Garay-Vazquez, Jose Julian;
(2023)
Caribbean archaeobotany under the microscope: From the earth to the plate in understanding precolonial indigenous-plant dynamics of Borikén [Puerto Rico].
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The current archaeobotanical understanding of the Antillean Caribbean precolonial indigenous societies are highly dependent on starch residue analysis with fugitive contributions of other plant remains (i.e., phytoliths, macro-remains, pollen) (Pagan-Jimenez 2011; Chinique de Armas et al 2015; Ciofalo et al 2019). As per Hastorf (1999) and VanDerwarker (2016) New World archaeobotanical research has been increasingly oriented towards the study of micro-remains in the last century. The scarcity of macro-botanical studies correlates with notions of poor preservation of macro-remains in neotropical environments (Pearsall 1995), rich diversity of flora which complicates taxonomic identification to genus level (Harris 1972) and, the difficulty of recovering archaeobotanical materials from neotropical sediments (Piperno and Pearsall 1998). The reliance on a single aspect of archaeobotanical research, in this case starch grains analysis, has limited our understanding of human-plant dynamics specifically the pathways towards food production in the Antillean Caribbean. Understanding these pathways requires the reconstruction of past human-plant dynamics in this case through the analysis of archaeobotanical assemblages of macro remains. Therefore, the focus of this investigation is to contextualize the botanical component of precolonial indigenous peoples from the island of Borikén1 through the analysis of carbonised plant remains to understand the sociocultural dynamics that lead to the societies encountered by Europeans during 1492 and onwards. Additionally, the results of this investigation will contribute improved methodologies for macrobiotically remains sampling in tropical contexts, and centre indigenous voices towards decolonising archaeological discourses about Antillean Caribbean indigenous peoples.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Caribbean archaeobotany under the microscope: From the earth to the plate in understanding precolonial indigenous-plant dynamics of Borikén [Puerto Rico] |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | Caribbean, archaeobotany, indigenous plants, carbonised plant remains, culinary traditions |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10171842 |
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