Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

Early Ceramics in the Caribbean / 115
the processes of pottery production either because of external in®uences or
through its own internal development.
In the past few years, interest in early pottery has also been directed toward
the analysis of its technological aspects (Jouravleva n.d.; Jouravleva and Gonzáles
2000) as a way of generating new interpretations, especially in relation
to the origins of ceramics at key sites such as Arroyo del Palo and other regions
of the island. These studies, carried out with precise archaeometric methods,
have been designed to establish parameters that capture the evolution of ceramic
technology in different contexts and to isolate phases within its development.
The phases, de¤ned stratigraphically and chronologically, are intended
to identify cultural contexts. This approach attempts to de¤ne the
informational importance that each chosen parameter has, as well as its range
of variability, in order to use it as a diagnostic within the classi¤cation. The
result is a stable and independent classi¤catory scheme based on manufacturing
methods that can be used to interpret ¤eld data. A pro¤le of the technological
particularities inherent in the different phases of ceramic development
(either early, middle, or late) involves observations on local invention, the borrowing
of practices, or a migratory process. This system establishes a strict
relationship between technological parameters and cultural identi¤cations,
leading to much richer interpretations that grant importance to multiple elements
of the context. This approach represents an interpretative logic where
if A is present then B, or if A is absent then C. This line of investigation is
unique within the analysis of Cuban ceramics and exempli¤es steps that
should be considered in any process of interpretation. It has the advantage of
making it impossible to reduce explanation of any cultural or social phenomenon
to the absence or presence of technological features. On the other hand,
it is misleading to establish an abrupt break between one period of ceramic
development and another. More than anything, the approach identi¤es different
forms and trends independent of models that predetermine the rest of the
culture. The archaeometric approach has achieved important results in locating
sources of raw materials used in the manufacture of pottery and the presence
of the deposits in a particular region, as well as traces of fatty acids that
provide information about the alimentary habits of these communities. These
results have then been compared to the sites of traditional agriculturalist/
ceramic groups (Jouravleva and Gonzáles 2000). To summarize, we can classify
studies on early ceramic communities in Cuba as follows:
(1) Morpho-typological, evolutionary-chronological, and in some ways,