guinea pigs in the pre-columbian west indies

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Oregon] On: 18 March 2014, At: 11:24 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uica20 Guinea Pigs in the Pre-Columbian West Indies Michelle J. LeFebvre a & Susan D. deFrance a a Department of Anthropology , University of Florida , Gainesville , Florida , USA Published online: 14 Mar 2014. To cite this article: Michelle J. LeFebvre & Susan D. deFrance (2014) Guinea Pigs in the Pre-Columbian West Indies, The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 9:1, 16-44, DOI: 10.1080/15564894.2013.861545 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2013.861545 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Oregon]On: 18 March 2014, At: 11:24Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Journal of Island and CoastalArchaeologyPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uica20

Guinea Pigs in the Pre-Columbian WestIndiesMichelle J. LeFebvre a & Susan D. deFrance aa Department of Anthropology , University of Florida , Gainesville ,Florida , USAPublished online: 14 Mar 2014.

To cite this article: Michelle J. LeFebvre & Susan D. deFrance (2014) Guinea Pigs in thePre-Columbian West Indies, The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 9:1, 16-44, DOI:10.1080/15564894.2013.861545

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2013.861545

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology, 9:16–44, 2014Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1556-4894 print / 1556-1828 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15564894.2013.861545

Guinea Pigs in thePre-Columbian West IndiesMichelle J. LeFebvre and Susan D. deFranceDepartment of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

ABSTRACT

In archaeology, human-introduced animals provide clues about socialinteraction and movement of past peoples. Zooarchaeological recordsin the Caribbean show that pre-Columbian people introduced severalSouth American mammals to different islands. This article examinesall reported pre-Columbian zooarchaeological records of domesticatedguinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) in the Caribbean. Thus far, 218 bone frag-ments have been identified from 18 sites on nine islands. To date, ouranalysis indicates that guinea pigs were introduced to the islands afterAD 500, possibly to the Greater Antilles first. Almost all are recoveredfrom midden contexts. The contexts of guinea pig remains suggest thatthese animals were consumed as food and not considered an exotic orhigh-status food source with restricted consumption or other non-fooduses such as ritual animals. The spatial and temporal patterns of guineapigs suggest that the animals may have been linked to social identityand new patterns of trade, interaction, or population movement be-tween the Caribbean and South America during the second half of theCaribbean Ceramic Age. Documenting the distribution and social sig-nificance of guinea pigs in the pre-Columbian Caribbean contributesto our understanding of how and why people introduced animals toisland settings.

Keywords Caribbean, guinea pig, interaction, West Indies, zooarchaeology

INTRODUCTION

Among those working in island, circum-island, and coastal settings, studies of humanpopulation movement and the objects andanimals that they carried with them have fo-cused heavily on identifying patterns and dy-namics of migration, colonization, and inter-action (e.g., Erlandson and Fitzpatrick 2006;

Received 23 April 2013; accepted 23 October 2013.Address correspondence to Michelle J. LeFebvre, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida,Turlington Hall, Room 1112, P.O. Box 117305, Gainesville, FL 32611-7305, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Fitzpatrick 2008; Fitzpatrick and Anderson2008; Hofman et al. 2007, 2008; Keegan1995; Kirch 1997). Increasingly, faunal re-mains have proven valuable in revealing di-achronic patterns of human movement andinteractions,particularlyacrossbodiesofwa-ter (e.g., Matisoo-Smith 2009; Storey et al.2012, 2013). Sometime after AD 500, peo-ple began introducing domesticated guinea

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pigs (Cavia porcellus) from mainland SouthAmerica into the Greater and Lesser Antil-lean Caribbean islands. Understanding thetiming, possible routes, and motives for thepre-Columbian introduction of guinea pigsinto the Caribbean can contribute to stud-ies of human movement and behavior in theWest Indian past.

Recent identifications of guinea pig re-mains from sites that expand the geographicdistribution of the animals are challeng-ing archaeologists to reconsider the signif-icance and interpretive potential of theseanimals in Caribbean pre-Columbian historyand archaeology (e.g., deFrance and LeFeb-vre 2009; Giovas et al. 2012). After an outlineof guinea pig life history, domestication, anda brief review of Caribbean cultural chronol-ogy, we present an inventory of knownzooarchaeological occurrences of guinea pigin the West Indies. Although guinea pig re-mains are widely distributed, we find thatthey are not ubiquitous and they occur pri-marily in midden contexts in contrast to thevaried status and ritual roles of guinea pigs atsome Central Andean sites (e.g., Rofes 2004;SandweissandWing1997).The introductionof guinea pigs has been examined from theperspective of island biogeography (Wingand Wing 1995), but here we consider thefood and social roles the animals might haveplayed. We suggest that guinea pigs servedprimarily culinary and social identity pur-poses in the West Indies. Our analysis alsoindicates that guinea pig specimens may be agood proxy for studying cultural interactionand possibly human migration, particularlyin the laterpre-Columbianpast.Weargue fur-ther that the timing of guinea pig distributionstrongly suggests that a new wave of trade,interaction, or population movement tookplaceduring thesecondhalfof theCaribbeanCeramic Age (Hofman et al. 2008).

GUINEA PIG ORIGINS AND LIFEHISTORY

Guinea Pig Life History

Guinea pigs are familiar, docile animals thatare commonly allowed to roam freely in An-

dean kitchens. The biology, nutrition, andease of rearing make the guinea pig an idealanimal for transporting and introducing tothe Caribbean islands. The following infor-mation is derived from the Peruvian Instituteof Agronomy and Industrial Agriculture pub-lication “Improve your production of guineapigs” (INIAA1992).Guineapigsarerelativelyshort-lived animals with an average life spanof four to five years. Adult guinea pigs weightroughly two pounds and are high in protein(21%) and low in fat (8%). They are character-ized by both high fertility and reproductionrates. Females reach sexual maturity usuallybetween two and three months, but occa-sionally earlier. Gestation takes 59 to 67 days,followed by the birth of litters consisting ofbetween two to five precocious offspring.The young may nurse, but they are mobile,their eyes are open, and they can take solidfood by the end of their first day. Becauseguinea pigs can consume a range of leafy veg-etation, they would have had few dietary dif-ficulties in the Caribbean. Modern Andeanguinea pigs are also fed cracked corn as adietary supplement (S. deFrance, personalobservation).

The greatest threats to guinea pigsare disease, predators, and fleas and otherectoparasites. Guinea pigs are prone toskin rashes (e.g., dermatitis) and salmonella(INIAA 1992). A variety of other ectopara-sites, bacteria, and viral infections can alsoaffect their health (Wagner and Manning1976).Predationbydogs, raptors, andsnakeswouldhavebeenthegreatest threat toguineapigs living in the Caribbean.

