Publisher description.

Focuses on the successive indigenous cultures of Puerto Rico prior to 1493 The history of Puerto Rico has usually been envisioned as a sequence of colonizations-various indigenous peoples from Archaic through Taíno were successively invaded, assimilated, or eliminated, followed by the Spanish entrada, which was then modified by African traditions and, since 1898, by the United States. The truth is more complex, but in many ways Puerto Rico remains one of the last colonies in the world. This volume focuses on the successive indigenous cultures of Puerto Rico prior to 1493. Traditional studies of the cultures of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean have centered on ceramic studies, based on the archaeological model developed by Irving Rouse which has guided Caribbean archaeology for decades. Rodríguez Ramos departs from this methodology by implementing lithics as the primary unit for tracing the origins and developments of the indigenous peoples of Puerto Rico. Analyzing the technological styles involved in the production of stone artifacts in the island through time, as well as the evaluation of an inventory of more than 500 radiocarbon dates recovered since Rouse's model emerged, the author presents a truly innovative study revealing alternative perspectives on Puerto Rico's pre-Columbian culture-historical sequence. By applying a multiscalar design, he not only not only provides an analysis of the plural ways in which the precolonial peoples of the island interacted and negotiated their identities but also shows how the cultural landscapes of Puerto Rico, the Antilles, and the Greater Caribbean shaped and were shaped by mutually constituting processes through time.

Publisher description.

The popular primer to Latino life and culture. Latinos represent the fastest-growing ethnic population in the United States. In an accessible and entertaining question-and-answer format, this completely revised 2008 edition provides the most current perspective on Latino history in the making, including: • New Mexico governor Bill Richardson’s announced candidacy for the 2008 presidential election • Ugly Betty—the hit ABC TV show based on the Latino telenovela phenomenon • The number of Latino players in Major League baseball surpassing the 25 percent mark • Immigration legislation and the battle over the Mexican border • The state of Castro’s health and what it means for Cuba More than ever, this concise yet comprehensive reference guide is the ideal introduction to the vast and varied history and culture of this multifaceted ethnic group.

The Caribbean before Columbus is a new synthesis of the region's insular history based on the authors' 55 years of research in the Bahamas, Lesser and Greater Antilles. The presentation operates on multiple scales, and individual sites highlight specific issues. For the first time, complete histories are elucidated through an emphasis on cultural diversity.

This volume brings together examples of the best research to address the complexity of the Caribbean past.

This study represents a contribution to the pre-Colonial archaeology of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean. The research aimed to determine how the Ceramic Age (c. 400 BC - AD 1492) Amerindian inhabitants of the region related to one another and others at various geographic scales, with a view to better understanding social interaction and organisation within the Windward Islands as well the integration of this region within the macro-region. This research approached the study of intra- and inter-island interaction and social development through an island-by-island study of some 640 archaeological sites and their ceramic assemblages. Besides providing insight into settlement sequences, patterns and micro-mobility through time, it also highlighted various configurations of sites spread across different islands that were united by shared ceramic (decorative) traits. These configurations were more closely examined by taking recourse to graph-theory. By extending the comparative scope of this research to the Greater Antilles and the South American mainland, possible material cultural influences from more distant regions could be suggested. While Windward Island communities certainly developed a localised material cultural identity, they remained open to a host of wide-ranging influences outside the Windward Island micro-region. As such, rather than representing a cultural backwater operating in the periphery of a burgeoning Taíno empire, it is argued that Windward Island communities actively and flexibly realigned themselves with several mainland South American societies in Late Ceramic Age times (c. AD 700-1500), forging and maintaining significant ties and exchange relationships. Alistair Bright was a member of the Caribbean Research Group at Leiden University from 2003 to 2010 and participated in numerous archaeological surveys and excavations in the Caribbean during that time. His research interests include the archaeology, ethnohistory and ethnography of the Caribbean and South America, as well as the archaeology of island societies throughout the world in general.

Biocultural or biosocial anthropology is a research approach that views biology and culture as dialectically and inextricably intertwined, explicitly emphasizing the dynamic interaction between humans and their larger social, cultural, and physical environments. The biocultural approach emerged in anthropology in the 1960s, matured in the 1980s, and is now one of the dominant paradigms in anthropology, particularly within biological anthropology. This volume gathers contributions from the top scholars in biocultural anthropology focusing on six of the most influential, productive, and important areas of research within biocultural anthropology. These are: critical and synthetic approaches within biocultural anthropology; biocultural approaches to identity, including race and racism; health, diet, and nutrition; infectious disease from antiquity to the modern era; epidemiologic transitions and population dynamics; and inequality and violence studies. Focusing on these six major areas of burgeoning research within biocultural anthropology makes the proposed volume timely, widely applicable and useful to scholars engaging in biocultural research and students interested in the biocultural approach, and synthetic in its coverage of contemporary scholarship in biocultural anthropology. Students will be able to grasp the history of the biocultural approach, and how that history continues to impact scholarship, as well as the scope of current research within the approach, and the foci of biocultural research into the future. Importantly, contributions in the text follow a consistent format of a discussion of method and theory relative to a particular aspect of the above six topics, followed by a case study applying the surveyed method and theory. This structure will engage students by providing real world examples of anthropological issues, and demonstrating how biocultural method and theory can be used to elucidate and resolve them. Key features include: Contributions which span the breadth of approaches and topics within biological anthropology from the insights granted through work with ancient human remains to those granted through collaborative research with contemporary peoples. Comprehensive treatment of diverse topics within biocultural anthropology, from human variation and adaptability to recent disease pandemics, the embodied effects of race and racism, industrialization and the rise of allergy and autoimmune diseases, and the sociopolitics of slavery and torture. Contributions and sections united by thematically cohesive threads. Clear, jargon-free language in a text that is designed to be pedagogically flexible: contributions are written to be both understandable and engaging to both undergraduate and graduate students. Provision of synthetic theory, method and data in each contribution. The use of richly contextualized case studies driven by empirical data. Through case-study driven contributions, each chapter demonstrates how biocultural approaches can be used to better understand and resolve real-world problems and anthropological issues.

Archaeologists have been increasingly turning their attention to the study of religion, but the field so far has lacked a cross-cultural overview. This text challenges archaeological conventions by refusing to respect the geographic and temporal boundaries with which archaeologists too often define their field. Worldwide in range and comparative in perspective, this exploration is guided by several fundamental questions: how do we recognize religion in the archaeological record? When should we recognize the first activities we call religious? What distinguishes a world religion? How can we see the formations of modern world religions in the archaeological record? An Archaeology of Religion begins with the first glimmers of what might be considered religious expression in the Paleolithic period and concludes with the complexities of world religions today. This book is an ambitious attempt to survey how scholars approach the identification of religious sites and practices in the archaeological record.

The contributors to Islands at the Crossroads include scholars from the Caribbean, the United States, and Europe who look beyond cultural boundaries and colonial frontiers to explore the complex and layered ways in which both distant and more intimate sociocultural, political, and economic interactions have shaped Caribbean societies from seven thousand years ago to recent times.