Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Core-Periphery Delineations in the Late-Prehistoric Greater Antilles: A Jamaican Investigation

贝蒂·乔·斯托克斯在汤姆·D·迪勒海博士的指导下，将进行一项考古调查，为她在肯塔基大学完成博士论文收集数据。她将在牙买加岛上的怀特河和里奥新沃河流域完成一项考古调查，以确定该岛史前美洲原住民群体(Taino)与大安的列斯群岛其他岛屿上发现的群体之间的历史关系。公元15世纪末，这些岛屿上的泰诺人在社会组织上的差异被过分简单化，认为牙买加等一些岛屿的文化发展程度低于欧洲接触之前的其他岛屿。目前，泰诺族被贴上了台诺族世界文化“核心”的标签，在波多黎各岛上，这种文化的许多特征被很好地理解和识别，或者被认为是文化“边缘”的一部分，在那里，群体往往被认为是欠发达的。牙买加目前被认为是泰诺外围的一部分，但这一定义几乎没有具体证据，事实上，第一批进入该地区的西班牙探险家所写的历史记载驳斥了这一点。该项目以牙买加泰诺为例，试图对泰诺世界的一个区域进行系统研究，在该区域中，什么构成“核心”区域，什么构成“边缘”，以便阐明确定核心和边缘文化区域所涉及的关键因素。这项研究是对其他考古学研究的补充，这些考古学研究将核心-外围分析的使用扩展到现代全球互动之外，用于社会地理分析，以确定史前世界的关系。通过考古调查收集数据，可以确定牙买加泰诺人政治、宗教和经济生活的各个方面，并与现有的历史信息相结合，直接解决牙买加泰诺人社会组织的性质。该项目将澄清曾经居住在这一地区的土著人民的文化、历史和文化特征。此外，它还将说明部落酋长社会是如何维持和发展的，强调岛屿景观如何被用作生产性文化特征，并提供一个案例，以供与世界各地其他部落酋长社会进行比较。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于揭示欧洲人，进而是非洲人民遇到新大陆的历史社会背景。泰诺人的文化突然被欧洲人引入加勒比海而缩写。然而，这种文化的残余物仍然可以在现代牙买加的传统和身份中找到。该项目旨在通过了解牙买加人泰诺如何融入接触前加勒比地区的更广泛的社会背景，从而更准确和完整地了解牙买加的历史，从而认识和接受这些组成部分。它还将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Ms. Betty Jo Stokes, under the direction of Dr. Tom D. Dillehay, will conduct an archaeological investigation to gather data for completion of her doctoral dissertation at the University of Kentucky. She will complete an archaeological survey in the White and Rio Nuevo River valleys on the island of Jamaica to determine the historical relationship between the prehistoric Native American groups (Taino) of the island compared to those found on other islands in the Greater Antilles. Differences in the social organization of the Taino people at the end of the 15th century A.D. on these islands has been oversimplified identifying some islands, such as Jamaica, as less culturally developed than others prior to European contact. Currently, Taino groups are labeled as either part of the cultural "core" of the Taino world as on Puerto Rico island where many of the characteristics of that culture are well understood and easily recognized or as a part of the cultural "periphery" where groups are often considered less developed. Jamaica is currently considered part of the Taino periphery, but that designation has been based on very little concrete evidence, and in fact, the historical accounts written by the first Spanish explorers into this region refutes this. Using the Jamaican Taino as a test case, this project seeks to provide a systematic study in one area of the Taino world where the identification of what constitutes a "core" region and what constitutes a "periphery" is unclear in order to elucidate the key factors involved in identifying core versus periphery culture areas. This study compliments other archaeological studies that have expanded the uses of core-periphery analysis beyond modern global interactions as used for social geographical analysis to draw out relationships in the prehistoric world.By collecting data through an archaeological survey, various aspects of Jamaican Taino political, religious, and economic life can be identified and combined with existing historical information to directly address the nature of the social organization of Jamaican Taino. This project will clarify the culture history and cultural identity of the indigenous peoples once inhabiting this area. Additionally, it will give an indication how tribal chiefdom societies are maintained and developed, highlight how island landscapes can be used as productive cultural features, and provide a case example for comparison to other tribal chiefdoms around the world. This research is also important because it will help shed new light on the historical social context in which Europeans, and consequently African peoples, encountered the New World. The culture of the Taino was abruptly abbreviated by the introduction of European people into the Caribbean. However, remnants of this culture can still be found in modern Jamaican traditions and identity. This project seeks to recognize and embrace these components by providing an understanding of how Jamaican Taino fits into the broader social context of the pre-contact Caribbean and, thereby, a more accurate and complete picture of Jamaican history. It will also contribute to training a promising young scientist.