Domestication and the ArchaeologicalRecord

The domesticated guinea pig (Cavia por-cellus) is a small-medium sized hystrico-morph rodent native to South America.Taxonomic estimates for guinea pigs rangefrom five species (www.ITIS.gov) to eight(Nowak 1999). Native guinea pigs are widelydistributed from Venezuela to Argentina(Stahl 2008). Genetic analysis of the wildspecies, Cavia tschudii and Cavia aperea,the presumed progenitors of the domesti-cated species, indicates that C. tschudii is

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the ancestor of C. porcellus (Spotorno et al.2004) with additional genetic manipulationafter the introduction of guinea pigs outsideof the Americas following European colo-nization (Spotorno et al. 2006).

The archaeological record from the Cen-tral Andes provides the best indicationsof the location, timing, and changes as-sociated with domestication. Domesticatedguinea pigs exhibit a number of osteologicalchanges from their wild counterparts, par-ticularly in cranial dimensions and sutures aswell as in the mandibles (Weir 1974). Hu-man selection favored larger sized guineapigs than their wild relatives and eventu-ally greater coat color and hair variety (Weir1974). The oldest guinea pig remains occurin highland sites that date to ca. 7000 BC(Wing 1986). Experimentation with domes-tication may have begun as early as 5000BC, with domestication evident by 2500 BCfrom highland sites in the region of Ayacu-cho, Peru (Wing 1986).

Guinea pigs are one of three mammalsdomesticated in the Central Andes in addi-tion to llamas (Lama glama) and alpacas(Vicugna pacos). Dogs (Canis lupus famil-iaris) were fully domesticated when they ac-companied human settlement of the Ameri-cas. Guinea pigs were used for food, ritual,andcurativepurposes (Rofes2000,2004;Ro-fes and Wheeler 2003; Sandweiss and Wing1997). At the time of Spanish colonizationand the height of the Inca Empire (late fif-teenth century), guinea pigs were consid-ered a high-status food (Garcilasco de la Vega1966). In addition to cuisine, Inca sites alsoindicate that guinea pigs were used in mortu-ary offerings at Machu Picchu (Miller 2003)Ritual offerings and probable divination ofcomplete guinea pigs was noted to have alsobeenpracticedat the Incacoastal siteofChin-cha (Sandweiss and Wing 1997).

In Ecuador, the adoption of guinea pigsby elites occurred by the second millen-nium BC in association with the establish-ment of trade networks for the exchangeof thorny oyster shell (Spondylus spp.), acolorful marine bivalve used in bead andcraft production (Stahl 2003). The best ev-idence for guinea pigs in the Northern An-des comes from Colombia where guinea

pigs are associated with early altiplano sites(Izjereef 1978; Uribe 1977-1978). Guineapigs are not reported from Colombian sitesalong the Caribbean coastal region. Thereare no records of guinea pig along theVenezuelan coast, although one guinea pigis reported from the inland site of Turen(AD 1200–1400) in northern Venezuela(Garson 1980).

The role of guinea pigs in earlier states,formative societies, and earlier Andean cul-tures varied through time. In addition tothe presence of presumed food remains ofguinea pigs at sites predating the Inca state,including the Wari Empire (Andean MiddleHorizon, AD 600–1000) (deFrance in press;Moseley et al. 2005), sacrificial animals arepreserved at some earlier sites as well. Themortuary sacrifice of complete guinea pigscomes from the Wari site, Beringa, in south-ern Peru (Gladwell 2004). At the Late Inter-mediate Period (AD 1100–1450) site of ElYaral, the excavation of subfloor contextsfrom domestic structures produced remainsof 112 naturally mummified guinea pigs thathadbeensacrificedbymeanssuchasbehead-ing and throat slitting (Rofes 2000, 2004; Ro-fes and Wheeler 2003). Some of these ani-mals were color coordinated to match sac-rificed llamas and alpacas that they accom-panied (Rofes and Wheeler 2003; Wheeler1992; Wheeler et al. 1995). Some were ac-companied by grave goods (e.g., sticks fromthe molle plant or coca leaves) or had cocaleaves placed in their mouths (Rofes 2000,2004). Desert conditions contributed to theexcellent preservation of these offerings.

The Andean archaeological record in-dicates that guinea pig management prac-tices were domestic and not elaborate. Atsome sites, segregated space that may haveserved as holding pens is present within do-mestic structures (e.g., Conrad and Webster1989:401) or dung accumulations suggesthousehold rearing (e.g., Van Buren 1993),but holding areas are often not present oridentified. Because guinea pigs reproducerapidly and are used primarily as food, thepreference was to consume animals whenthey reached full body size, but were stillyoung (e.g., one year of age). Guinea pigdung may have been used as fuel (Williams

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et al. 2005), but since guinea pig provide noother secondary products, rearing them afterthey reached full size was not economical.

The guinea pig continues to be an ani-mal of economic and cultural importance inthe Central Andes (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia).Guinea pigs are still used for traditional cur-ing and divination (see Archetti 1997; Gade1967; Morales 1995), although the antiquityof this practice is not known. The culinaryrole of the guinea pig is also important to-day, particularly in traditional societies; how-ever, many people of Hispanic and mestizodescent disdain guinea pigs and will noteat them (see deFrance 2006; Weismantel1988).

Although dimensional measurementsare not recorded for the majority of the spec-imens to confirm that they are domesticates,the Caribbean introductions post-date theestimated time of domestication by severalmillennia. All analysts have reported the tax-onomic identifications as Cavia porcellus.Following reported taxonomic informationpresented in published reports, we classifyall introduced guinea pigs as domesticatesrather than wild species.

CARIBBEAN CULTURE CHRONOLOGYAND HUMAN MIGRATIONS

Caribbean pre-Columbian archaeology haslong focused on the study of human mi-gration and culture history (Bullen 1964;Loven 2010; Rouse 1986, 1992). The basicchronological framework focusesonperiodsof pre-Columbian colonization, migration,and culture development. There were essen-tially three pre-Columbian human migrationepisodesandcultures into theCaribbean: thePre-Arawak(Archaic)cultures (ca.4000–400BC),Ceramiccultures (ca.500BC–AD1500),and European conquerors (post-1492) (seeKeegan et al. 2013).

Archaeological evidence, radiocarbondates, and computer-generated seafaringsimulations suggest that both the Pre-Arawakand Ceramic cultures may have settled thenorthern islands of the Caribbean, includ-ing Puerto Rico, before the southern islandsof the Lesser Antilles (Callaghan 2001, 2003;Fitzpatrick 2006, 2013; Keegan 2000). Such

studies demonstrate that pre-Columbian hu-man colonization and subsequent migra-tion did not necessarily follow a south tonorth stepping-stone route from the LesserAntilles to the Greater Antilles. Recent re-search focusing on the provenance andmovement of archaeological artifacts andraw materials (e.g., jadeitite [Garcia-Casco2013] and agouti [Giovas et al. 2012]) duringthe Ceramic Age shows that human migra-tion, interaction, and cultural developmentwas not circumscribed to the archipelago.Rather, Caribbean peoples were involvedin complex, continuous, and fluid migra-tions, travel, interaction, and socio-politicalalliances between and among the Caribbeanislands, as well as with people in and fromSouth America and possibly Central America(Callaghan 2011; Garcia-Casco 2013; Giovaset al. 2012; Hofman et al 2007; Keegan 2004;Rodrıguez Ramos 2011).

