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6. Deconstructing the Polity: Communities and Social Landscapes of the Ceramic-Age Peoples of South Central Puerto Rico
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6 Deconstructing the Polity Communities and Social Landscapes of the Ceramic-Age Peoples of South Central Puerto Rico Joshua M. Torres The regional organization and development of past societies has been and continues to be a critical component of archaeological research. Investigations at this level contribute to understanding the processes responsible for the growth of complex social systems within the context of the landscapes they occupied. For researchers focusing on the ceramic age of the Greater Antilles (between ca. 300 b.c. and a.d. 1500), regional studies are fueled by an anthropological interest in elucidating the development of formalized social inequality and the dynamics of sociopolitical organization through time and space. Substantiating these avenues of inquiry are ethnohistoric documents that depict territorial paramount chiefdoms existing at the time of European contact, and the rich archaeological record that chronicles their maturation. Upon arrival to the Greater Antilles, Spanish chroniclers documented the sociopolitical networks of the indigenous Taíno peoples as being composed of a series of cacicazgos (or chiefdoms) under the centralized leadership of caciques (chiefs) (Las Casas 1992; Oviedo 1975; Pané 1999). The role of the cacique and the institutionalization of social inequality have been the focal points of contemporary archaeological research of prehistoric Hispaniola and Puerto Rico (Curet 1996; Moscoso 1981; Oliver 1992b; Rouse 1992; Siegel 1999; Wilson 1990). Currently, it is accepted that caciques assumed a multiplicity of political, symbolic, and ceremonial roles serving as intermediaries between the human world and the supernatural realm. Within this context, caciques were instrumental in organizing economic production and the division of labor by controlling religious and political ideology through community -based rituals (Curet 1992a, 1996; Moscoso 1981; Oliver 1992b, 1998; Siegel 1991c, 1996, 1999). The manifestations of caciques’ centralized authority and ideological power are evident in the remains of monumental architecture , represented by plazas and ball courts (bateys), which began to appear sometime during the ¤rst half of the Ostionoid series (ca. a.d. 600–900) on the island of Puerto Rico. Research regarding the regional sociopolitical organization of Puerto Rico’s ceramic-age societies has typically focused on the distribution of monumental architecture to elucidate the temporal and spatial distribution of centers of political power (e.g., Alegría 1983; Siegel 1991c, 1999; Vescelius 1977). Monumental architecture has been a key component in this respect as these features are not only deemed representative of the formalization of centralized authority but also of a certain level of political and decision-making power based on time and labor invested in their construction (Alegría 1983: 118; Siegel 1999:221). Spatially, clusters of sites possessing these features are thought to approximate sociopolitical territories (Siegel 1999:221; Vescelius 1977:1). However, even though most researchers would agree that complex, territorial political units characterized Taíno settlement systems of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola (Fewkes 1907:33; Keegan 1997:116–117; Oliver 1998, 1992:11; Siegel 1991c, 1996:236; Wilson 1990), the development, organization, and morphology of ceramic-age social landscapes have not been thoroughly explored. In this chapter, I present an examination of the ceramic-age social landscapes of south-central Puerto Rico (Figure 6.1). This area is important for consideration as some of the earliest ceremonial architecture in the Caribbean is located here (González Colón 1984; Rouse 1992:112), suggesting the development of a complex regional sociopolitical system prior to the twelfth century a.d. (Oliver 1992b:9) and quite possibly the seat of the ¤rst chiefdoms of the Greater Antilles. To facilitate this study, I utilize archival site information from the State Historic Preservation Of¤ce in San Juan, Puerto Rico (PRSHPO) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to explore the spatial distribution of ceramic-age settlements and to model potential spheres of social interaction through time. In doing so, this study addresses conceptual and methodological aspects of communities for examining the development and organization of ceramic-age sociopolitical systems in Puerto Rico and the Greater Antilles in general. Communities and Social Landscapes of the Ceramic-Age Peoples / 203 [44.211.117.101] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 18:47 GMT) Exploring Puerto Rico’s Social Landscape Research related to the processes of social change, and the centralization of sociopolitical power on Puerto Rico, has focused on three distinct periods of its prehistory (Periods II, III, and IV). Within the context of Irving Rouse’s model (Table 6.1) for the spatial and temporal distribution of cultural traits in the Caribbean, these periods approximate the occupational sequences associated with...