 2012 by the Art Society of Trinidad & Tobago. Not peer reviewed. Minor spelling errors.
Proceedings of XXV Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology, 2013, 2015
While crocodilian imagery is rare in pre-Columbian Caribbean ceramics, and in other materials as ... more While crocodilian imagery is rare in pre-Columbian Caribbean ceramics, and in other materials as well, the island of Carriacou in the Grenadines presents a relatively high incidence of adornos appearing to represent the caiman. The ceramic caimans of Carriacou would seem to evince a cultural distinction within the greater family of ceramic styles and phases of the Island Saladoid, and would also seem to indicate a unique set of concerns with the forces, cycles and entities that these creatures might represent. This essay explores the form, style, and possible cultural significance of caiman imagery during the early Ceramic Florescence in the Caribbean and in this unique Caribbean territory.
Tracing both the myriad origins and uniquely Caribbean emergence of the fretwork house, or “ginge... more Tracing both the myriad origins and uniquely Caribbean emergence of the fretwork house, or “gingerbread house”, this essay approaches the master-less masterpiece of residential architecture as simultaneously cultural product and democratic process, as synthesis and genesis. The gingerbread house is considered here as the elegant result of countless negotiations among the building traditions of no less than twenty countries, indigenous and foreign. The only single place where all the fretwork house’s antecedents were ever present at the same time, was the Caribbean of the 19th century, especially cosmopolitan Trinidad. The architectural form that emerged from this mélange has evaded easy categorization but this has never detracted from the fretwork house's equipoise between form and function. And despite its unworried embrace of tropical temporality it offers ageless wisdom to future generations of Caribbean builders, if they would look more closely.
This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest,... more This essay considers archaeological uncertainties about the sex and gender roles of the earliest, most widespread ceramicists in the Caribbean—members of a culture that settled the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico over two millennia ago during an era known as the Saladoid. Analysis of the sculptural and painted adornments on Saladoid ceramics suggests that the vessels embodied important Pre-Columbian Caribbean ideas about spirituality, the natural world and the cultural sphere, including gender. Employing archaeological, ethnographic and art historical research, this essay offers interpretations of key Saladoid ceramic adornments, and relates these motifs to the question of gender among the Saladoid potters.
This article identifies over 20 different species
and/or genera of animals represented in Saladoi... more This article identifies over 20 different species and/or genera of animals represented in Saladoid ceramics. It surveys thousands of Saladoid zoomorphic ceramics in some 15 institutional collections in the Lesser Antilles and the United States with the aim of tracking the geographic distribution of zoomorphs. Not all important Saladoid collections were visited in this survey, with collections in St. Lucia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico being some notable omissions. In the surveyed collections, strong regional interests in certain zoomorphs are appreciable in the distribution of animal and bird images. Chief among these regional variances are those between the Lesser Antilles and mainland Saladoid ceramics of the Lower Orinoco. Regional differences are also discernable between different groups of islands within the Lesser Antilles.
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Not peer reviewed. Minor spelling errors.
and/or genera of animals represented in Saladoid
ceramics. It surveys thousands of Saladoid
zoomorphic ceramics in some 15 institutional
collections in the Lesser Antilles and the United
States with the aim of tracking the geographic
distribution of zoomorphs. Not all important Saladoid collections were visited in this survey, with collections in St. Lucia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico being some notable omissions. In the surveyed collections, strong regional interests
in certain zoomorphs are appreciable in the
distribution of animal and bird images. Chief among
these regional variances are those between the Lesser
Antilles and mainland Saladoid ceramics of the Lower
Orinoco. Regional differences are also discernable
between different groups of islands within the Lesser
Antilles.
Not peer reviewed. Minor spelling errors.
and/or genera of animals represented in Saladoid
ceramics. It surveys thousands of Saladoid
zoomorphic ceramics in some 15 institutional
collections in the Lesser Antilles and the United
States with the aim of tracking the geographic
distribution of zoomorphs. Not all important Saladoid collections were visited in this survey, with collections in St. Lucia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico being some notable omissions. In the surveyed collections, strong regional interests
in certain zoomorphs are appreciable in the
distribution of animal and bird images. Chief among
these regional variances are those between the Lesser
Antilles and mainland Saladoid ceramics of the Lower
Orinoco. Regional differences are also discernable
between different groups of islands within the Lesser
Antilles.