Guinea pig does not appear archaeolog-ically in the Caribbean until after AD 500,during the second half of the Ceramic Age.In the Greater Antilles this time period is of-ten referred to as the Ostionoid and the ap-pearance of guinea pig on Puerto Rico at thisparticular time is likely not a fortuitous co-incidence. In addition to widespread inter-action, migration, and movement of culturalmaterial, the introduction of guinea pig coin-cides with the onset of many other culturalintroductions and changes associated withthe second half of the Ceramic Age. Amongthe Greater Antilles, people on Puerto Ricoincreasingly began moving westward andinterfacing with groups on Hispaniola, andchiefdom-level social, political, and religiousorganization eventually emerged; includingincreased construction of stone-lined pub-lic spaces, emphasis on communal religiouspractice (Keegan 2000), and ritual use of hal-lucinogens at large sites (Newsom and Wing2004) such as cohoba (Kaye 2010). In theLesser Antilles, complex social and settle-ment hierarchies emerged, the number ofsettlements increased, and chiefdom-like or-ganization developed (Crock and Petersen2004; Hofman and Hoogland 2004).

In order to provide a region-wide frameof spatial and temporal reference for ourdiscussion of prehistoric guinea pig and its

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Table 1. Post AD 500 culture chronology of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, West Indies,adapted from Rouse (1992) and Petersen et al. (2004).

Series Subseries Date range Island presence

Ostionoid Elenan Ostionoid AD 600–post-1492 Eastern Puerto Rico, Virgin

Islands

Ostionan Ostionoid AD 600–1200 Jamaica, Eastern Cuba, Haiti,

Dominican Republic,

Western Puerto Rico

Meillacan Ostionoid AD 900–post-1492 Jamaica, Central Cuba, Haiti,

Dominican Republic

Chican Ostionoid AD 1200–1492 Eastern Cuba, Haiti, Dominican

Republic, Western and

Eastern Puerto Rico, Virgin

Islands

Redondan

Casimiroid∗AD 900–1200 Central Cuba

Palmetto∗∗ AD 800–post-1492 Bahamas, Turks and Caicos

Islands

Troumassoid Mamoran

Troumassoid

AD 500/600–1500 Leeward Islands: Virgin Islands

to Dominica

Troumassan

Troumassoid

AD 500/600–1000 Winward Islands: Dominica to

Grenada

Suazan Troumassoid AD 1000–1500 Leeward/Windward Islands:

Guadeloupe to Tobago

∗The Redondan Casimiroid is a part of the Casimiroid Series with a date range of 2000 BC–AD 1200.This subseries overlapped with the Ostionoid series.

∗∗Palmetto refers to a local pottery type exclusive to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.Due to the homogenous nature of Palmetto style pottery, Rouse did not designate it as a subseries.

archaeological significance, we provide anabbreviated (post–AD 500) culture chronol-ogy of the Caribbean (Table 1) followingRouse (1992) and Petersen et al. (2004). Wereport thechronologicalaffiliationsofguineapig remains provided by the investigators.

DISTRIBUTION AND ACCOUNTSOF PRE-COLUMBIAN GUINEA PIGS

IN THE CARIBBEAN

At this time, zooarchaeological accounts re-port pre-Columbian guinea pig remains from18 sites on nine Caribbean islands, includingJamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Vieques,St. John, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Carriacou, and

Curacao (Figure 1). A total of 218 specimens(NISP) have been identified, comprising aminimum of 64 individuals (Tables 2 and 3).The majority of specimens (NISP = 198) arefrom adults.

The large number of adult specimensprobably relates to better preservation offused elements and ease of identification. Ju-venile remains may be present, but can bedifficult to distinguish from other rodents ofsimilar size, such as hutia (Isolobodon por-toricensis). Also, similar to guinea pig con-sumption in the Andes, the majority of adultelements may suggest targeted or preferredconsumption of adult guinea pig.

The occurrence of guinea pig spansthe Caribbean, although more guinea pig

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Guinea Pigs in the Pre-Columbian West Indies

Figure 1. Map showing distribution of reported guinea pig remains by site and island location(color figure available online).

remains occur at Greater Antillean sites.Guinea pig remains are absent from somewell-analyzed faunal assemblages depositedin later pre-Columbian times. Many ofthe guinea pig occurrences/records in theCaribbean were summarized previously byNewsom and Wing (2004) and includeanalysis by Elizabeth Wing, Irvy Quitmyer,and Laura Kozuch. We report these aswell as more recently identified speci-mens.

Chronological placement of recordedspecimens includes archaeological artifactassociations, radiocarbon dating of associ-ated artifacts or materials, or direct radiocar-bon dating of elements. Regardless of datingtechnique, all current chronological evi-dence suggests that guinea pig did not enterthe Caribbean until sometime after AD 500(see deFrance and Newsom 2005; Newsomand Wing 2004; and Wing 2001, 2008). Theearliest reported records of domestic guineapig in the Caribbean are from three sites onPuerto Rico. Date ranges associated withguinea pig specimens from Finca Valencia

(NCS-1), Jacana (PO-29), and Tibes suggestintroduction to the Caribbean no earlierthan approximately AD 600–900. Overall,archaeological records indicate that guineapigs continued to be reared throughout thearchipelago through late pre-Columbianhistory.

Contextually, cranial and post-cranialguinea pig remains are often recovered frommundane contexts, such as middens (New-som and Wing 2004; Wing and Wing 1995).With the possible exceptions of the Cinna-mon Bay site on St. John and Jacana on PuertoRico, no guinea pigs remains have been as-sociated with contexts unequivocally inter-preted as ceremonial. The entire site of Cin-namon Bay and its various archaeologicalcomponents are interpreted as a ceremonialcomplex (Wild 1999). However, the guineapig remains were not recovered from iso-latedfeaturessuggestiveof ritual internment.Cranial and post-cranial elements presentat Cinnamon Bay do not suggest a special-ized pattern of guinea pig use or deposition(Table 2).

