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

Epilogue / 229
nore the diversity that is present— often just below the surface (Keegan and Rodríguez
Ramos 2005). I do not mean to disregard the work of French (notably Jacques
Petitjean Roget and his sons, Henry and Hughes); Dutch, such as Josselin de Jong;
Cuban (José Guarch Delmonte, Ramón Dacal Moure, Manuel Rivero de la Calle);
Dominican (Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Elpidio Ortega, Fernando Luna Calderón);
Puerto Rican (Ricardo Alegría, Luis Chanlatte Baik); or even U.S. archaeologists
such as Ripley and Adelaide Bullen; was never considered mainstream by most
North American archaeologists.
Case Studies
The pottery and clay studies of Hofman and colleagues are exemplary. In the
past, when clays were even collected, the tendency has been to look solely at their
chemical and physical properties. By examining the workability of various clays,
they promise to provide a better understanding of clay sources and the manufacture
of pottery vessels.
The characterization of gold and brass objects from the remarkable El Chorro
de Maíta site in Cuba is certain to bring the production, distribution, and sources
of these materials into sharper relief. The tendency has been to look at these objects
through the eyes of the Spanish chroniclers. More complete information about the
objects themselves will improve our interpretation of the roles they played in native
West Indian culture.
Initial studies of lithics tended to focus on the classification of stone tools, especially
for Archaic groups where these are the main item of material culture. A
notable exception to this is the work of Jeff Walker. Sebastiaan Knippenberg and
Benoît Bérard have taken lithic analysis to new heights (I should also mention
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos). The investigation of sources for lithic materials and
the production sequence, or chaîne opératoire, have made significant contributions
to our understanding of the relationships between different cultures, and
the exchange relations that define interaction spheres. Moreover, despite widespread
lapidary arts in the West Indies, few studies have addressed their production.
De Mille, Varney, and Turney have devised a unique method for investigating
stone- bead drilling techniques. Their results will provide a more comprehensive
understanding of both techniques and the time required to produce these objects.
The identification of craft specialization and production holds important clues to
the organization of production in Saladoid cultures.
In a similar vein, Charlene Hutcheson has developed a technique that also
might be described as remote sensing. Casts of bead cavities (De Mille et al. this
volume) and basket impressions on ceramics provide superior ways for investigating
pre- European technologies. To her credit, Hutcheson already has demonstrated
that basket impressions are not simply a by- product of pressing clay on a basket
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