Environmental and cultural correlates in the West Indies: A view from Puerto Rico

Peter E. Siegel, John G. Jones, Deborah M. Pearsall, Daniel P. Wagner

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Observations made by the early Spanish chroniclers of the Greater Antilles re®ect Native American societies that were hierarchically organized, with lesser chiefs providing personnel for labor and warfare to more powerful chiefs (Colón 1947; Joyce 1916; Rouse 1948). The geographic and size distributions of the late prehistoric/protohistoric ball courts in Puerto Rico provide evidence for locally based centralized polities (Siegel 1999). At the macroregional scale of the entire island, political organization was not centralized. Archaeological and ethnohistoric data reveal interpolity competition (Siegel 2004).

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAncient Borinquen
Subtitle of host publicationArchaeology and Ethnohistory of Native Puerto Rico
PublisherThe University of Alabama Press
Pages88-121
Number of pages34
ISBN (Print)9780817352387
StatePublished - 2005

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