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t 11:

24 1

8 M

arch

201

4

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1000

–po

st-1

400

Man

dib

leC

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ple

teR

16,

17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

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1000

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400

Fem

ur

Pro

xim

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3L

16,

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7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

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1000

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400

Fem

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tal1

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16,

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Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1000

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st-1

400

Uln

aP

rox

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1/3

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7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

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1000

–po

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400

Mo

lars

Frag

men

ts—

213

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00M

and

ible

w/

2m

ola

rsR

16,

17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00M

and

ible

Co

mp

lete

R1

6,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00In

no

min

ate

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mp

lete

L1

6,17

Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

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st–A

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rU

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po

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6,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

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Po

st–A

D14

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mu

rP

rox

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1/2

R1

6,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00C

ran

ium

Frag

men

t—

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00M

ola

rU

nre

po

rted

—1

6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00Fe

mu

rC

om

ple

teL

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

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Dis

tal1

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16,

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7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

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Dis

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16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

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ola

rsU

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rted

—2

6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

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Po

st–A

D14

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Pro

xim

al1/

4—

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00M

and

ible

Dis

tal2

/3w

/m

ola

ral

veo

liL

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00C

ran

ium

Pet

rosa

lL

26,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

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ran

ium

Pet

rosa

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16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

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Po

st–A

D14

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um

eru

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ple

teR

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

Po

st–A

D14

00H

um

eru

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om

ple

teL

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Mo

lars

Un

rep

ort

ed—

26,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Cra

niu

mT

emp

ora

lL

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Hu

mer

us

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ple

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16,

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7

(Con

tin

ued

on

nex

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ge)

23

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f O

rego

n] a

t 11:

24 1

8 M

arch

201

4

Ta

ble

2.

Rec

ord

so

fis

lan

ds,

site

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tim

ated

dat

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dsk

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alel

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the

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on

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Rep

ort

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ge(s

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lem

ent

Po

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ence

Fin

caV

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S-1

AD

1173

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0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Fem

ur

Pro

xim

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4—

16,

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

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0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Tib

iaC

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ple

teR

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Tib

iaD

ista

l3/4

R2

6,13

,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Tib

iaD

ista

l3/4

L1

6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Tib

iaP

rox

imal

1/3

L1

6,13

,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Inn

om

inat

eIl

ium

w/

par

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acet

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6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Inn

om

inat

eP

elvi

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/ac

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ulu

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26,

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7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Sacr

um

Un

rep

ort

ed—

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Man

dib

le1

w/

2m

ola

rsR

26,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Man

dib

le1

w/

mo

lars

L3

6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Man

dib

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tsym

ph

ysis

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Cra

niu

mM

axill

aw

/m

ola

rsL

16,

13,1

7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

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0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Mo

lars

Un

rep

ort

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13,1

7

24

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

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ity o

f O

rego

n] a

t 11:

24 1

8 M

arch

201

4

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

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0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Uln

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2/3

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6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

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0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Rad

ius

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ph

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Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

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0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Rad

ius

Pro

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2—

16,

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7

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Hu

mer

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Co

mp

lete

R1

6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Hu

mer

us

Dis

tal3

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16,

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7

Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Fem

ur

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ph

ysis

L1

6,13

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Fem

ur

Dia

ph

ysis

R1

6,13

,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

–162

0/A

D10

48–1

399

Fem

ur

Co

mp

lete

R1

6,13

,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1173

–140

0/A

D

1271

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0/A

D10

48–1

399

Cra

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talf

ragm

ent

—1

6,13

,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1270

–141

5/p

ost

–AD

1400

Man

dib

leN

earl

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mp

lete

L1

6,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1270

–141

5/p

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1400

Ver

teb

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um

frag

men

t—

16,

17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

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AD

1270

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5/p

ost

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1400

Cra

niu

mM

axill

afr

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w/

too

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—1

6,17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1270

–141

5/p

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1400

Man

dib

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3co

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lete

R1

6,17

Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

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AD

1270

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5/p

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1400

Man

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6,17

Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

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1270

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5/p

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1400

Man

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16,

17

Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

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1270

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5/p

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Cra

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Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1000

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st-1

400

Cra

niu

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/5

mo

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16,

17

Fin

caV

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NC

S-1

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1000

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400

Tib

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tin

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ge)

25

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

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ity o

f O

rego

n] a

t 11:

24 1

8 M

arch

201

4

Ta

ble

2.

Rec

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fis

lan

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ated

dat

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the

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on

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Isla

nd

Site

Rep

ort

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ge(s

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lem

ent

Po

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de

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PR

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ence

Fin

caV

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cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1000

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400

Oth

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Frag

men

ts—

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17

Fin

caV

alen

cia,

NC

S-1

AD

1000

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400

Tib

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16,

17

Jaca

na,

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AD

650–

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AD

1300

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tact

Cra

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9

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AD

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Man

dib

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9

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650–

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rop

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Hu

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Dis

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19

26

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

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ity o

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rego

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t 11:

24 1

8 M

arch

201

4

Jaca

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650–

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Man

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19

Jaca

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650–

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Fem

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19

Jaca

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650–

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Jaca

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AD

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650–

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19

Jaca

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650–

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tal1

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Man

dib

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9

Jaca

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650–

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Uln

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,

mis

sin

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L1

9

Tib

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D90

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and

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An

teri

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to

mid

dle

R1

7

Tib

esA

D60

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and

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An

teri

or

3/4,

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L2

7

Tib

esA

D60

0–90

0M

and

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An

teri

or

1/2

R1

7

Tib

esA

D90

0–12

00M

and

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4R

17

Tib

esA

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0–12

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no

min

ate

Ace

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frag

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L1

7

Tib

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no

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7

Tib

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Hac

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Site

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Co

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1275

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and

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teR

18

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qu

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jan

AD

1000

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0Is

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rep

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D10

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Inci

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Un

rep

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(Con

tin

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27

Dow

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ded

by [

Uni

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ity o

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rego

n] a

t 11:

24 1

8 M

arch

201

4

Ta

ble

2.

Rec

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so

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ated

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era

nge

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Guinea Pigs in the Pre-Columbian West Indies

Jacana is a large site in south centralPuerto Rico with multiple periods of occu-pation beginning around AD 400. Jacanacontains a plaza, a midden mound, habita-tion areas, human burials, and a stone-linedbatey (a public space on some Caribbeansites associated with ceremonial activities)(Espenshade 2012). Because all of theelements recovered from Jacana are fromdeposits associated with the stone-carvedbatey walls, DuChemin (2013) interpretsthe faunal remains from these contexts asceremonial or ritual refuse. However, similarto Cinnamon Bay, the guinea pig remainswere not recovered as articulated individualsor internments (see DuChemin et al. 2010).

In addition, at the site of Rıo Tanama 1,AR-38, on Puerto Rico, a single guinea pigmolar was recovered from a posthole fea-ture, indicating an association with a struc-ture. However, there is no evidence suggest-ing special ritual significance of the contextor guinea pig specimen (Carlson 2008), suchas isolated whole guinea pig internments orother features containing guinea pig teeth.

