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140 / Chapter 5 present anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations. Although limited, the finding of these pendants might indicate that the production and circulation of black polished wood pieces started at least in this period, thus predating the time frame for the movement of wooden implements between the Isthmo-­ Colombian area and the Antilles suggested by Helms (1987). These Isthmo-­Antillean relationships during this time were not limited to circulation of technological styles and ideographic expressions but also seem to have included the movement of raw materials as well. The x-­ ray diffraction analysis­ conducted by George Harlow (2007) indicated the presence of a celt fragment made of Guatemalan jadeite among the analyzed material from the LH component of Punta Candelero. This piece consists of the bit fragment of a coarsely made biconvex celt, which presents a haft snap and clear evidence of battering wear on its distal portion (Figure 5.12, left). Although limited, the presence in the LH component of Punta Candelero of this celt made of jadeite from the Motagua fault zone in Guatemala coupled with the identification of jadeite pendants at both Punta Candelero and La Hueca-­Sorcé provides clear evidence for the close Isthmo-­ Antillean relationships of the producers of the LH tradition during this time. The import of this raw material, however, is not only evidenced in LH contexts but also in Cedrosan ones as well. Harlow’s (2007) study also identified the presence of two ground tools made of Guatemalan jadeite from Tecla I, the site that contains the earliest evidence for Hacienda Grande occupations in Puerto Rico. These consist of a coarsely made biconvex celt (Figure 5.12, center) and a medial fragment of a plano-­ convex adze (Figure 5.12, right). As was the case with the import of radiolarian limestone, silicified tuff, and peridotite, as well as the locally available metavolcanic materials, there is no evidence of the local production of these jadeite implements. The presence of imported jadeite in these contexts corroborates the results of the previous petrographic study conducted by Harlow et al. (2006) on several celts recovered from Cedrosan contexts in Antigua and St. Croix (Hardy 2008), which also indicated that their most likely provenience was the­Motagua fault zone in Guatemala. This is the same source of some of the jades imported to Costa Rica during this time (Cooke 2005; Harlow 1993). However, evidence of a source of jadeite recently reported in Cuba (García-­ Casco et al. 2009) challenges the previous determination of Guatemala as the only source of this raw material in the Caribbean Basin. This jadeite occurrence has been identified at Sierra del Convento, in the eastern part of the island. Particularly interesting is that there is no evidence thus far in Cuba of jadeite artifacts or their production predating or contemporaneous with Huecoide and Hacienda Grande contexts from Puerto Rico and the northern Lesser Antilles, nor are there any archaeological contexts associated with any of those cultural manifestations on that island. In fact, the dates from Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and An­ tigua where this raw material has been obtained are at least half a millennium ear- Coming, Going, and Interacting / 141 lier than the earliest Arawakan contexts of Cuba, so if the Cuban sources were indeed the areas from which the jadeite was procured and then circulated to the islands to the east, this could imply the articulation of a Pre-­Arawak/Saladoid/­ Huecoide interaction sphere. If the dates associated with the Cuban jadeite artifacts are much later, and based on the “Taíno” cultural affiliation of the documented artifacts they postdate a.d. 1000 (Mendoza Cuevas et al. 2009), then that Cuban source would have probably been inserted into previously delineated interaction networks that also emphasized the movement of this raw material from perhaps the continent (­Motagua), along with other forms of social jade, including the serpentinite source from western Puerto Rico and the radiolarian limestone from St. Martin. So, whether the jadeite that has been found in Caribbean contexts was from an intra-­Antillean source or from Central America, as is argued by Harlow et al. (2009), the identification of this type of raw material will have a drastic impact on our understanding of the role of green rocks and the artifacts derived from them in both the insular and the continental Caribbean. A salient element of this celt production and distribution process during this time is the manufacture of the plano-­ convex adze that, as previously noted, is associated exclusively...

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