Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

Table 13.3. Continued
184 / Newsom
Taxon Vernacular Ethnobotany
Herbs
Vines
Cycadaceae, Zamia sp. zamia, guayiga edible stem (cycad)
Fabaceae, Arachas hypogaea 4 peanut edible ground nut
Fabaceae, Phaseolus sp. 4 common bean, frijol edible seed
Marantaceae, Calathea sp. 5 ileren, lerenes, galatea edible root
Marantaceae, Maranta sp. arrowroot edible root
(M. arundinacea) 4
Onagraceae, Oenothera sp. 5 evening primrose all parts, medicinal
Poaceae/Paniceae, cf. Setaria panicoid grasses, e.g. edible grain
spp. and relatives 3
foxtail millets
Poaceae, Zea mays 4 maize edible grain, sugary
Solanaceae, Capsicum sp. cf. chili pepper, pimiento,
C. annuum 4,5 ají
vegetative organs
edible fruit
Convovulaceae, Ipomoea sp., cf. sweet potato, batata edible root
I. batatas 4
Cucurbitaceae 5 gourd/squash family edible fruit, container
Passi®oraceae, Passi®ora sp. Passion ®ower, parcha edible fruit
1
Source data: Berman and Pearsall 2000; Pagán Jiménez 2003, 2005a, 2005b; Pagán Jiménez et al. 2005;
Newsom and Pearsall 2003; Newsom and Wing 2004; Pearsall 1985, 1989, 2002a.
2
Subregions: GA = Greater Antilles and Virgin Islands; LA = Lesser Antilles; BTC = Bahamas, Turks
and Caicos; SC = Southern Caribbean Islands.
cultivation practices, cultivators (i.e., the questions posed above about roles), and
consumers, as well as the possibility of independently domesticated taxa, which
would represent a truly unique Caribbean development. I next offer something of
a road map for Caribbean paleoethnobotany, some potential future directions to
pursue via this line of inquiry focusing on three basic thematic issues.
I. Clarifying Environmental Dynamics. What can we do to discern more the landscapes
and cultural biogeography of prehistoric human settlement in the Caribbean?
Scarry and Reitz (2005) recently reflected on our shying away from considering
climate change as a causal factor in cultural behavior, largely because of
negative impressions generated by unsupported or poorly supported claims in past
years. But they urge it is time to return to environmental issues as a potentially
“important ingredient in culture change” and which can clarify significant aspects
of the human- landscape dynamic (Scarry and Reitz 2005:118). Certainly we cannot
preclude environment as a causal factor unless and until we understand it, including
the nature of stochastic variations such as in rainfall and the potential
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