Archaeological Records of Guinea Pigs

The following description of pre-Columbianguinea pig remains in the Caribbean be-gins with the westernmost islands of theGreater Antilles followed by evidence fromthe Lesser Antilles and the ABC islands (Ta-ble 2). Jamaica is the westernmost Caribbeanisland with recorded guinea pig remains. Allspecimens are from Green Castle, STM25,a Taino site dating to ca. AD 1075–1250 toAD 1440–1550 (Allsworth-Jones and Wesler2001). Allgood (2000) reports four guineapig specimens, including one humerus, twofemora, and one tibia. At least three individ-ual guinea pigs were recovered from mid-den contexts. None are directly associatedwith features or other contexts of knownfunction.

Evidence of prehistoric guinea pigs onHispaniola is reported from archaeologicalsites in central and eastern Dominican Re-public. There is little published informationregarding numbers of specimens, archaeo-logical context, absolute dates, or time pe-riods, but in an unpublished report, Wing

(1996) offers a concise summary of archae-ological guinea pig specimens previouslyidentified on Hispaniola. In the review ofMiller (1929), Wing (1996) states that theAnadel site produced two guinea pig individ-uals. Citing Rimoli (1976), Wing (1996) re-ports one guinea pig specimen from Andres,Boca Chica and “various specimens” fromCerro de Monte, Constanza. According toWing (1996), Miller (1929) doubted the pre-historic origins of the guinea pig remainsfrom the Anadel site due to the possiblemixture of prehistoric and historic contexts.Conversely, Wing (1996) notes that Rimoli(1976) believed that the late prehistoricguinea pig finds from Andres and Cerro deMonte were pre-Columbian. There are no re-cent analyses of faunal remains from theseor other sites on Hispaniola that confirm thepre-Columbian antiquity of guinea pig on theisland.

The greatest frequencies of pre-Columbian guinea pig remains in theCaribbean are from six sites on Puerto Rico(Newsom and Wing 2004). The Finca Va-lencia site, NCS-1, in northwestern PuertoRico (ca. AD 1000–1500) (Solıs Magana andRodrıguez 2000), contains the most guineapig specimens thus far identified at one site.Originally reported as an NISP of 98 (Wing1996), reexamination of the collections anddata indicates 121 guinea pig specimensfrom a minimum of 20 individuals (MNI) arepresent, all from midden context (data onfile Florida Museum of Natural History; Wing1996). Wing (1996) suggests that the quan-tity of guinea pig remains at NCS-1 may in-dicate that the site served as a distributioncenter for the animal to other sites and/orislands.

Jacana, PO-29, located in inland south-central Puerto Rico along the PortuguesRiver, has an abundant record of pre-Columbian guinea pig remains (NISP = 22)(DuChemin 2013; DuChemin et al. 2010).There are three periods of Ceramic Age oc-cupation reported for Jacana: AD 400–650,AD 650–900, and AD 1300-European Con-tact, with most occupation dating to the latertwo time periods prior to European con-tact. During the second and third occupa-tions, the site grew from a smaller village

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Table 3. Pre-Columbian guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) minimum number of individualsrecorded in the Caribbean.

Island Site MNI

Jamaica Green Castle, STM25 3

Dominican Republic Anadel 2

Andres, Boca Chica —

Cerro de Monte, Constanza —

Puerto Rico Finca Valencia, NCS-1 20

Jacana, PO-29 10

Tibes 4

Hacienda Grande 1

Rıo Tanama, AR-38 1

Paso del Indio 1

Vieques Lujan 4

St. John Cinnamon Bay 11

Antigua Mill Reef 2

Indian Creek 1

Coconut Hall, PE-15 1

Saint Lucia Giraudy 1

Carriacou Grand Bay 1

Curacao Santa Barbara 1

Total 64

Hash mark (—) denotes unrecorded or unavailable data.

into a larger more socially complex land-scape, including a plaza, midden mound,expanded habitation areas, burials, and alarge batey with walls consisting of carvedstones (Espenshade 2012). A total of 22 spec-imens comprising 10 individuals were identi-fied in undisturbed pre-Columbian contexts(DuChemin 2013; DuChemin et al. 2010). Allspecimens were recovered from trench ex-cavations associated with the large batey andare present throughout site occupation ap-proximately AD 650–900 (NISP = 5, MNI =2), a combination AD 650–900/AD 1300–European Contact (NISP = 16, MNI = 7),and AD 1300–European Contact (NISP =1, MNI = 1). DuChemin (2013) interpretsthese remains as probable ceremonial refusedue to their proximity to batey walls. Theabundance of guinea pig remains in batey-associated contexts may be suggestive of so-cial significance (DuChemin et al. 2010), al-though this conclusion may be an artifact of

sampling bias because excavations were pri-marily concentrated around the batey.

Five kilometers southeast of Jacana is theTibes site. Tibes is a multi-component sitethat began as a late Saladoid (ca. AD 400–600) village and through time developedinto a ceremonial center (ca. AD 900) be-fore its apparent abandonment by AD 1200(Curet 2010; Curet et al. 2006; Zayas andCuret 2010). Eight specimens and a mini-mum of four individuals have been recordedexclusively from post–AD 600 contexts (de-France et al. 2010). Guinea pig is presentat Tibes during times of construction, spa-tial changes, population increase, and so-cial developments; however, all guinea pigremains are from midden contexts and apossible structure of unknown function andare not obviously associated with evidenceof ceremonial or ritual activity (deFrance2010).DeFrance(2010)arguesthatwhile thesmall quantity of guinea pig remains at Tibes

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may indicate restricted access to the animal,the archaeological contexts do not suggesthigh-status or ritualized consumption (con-tra Curet and Pestle 2010).

The Hacienda Grande site is locatedin northeast Puerto Rico. Three guineapig specimens, representing one individual,were recovered from 20 to 40 cm of “super-ficial layers of mixed cultural periods” with adate range of AD 400–1500 (Wing 1990). Atthe time of Wing’s (1990) report, guinea pigremains were atypical and not yet discoveredin the southern Lesser Antilles. Coupled withthe upper layer contexts of the finds, Wing(1990) was uncertain whether they were ofpre-Columbian or historic affiliation.

The Rıo Tanama Site 1, AR-38, onthe north coast of Puerto Rico has onerecorded guinea pig specimen, a molar (Carl-son 2008). Unlike other guinea pig finds inthe Caribbean that are from midden con-texts, the tooth was recovered from a post-hole feature associated with a structure. Theage range of the feature is AD 1320–1350and AD 1390–1490, 2 sigma (Carlson 2008).Although found in an architectural feature,there is no evidence to suggest non-culinaryor non-dietary significance. Perhaps futureexcavations will reveal patterns of guinea pigremains associated with posthole featuresand thus clearly indicate supra-culinary sig-nificance to the animal in such archaeologi-cal contexts.

