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

New Evidence of Two Different Migratory Waves / 207
Figure 14.3. Scatter plot of the Principal Component Analysis showing the distribution
according to the first and second components.
from Cuba and the more ancient one of Cueva Roja in the Dominican Republic.
A third grouping gathers together the Florida samples along with the ones from
Venezuela.
Within the first two major clusters, we can spot some tendency to form internal
grouping. More specifically, in the Taíno cluster the samples from the Dominican
Republic seem to separate from the Saladoid and Troumassoid samples.
As far as the Ciboney are concerned, the three recent groups from Cuba set aside
from Cueva Roja, marking the chronological gap between them.
Factor loadings are listed in Table 14.3. In the upper dentition, only M1 cusp 5
shows positive values above 0.7. Along the first component, this trait discriminates
the Ciboney (Cuban samples 40–50 percent, Cueva Roja 31.2 percent) while the
Taíno present lower frequencies (10–15 percent). The Saladoid and Troumassoid
samples fall within the same range of variability as the Taíno, while the groups
from the Virgin Islands are set at the 28.6 percent. The samples from Florida do
not match any specific group, due to their variability between 8.1 percent and
30.3 percent.
Also in the mandibular dentition one trait (M1 cusps number) discriminates
the samples with a positive value higher than 0.7. As for the maxilla, its frequency
is higher in the sample of Cuban Ciboney (55–65 percent), and decreases in all the
other island groups including the preceramic sample from Cueva Roja (14.0–35.7
percent). The Floridians again present a large variability (12.5–42.9 percent). Sig-
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