Archaeology of Early Colonial Interaction at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba, examines the interactions between indigenous peoples and European invaders in the Caribbean and the way in which domination imposed by a foreign model ultimately transformed this relationship into a system of colonial subordination. Investigations of the domestic and funerary contexts at the El Chorro de Maíta, in the northeast of Cuba, permit the archaeological visualization of the cultural and ethnic diversity imposed by colonial domination. Presented, for the first time, is the identification and archaeological study of ... More

Archaeology of Early Colonial Interaction at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba, examines the interactions between indigenous peoples and European invaders in the Caribbean and the way in which domination imposed by a foreign model ultimately transformed this relationship into a system of colonial subordination. Investigations of the domestic and funerary contexts at the El Chorro de Maíta, in the northeast of Cuba, permit the archaeological visualization of the cultural and ethnic diversity imposed by colonial domination. Presented, for the first time, is the identification and archaeological study of an indigenous village that was transformed during the 16th-century into a town of Indian encomendados, which is to say working for the Spanish as forced labor. The study distinguishes the Christianization of the indigenous inhabitants, principally among those of elite status, and the process of ethnogenesis which gave rise to the “Indian” as a colonial category. This occurred in a scenario where indigenous mortuary practices were maintained, and handled and restricted the Hispanic material culture. It treats the process that created the cemetery with syncretic characteristics, in which there is an adjustment to a process of transculturation where the cultures and the individuals are transformed, and in which the indigenous peoples demonstrated a capacity for resistance and adaptation that is generally underestimated. This book demonstrates the value of archaeology to observe unrecorded episodes of Caribbean and American history that are vital for constructing the link with the pre-Columbian world and the construction of an integrated and new history.