The Paso del Indio site, VB-4, a pre-Columbian village site in north-centralPuerto Rico, contains one guinea pig spec-imen. Radiocarbon dates indicate that theCeramic Age occupation spans from AD 450to 1500 (Walker 2005). One right mandiblewas identified (Singleton 2012) with an asso-ciated radiocarbon date range of AD 1275–1420 (Walker 2005). The faunal sample wasrecovered from an area rich in artifacts (Sin-gleton 2012; Walker 2005); however, no de-scription of associated features or other con-textual information indicating function arepresented. Other than this one context thatwas analyzed as part of a graduate studentclass project, the large faunal assemblagefrom this site has not been examined.

East of Puerto Rico on Vieques Island, 19guinea pig specimens (MNI = 4) were iden-

tified at the Lujan site (Quitmyer and Wing2001). All specimens are from midden con-texts dating to AD 1000–1300.

Along the eastern boundary of theGreater Antilles, on the north shore of St.John, 25 pre-Columbian guinea pig speci-mens were identified from the site of Cinna-mon Bay, a late Ceramic Age Taino site dat-ing from AD 1000 to 1490 (Quitmyer 2003;Wild 1999). Cinnamon Bay is interpreted asa ceremonial/sacred place that was the lo-cation of a Taino religious structure or tem-ple (caney) at the time of European contact(Wild 1999). The guinea pig present at Cin-namon Bay may be the strongest contextualexception to their remains being recoveredfrom otherwise mundane contexts, such asmiddens. All of the guinea pig recoveredfrom Cinnamon Bay are directly associatedwith contexts interpreted as reflecting Tainoelite and ceremonial activities; including cer-emonial pottery types and species specificshell piles (Wild 1999). If guinea pigs andother fauna were components of ritual offer-ings made during ancestor worship as sug-gested by Wild (1999:307), the guinea pigbones themselves do not indicate specialtreatment prior to deposition, but may beconsidered special based on contextual as-sociations (see Walker 1995).

In the northern Lesser Antilles, threesites on Antigua are reported to have pre-Columbian guinea pig remains. At the eastcoast site of Mill Reef, Wing et al. (1968)reported two guinea pig individuals (NISPunrecorded) from upper layers of excava-tion. Mill Reef was a village occupied fromapproximately AD 500 to 1150 (Wing et al.1968). However, the guinea pig specimenspost-date AD 1150 and were recovered fromwithin the upper 12-inches (30.5 cm) of ex-cavation (Wing et al. 1968). As described byWingetal. (1968), the remainsare likely frommixed contexts, precluding a definite tem-poral designation (see also Hoffman 1963).Wing (1996) also notes the identificationof one pre-Columbian guinea pig from mid-den context at the Indian Creek site, a pre-Columbian settlement located on the south-eastern coast of Antigua.

More recently, two pre-Columbianguinea pig specimens representing one

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individual were recorded from the CoconutHall site,PE-15, acoastal villageandshellmid-den on the east coast of Antigua (Healy et al.2003). Two radiocarbon dates place site oc-cupation ca. AD 1035 and AD 1045 (Healyet al. 2003).

From the Giraudy site located on thesouthern tip of Saint Lucia (Hofman et al.2004), one guinea pig atlas was identified in arecently excavated faunal sample (deFranceand LeFebvre 2009; Phulgence 2007). Thedeposit is relatively late, dating to approxi-mately AD 1200–1400 (Phulgence 2007).

In the Grenadines, on the east coast ofCarriacou, one guinea pig individual (NISP= 4) was identified from the Grand Bay site(Giovas et al. 2012). Grand Bay is a villagesite with several features and extensive mid-den dating to ca. AD 400–1400. Four guineapig cranial elements were recovered frommidden contexts. Direct radiocarbon datingof a guinea pig maxilla specimen indicates adate range of cal. AD 985–1030 (Giovas et al.2012).

The southernmost island site with re-ported pre-Columbian guinea pig remains isthe Santa Barbara site on Curacao (Newsomand Wing 2004; Wing 1996). Based on skele-talmeasurements,NewsomandWing(2004)describe the guinea pig specimens (NISP =4) as being from one young individual.

Records also indicate that at sev-eral Caribbean sites with guinea pig re-mains, other introduced mammals includehutia (Isolobodon portoricensis), agouti(Dasyprocta sp.), and opossum (Didelphissp.). Despite a relatively broad distribution ofguinea pig at pre-Columbian sites, there areseveralwell-excavatedandwell-analyzedfau-nal assemblages from Caribbean sites withno guinea pig remains reported. From theGreater Antilles and Virgin Islands these in-clude the sites of En Bas Saline (Haiti) (Dea-gan 2004), Maisabel (Puerto Rico) (deFrance1988), and the Tutu Site (St. Thomas) (Winget al. 2002). The distribution in the LesserAntilles is just as patchy, with no guineapig specimens reported in well-studied fau-nal assemblages from several sites includ-ing Golden Rock (St. Eustatius) (van derKlift 1992), sites on Anguilla (Carder et al.2007), the Trants site (Monserrat) (Reitz

1994), Pearls (Grenada) (Newsom and Wing2004:87, 225, 226; Stokes 1990), or TankiFlip (Aruba) (Grouard 1997; Versteeg andRostain 1997). No guinea pig remains are re-ported from sites on any of the Bahamianor Turks & Caicos Islands, despite sev-eral well-analyzed faunal assemblages (Carl-son 1999; deFrance 1991; Duchemin 2005;Morsink 2012), although Bahamian hutias(Geocapromys ingrahami) occur in someof these assemblages.

DISCUSSION

The Guinea Pig as a Proxy for HumanMovement and Interaction

As is the case with several other mammals(e.g., agouti and opossum) in the Caribbean(Giovasetal.2012;NewsomandWing2004),there is no archaeological evidence for thenon-anthropogenic introduction of domes-tic guinea pig or fossil records of its wildprogenitors in the region. People intention-ally introduced guinea pig to the Caribbeanand therefore, guinea pigs can be viewed asproxies for studying human movement andinteraction. Our review of the geographicand temporal distribution of guinea pig re-mains in the Caribbean indicates a relativelylate pre-Columbian introduction into the re-gion, perhaps signifying a time of increasedinteractions with South American popula-tions that commenced with the onset of theOstionoid. The guinea pig records provide anew line of evidence supporting interpreta-tions of dynamic interaction and trade withthe South American mainland.

