Stone Artefact Production and Exchange Among the Northern Lesser Antilles - Couverture souple

Knippenberg, Sebastiaan

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 9087280084 ISBN 13 : 9789087280086

Editeur : Amsterdam University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Prehistoric Amerindian society in the Caribbean has appealed to us ever since Columbus set foot on the Bahamas. In this archaeological study, Sebastiaan Knippenberg touches upon a single but important aspect of this society: inter-village exchange. Contrary to the impersonal and purely economic trade relationships in our Western society, exchange relationships in small-scale societies are embedded in many more aspects, than economy alone, and therefore are regarded as very important - crucial for the well-being of small local communities. A very fruitful approach in unraveling these prehistoric exchange relationships within the Caribbean, and in particular among the Lesser Antilles, has been the study of the manufacture and distribution of stone tools and other stone objects. They represent one of the few important non-perishable materials in the region's archaeological record. Three specific scarce rock varieties, all originating from single islands, including Antigua and St. Martin, play a central role in this study. The indigenous populations used these three materials for totally different purposes during the Ceramic Age (500 BC - AD 1492). By carefully looking at the manufacture process, the places of manufacture, and the distribution of these materials among the different islands of the northern Antilles, Sebastiaan Knippenberg has demonstrated that inter-island traffic and inter-island exchange formed a recurrent and important feature of Ceramic Age society. From his data he further argues that exchange played a different role through time in the Antilles. During the Early Ceramic Age it was particularly intended for maintaining cohesion among a society, which was exploring and settling a new environment. In later times, it became a platform by which local headman were displaying their power in their whish to gain regional leadership.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Sebastiaan Knippenberg is a field archaeologist and lithic specialist working for ArchOL BV, Leiden.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

Studie naar vervaardiging en verspreiding van stenen artefacten gedurende de pre-Columbiaanse bewoning binnen de Caribische regio is slechts in geringe mate uitgevoerd binnen de archeologie van het gebied. Dit onderzoek voorziet in deze leemte.

Steenbewerking en verspreiding van artefacten temidden van de noordelijke Kleine Antillen staan centraal met als doel tot een inzicht te komen welke uitwisselingsmechanismen ten grondslag hebben gelegen aan deze verspreiding. Het onderzoek behandelt de gehele Keramische periode. Deze periode omvat de tijdspanne van 500 v. Chr tot aan de komst van de Europeanen in 1492 na Chr.

'Stone Artefact Production and Exchange among the Lesser Antilles' toont aan dat de studie naar vervaardiging en verspreiding van stenen materialen binnen de noordelijke Antilliaanse regio vruchtbare resultaten heeft opgeleverd voor de kennis omtrent uitwisselingsnetwerken die operatief waren gedurende de pre-Columbiaanse periode. Uit het onderzoek blijkt ook dat veel aspecten nog onderbelicht of zelfs geheel onbekend zijn.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Amsterdam University Press
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 9087280084
• ISBN 13: 9789087280086
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 150
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible