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182 / Chapter 6 The Embodiment of Difference: The Onset of Cranial Deformation In tandem with some of the changes that were observed starting around a.d. 500, there were other shifts in the systems of representation noted on the island. The most marked change is the appearance of the practice of tabular-­ oblique fronto-­ occipital cranial deformation. Previous studies on this practice have assumed that it entered the island with the Cedrosan immigrants and that its reflection in later contexts was basically an eventual reflection of its long-­ term reproduction. For instance , Rouse (1992:61) argued that this form of bodily modification, while being absent in previous Pre-­Arawak groups, is“characteristic of the Taino and their ancestors .” On the basis of the work at Maisabel, Linda C. Budinoff (cited in Crespo Torres 2000:222) indicates that “[a]nother continuity is that fronto-­ occipital cranial deformation was practiced during the Saladoid, terminal Saladoid, and Ostionoid occupations” and further contends that “[i]nferences based upon dental pathologies and cranial deformation observed in the Maisabel skeletal sample support the notion that there was an in situ development from the Saladoid to the Ostionoid occupations in Puerto Rico.” However, a review of the evidence presented from Maisabel conducted by Crespo Torres (2000) showed that no intentionally deformed cranium was associated with the Hacienda Grande occupation of that site. The earliest modified crania were rather associated with the later Cuevas component. In fact, thus far there is no evidence in Puerto Rico or the Lesser Antilles for the practice of cranial deformation in association with Hacienda Grande sites or any other early­ Cedrosan context nor is it evident in northeastern South America at the time when these groups supposedly migrated into the Antilles. The only early evidence for this practice in the Lesser Antilles comes from the Morel site, but it was observed in a female who was interred with a necklace of beads indistinguishable from those documented in the LH manifestation, which led Durand and Petitjean Roget (1991) to associate this interment with that cultural complex. Interestingly, Crespo Torres (2000) documented this practice at Punta Can­ delero in a total of 13 individuals (including males, females, and subadults) in a context associated with Cuevas style pottery, as was the case at Maisabel. Taking into consideration the absence of this practice in early Hacienda Grande interments , its presence in the aforementioned burial associated with LH personal adornments, and the representation of deformed human heads clasped in the claws of the LH avian pendants, Crespo Torres (2000, 2005; see also Durand and Petitjean Roget 1991) has argued that this practice was indeed introduced to the Antilles by the LH peoples rather than the Cedrosans and that it was registered later in time because of the eventual integration of these peoples in some locations . As will be noted in the last section of this chapter, this hypothesis is further substantiated when taking into consideration that the only surrounding con- Horizontal Diversification in Puerto Rico / 183 tinental region in which this tradition is present is the Isthmo-­ Colombian area, the main area of influence for the configuration of the LH manifestation. If the practice of this form of cranial deformation represented some form of ethnic and/or hierarchical identity, then its reproduction in later contexts indicates the continued use of this emblem of difference through much later times. In fact, the presence of individuals with deformed heads was one of the most ­ salient features recorded by the Spaniards upon their arrival to the Greater Antilles. This practice was not only documented in Puerto Rico but was also observed in Hispaniola , the Bahamas, and Cuba. Although the specific meaning of this practice might have shifted through time and space, its continuous reproduction indicates the persistence of an important tradition until“Taíno”times that cannot be traced to their supposed “ancestors.” The fact that it was represented after a.d. 500 in Puerto Rico, while being absent previously, might also be denoting a change in the mortuary practices observed in the LH tradition in which no burial has been recovered thus far in earlier contexts, as indicated in Chapter 5. Oliver (2008a) has further contended that these LH sculpted heads become the predecessors of the cabezas macorix documented in late precolonial contexts of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Although the particular reasons for such change are not clear at the moment, the mere consideration that this practice does not reflect an in situ development of a Cedrosan...

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