The earliest dated archaeological con-texts with guinea pigs are associated withpost–AD 600 contexts on Puerto Rico. Thereare no guinea pigs remains associated withthe earliest migration of Ceramic Age set-tlers (ca. 500 BC–AD 500) into the is-land archipelago nor are there pre-Arawakguinea pig remains. Although guinea pigswere present in late prehistory and possi-bly described in ethnohistorical accounts(see Newsom and Wing 2004:205), there areno early Spanish colonial sites with guineapig remains (e.g., Puerto Real (Reitz 1986;

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Reitz and McEwen 1995)). Isotopic analysisofguineapigspecimensfromalatesixteenth-century/early seventeenth-century Belgiancontext indicate that the earliest Europeanguinea pigs thus far known originated fromthe Central Andes (Pigiere et al. 2012); there-fore, the animals may not have been verycommonin theCaribbeanat the timeofSpan-ish contact.

The chronology of guinea pig remainssupports scenarios of direct migration andinteraction between South America and thenorthern islands of the Greater Antilles, aswell as multi-scalar patterns of trade and in-teraction throughout the island chain (e.g.,Crock and Petersen 2004; Fitzpatrick et al.2010). Because the earliest occurrences andgreatest number of guinea pig remains thusfar are from sites on Puerto Rico we sug-gest that the animal was first introduced tothis island and then transported westwardand southward. There is no indication of astepping stone introduction of the animalthrough the Lesser Antilles from mainlandSouth America. However, this observationmay be a factor of sampling bias becauseof the larger scale of excavations and anal-ysis of faunal assemblages from some villageand ceremonial sites on Puerto Rico (e.g.,deFrance et al. 2010; DuChemin et al. 2010;Singleton 2012; Wing 1996). To the west,guinea pig has not been identified at pre-Columbian sites on Cuba (Lourdes Perez Igle-sias, personal communication). Despite anal-ysis of faunal remains from Tobago (Stead-man and Jones 2006), there are no recordsof guinea pigs from either Trinidad or To-bago that suggest the animal was present onthese land masses when they were contigu-ous with mainland South America.

Identifying the South American origin ofCaribbean guinea pigs remains elusive dueto the absence of contemporaneous SouthAmerican sites from which animal introduc-tions might have taken place. Venezuela andColombia are traditionally considered thebest launching points for people or tradeobjects entering the Caribbean with recog-nition of trade and exchange beyond theCaribbean Basin (see Curet and Hauser 2011;Hofman and Bright 2010; Hofman et al. 2007;Rodrıguez Ramos 2010a, 2010b). At this

time, there are no South American sites withguinea pig dating to roughly AD 500–600,the possible time of initial Caribbean intro-duction.

Despite the gaps in our knowledge per-taining to the origin of Caribbean guineapig, the occurrence of guinea pigs in post–AD 500 contexts exclusively adds significantsupport to the proposition that migration,trade and/or interaction with South Amer-ica increased or was fundamentally changedduringthis timeperiod.Theintroductionandtranslocation of guinea pigs suggests that ex-ternal or extra-local cultural forces stronglyinfluenced the emergence of Ostionoid cul-tural traits in theCaribbean.Cultural changesinceramicsandothermaterialduring thesec-ond half of the Ceramic Age do not appearto originate exclusively from interactions orinfluence from pre-Arawak populations norfrom the earlier Ceramic Age (Saladoid) cul-ture alone. We do not know whether guineapigs were traded down-the-line as objectsor whether people accompanied them ascolonistswhosettled in the islandsaswell.Ei-ther explanation indicates that broader influ-ences, likely from the South American main-land, impacted Caribbean cultural develop-ment after AD 500.

The Guinea Pig as Food

The majority of guinea pig remains in theCaribbean suggest that they were used as asource of food not necessarily tied to eliteconsumption or ritual activity. Except forthe single tooth from the Rıo Tanama 1 site,AR-38, all occur in midden or contexts withother food remains. The guinea pig remainsfound at Puerto Rican sites that contain pub-lic ceremonial spaces, such as bateys, ballcourts, or plazas (e.g., Tibes and Jacana) oc-cur alongsideanarrayofothervertebrateandinvertebrate taxa interpreted as quotidianfood fare (deFrance et al. 2010; DuCheminetal.2010).Therearenointermentsofwholeguinea pigs, no evidence of sacrifices, andno iconographic representations of guineapig on ceramics or other media that wouldindicate a non-food use such as those docu-mented in the Central Andes.

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For comparison, the domestic dog (Ca-nis lupus familiaris) is the only other do-mesticated animal to be recovered frompre-Columbian archaeological sites in theCaribbean (Newsom and Wing 2004:204).Caribbean dog remains are most commonlyfound as complete interments associatedwith human burials (Wing 2008). To date,guinea pig has not been recovered from hu-man burial contexts or as purposefully iso-lated interments.

While we cannot rule out that guineapig specimens recovered thus far, includingthose from Cinnamon Bay, Jacana, and thepost hole feature at Rıo Tanama 1, were notritually significantor indicativeof specializedconsumption or use, we argue that the mostparsimonious interpretation of archaeologi-cal contexts and patterns of deposition (i.e.,middens) suggest that in general guinea pigsdid not serve functions beyond food (see alsoWing 2008). If guinea pigs did serve as ritualor special animals, then is appears their re-mains were discarded with other trash (con-tra Walker 1995). Thus discerning ritual orsupra-culinary function will remain challeng-ing (e.g., Grant 2002). Future excavationsand analysis, particularly analysis of associ-ated material goods found with guinea pig re-mains may prove otherwise. For example, atpresent, the Cinnamon Bay guinea pig speci-mens represent the best example of contextssuggestive of elite ceremonial or ritual use ofguinea pig in conjunction with other animalsand artifacts.

Furthermore, whether guinea pigs werea high-status food restricted to elite mem-bers of society or used as a feast food isopen to debate. Deposits that are unequivo-cally feasting contexts are uncommon in theCaribbean. Some of the sites where feastingcontexts have been identified do not containany guinea pig remains (e.g., En Bas Saline,Deagan 2004; Newsom and Wing 2004:159).Although caution is needed when interpret-ing negative evidence, the absence of guineapigs from some of the most extensively ex-cavated and analyzed sites may indicate thatthe guinea pig did not serve as a preferredfeast food. For example, the Taino village andSpanish contact period site of En Bas Salineon Hispaniola has some of the strongest evi-

dence for elite versus non-elite food (Deagan2004) and yet guinea pigs are absent. In con-trast to the proposition by Curet and Pestle(2010) that guinea pigs at Tibes were an elitefood due to high fat content and their exoticstatus, we propose that these animals werefood items, but not inherently supra-culinaryones. Although guinea pigs exhibit high fer-tility and fecundity, they are lower in fat thanmany fish species common at Caribbean sites(deFrance 2013). Much better contextual as-sociations are needed before either culinaryvalue as elite, feast food, or ritual animals canbe established. For now, we see no evidencethat guinea pigs fulfilled the multiple socialroles (e.g., offerings, sacrifices, curing) thatare found in the Central Andes.

