Geographical Areas of Specialization: The
Caribbean, Central Andes
Topical Interests: Caribbean Archaeology; Peruvian (Central Andean) Archaeology; Comparative Ancient
Civilizations; Museum Anthropology
Current Courses: A408 Museum Practicum
Profile:
In 1997, after more than a quarter-century of work devoted to Central
Andean cultures, I began excavating in the Dominican Republic on
the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (also known as Santo Domingo ).
I am studying the development of the Taíno chiefdoms encountered
by Christopher Columbus and the early Spanish explorers of the Caribbean
. In addition to being an example of the pristine development of
complex chiefdoms, the Taínos were the first American Indians
to undergo conquest by Europeans, and many of the practices that
characterized the Spanish conquests of Mexico and Peru were first
employed in the Caribbean .
I am concentrating on roughly the last 500 years before the arrival
of Columbus and the first few centuries thereafter. I use both archaeological
data and written records dating to the early colonial era. I am trying
to determine how practices and institutions described by early European
observers like Bartolomé de Las Casas and Gonzalo Fernández
de Oviedo y Valdés are reflected in the ground (and in some
cases why the archaeological data seem to contradict the written
records). I am also increasingly convinced that the traditional interpretation-namely
that the Taínos were extinct by 1535, the victims of warfare,
overwork and disease-is overly simplistic. Recently I have become
very interested in trying to trace the post-1492 development of Taíno
culture archaeologically.
I also believe it is vitally important for anthropologists and archaeologists
to explain what we do, and why it is important, to the public. I
am particularly interested in museums as means of communicating with
the public. In addition to my archaeological research and teaching,
I direct the William Hammond Mathers Museum, Indiana University's
museum of world cultures, and teach courses in museum studies.
Selected Publications:
| ND |
(with J.W. Foster et al.) Artefactos de madera
recuperados del Manantial de la Aleta, Parque Nacional
del Este. Boletín del Museo del Hombre
Dominicano (in press). |
| ND |
(with C.D. Beeler and J.W. Foster) Underwater
archaeology at the Manantial de la Aleta , Dominican
Republic . In Proceedings of the 20 th Congress
of the International Association of Caribbean Archaeologists .
Santo Domingo : Museo del Hombre Dominicano (in press). |
| 2002 |
(with C.D. Beeker and J.W. Foster)
Taíno use of flooded caverns in the East
National Park Region, Dominican Republic . Journal
of Caribbean Archaeology 3. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/jca |
| 2002 |
(with J.W. Foster and C.D. Beeker) The chiefdom
of Higüey, Hispaniola . Presented at the 67
th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology,
Denver, CO. |
| 2001 |
(with J.W. Foster and C.D. Beeker)
Organic artifacts from the Manantial de La Aleta
, Dominican Republic : preliminary observations
and interpretations. Journal of Caribbean Archaeology 2. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/jca |
| 1998 |
Pre-columbian civilizations. In Latin
America : Perspectives on a Region ,
2 nd edition. Jack W. Hopkins, Ed. New York :
Holmes & Meier. |
| 1997 |
(with J.W. Foster et al.) Images of conquest. Archaeology 50(4). |