It is also worth noting that as a domesti-cated food source, it is probable that guineapigs were tended and protected from preda-tors such as raptors, dogs, and snakes; how-ever, no archaeological evidence for tendinghas been identified. Because guinea pigs donot climb well, tending might have only re-quired segregated space with low walls orguinea pig pens. Also, no areas of concen-trated guinea pig dung suggestive of grouptending and breeding have been identifiedin the Caribbean, but this may be a factor ofpreservation in tropical climates. The quan-tities of archaeological remains do not sug-gest that guinea pigs were tended and rearedto be released on the islands and becomea naturalized food source. It is also possi-ble that other rodents, including the extinctand extant hutias (Isolobodon portoricen-sis), agoutis (Dasyprocta sp.), and rice rats(Oryzomyini), were transported between is-lands and might have been a tended foodsource as well. Native populations of non-domesticated hutias (Geocapromys spp.)are present on Jamaica, Cuba, and some ofthe Bahamian islands (Woods and Kilpatrick2005).

Guinea Pigs and Cultural Identity

Food is not only necessary for biological sur-vival; it is also fundamental to cultural de-velopment and success (Gosden 1999). Assuch, food is a formidable factor in how peo-ple identify politically and socially (Curtin

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1992). Food, food animals, and food habitscan be very powerful in establishing anddemonstrating identity (Atalay and Hastorf2006; Jones 2009:143). Identity defines whowe are and how we differ from others (Twiss2007). It is a fluid and contextually depen-dent concept that is both self-defined by indi-viduals and shared by aggregated individualswho form communities (Lewis 2007).

In the absence of abundant empiricalevidence indicating that Caribbean guineapigs were an exclusively high-status exoticused in ritual ceremony or as elite food,what significance can be deemed from theirrestricted geography, temporal distribution,and contexts of archaeological deposition?We hypothesize that guinea pigs were ini-tiallyaffiliatedwithpost–AD500populationsas a possible food-based marker of culturalidentity and social interaction with SouthAmerica, but not necessarily social status.

Wehavesuggested that thedisparatedis-tribution of guinea pig may relate to spheresof human interaction and patterns of migra-tion. In relation to identity, guinea pig mayhave been imported and introduced as an ex-otic marker of South American heritage, con-nection, or influence. Similar to studies fo-cused on artifact provenance and movement(e.g., Fitzpatrick et al. 2008, 2009; Garcia-Casco et al. 2013), testing this suggestionwill require nuanced, contextual, and holis-tic studies aimed at identifying the origin ofguineapig remains (i.e., directly fromaSouthAmerican source or a Caribbean-bred popu-lation) and their relationships to other cat-egories of material culture and evidence ofhuman migration, interaction, and/or trade.

After its introduction, the distributionof guinea pigs apparently spread southwardfrom the northern Greater Antilles. We sug-gest somegroupseither traveledbringing theanimals with them or they traded them topeoplewithwhomtheysharedsomeculturalvalues (see Newsom and Wing 2004:210).The distribution pattern of guinea pigs mayindicate that these animals played a role increating identity by distinguishing peoplethrough their possession and use of foodanimals (sensu Scott 1996). Just as signif-icant, not possessing guinea pigs may alsohave been an indication of cultural identity

when distinguishing people through the an-imals that they reared and consumed. In thissense, access to and use of guinea pig mayhave been restricted between communities.However, until further evidence is providedto refute a model of equal availability withina community, we suggest that all membersof a given community were able to consumeguinea pigs if they were present. Future stud-ies may also suggest that other Caribbeanmammals (e.g., hutias, rice rats, agoutis) ful-filled a similar role and provide comparativedata to test our suggestion.

Although we hypothesize that guineapigs may have been linked to expressionsof cultural identity, we acknowledge thatmuch more work and research is neces-sary in order to understand the potentialreason(s) for the introduction, subsequentspread, and their adoption by some and notothers in the Caribbean after AD 500. How-ever,placingthepunctuatedappearanceandpatchy distribution of guinea pig within theregional cultural and social milieu of the sec-ond half of the Ceramic Age—a period rifewith cultural change and complex patternsof Circum-Caribbean migration, interaction,andtrade/exchange—webelieve thatguineapig remains may provide an ideal line ofevidence through which to study the rela-tionship between food and identity duringCaribbean pre-Columbian history.

CONCLUSIONS

Sometime after AD 500, humans transportedand introduced domesticated guinea pigsfrom South America to the Caribbean. Ouranalysis of the occurrence, context, and tem-poral affiliation of all known guinea pig re-mains from the Caribbean suggests that theanimal arrived first on Puerto Rico duringthe second half of the Ceramic Age andthen spreadwestwardandsouthward.Whenconsidered as a proxy for studying humanmovement, the contemporaneous appear-ance of guinea pigs on some islands in thearchipelago indicates external interactionspheres that merit further study (e.g., Hof-man and Bright 2010; Hofman et al. 2007).

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The role of the guinea pig in theCaribbean appears to have been primarilyas a food item. The absence of guinea pigsfrom many sites with well-preserved andwell-analyzed faunal assemblages may reflectrejectionof theanimal as a foodsource ratherthan sampling biases or taphonomic pro-cesses. There are no indications that guineapigs were used as ritual offerings (burial orotherwise), sacrifices, or for curing purposesas they were in the Central Andean region.Although guinea pigs were exotic to theCaribbean, the contexts of their discoverysuggest that they were not restricted food an-imals. We see no strong evidence that guineapigs were an elite or high-status food that wasused only by the upper echelon of society.Rather, the cultural role of guinea pigs mayhave been as a food marker of social identityand cultural affiliation.

Understanding the possible role ofguinea pigs in establishing unique aspectsof Caribbean social identity requires contin-ued documentation of their remains and thecontexts of recovery as well as the analysisof associated material culture and direct ra-diocarbon dating of guinea pig remains. Fu-ture excavations and faunal analyses in theCaribbean will help to achieve that goal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This synthesis would not have been possiblewithout the help and cooperation of BetsyCarlson, Richard Cooke, Kate Dougherty,Geoffrey DuChemin, Chris Espenshade,Paul Healey, Bill Keegan, Laura Kozuch,Joost Morsink, Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo,Lourdes Perez Iglesias, Winston Phulgence,Irv Quitmyer, Virginia Rivera, Hayley Sin-gleton, Peter Stahl, Erin Thornton, JeffWalker, and Elizabeth Wing. NathanielRoyal drafted the location map. We thankthe Environmental Archaeology Labora-tory at the Florida Museum of Natural His-tory for helping to facilitate data compila-tion. Comments provided by Betsy Carlson,Christina Giovas, Bill Keegan, Lee Newsom,Dave Steadman, Elizabeth Wing, and threeanonymous reviewers helped improve thearticle.

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