Ortoiroid people
The Ortoiroid people were the second wave of human settlers of the
Settlement patterns
The Ortoiroid are believed to have developed in South America before moving to the West Indies.[5] The earliest radiocarbon date for the Ortoiroid is 5230 BCE from Trinidad.[5]
The two earliest Ortoiroid sites in Trinidad are the Banwari Trace and at St. John's Road, South Oropouche, which date back at least to 5500 BCE.[6] At this time, Trinidad might have still been connected to the South American mainland.
The majority of
deposits of Banwari Trace and St. John, have been dated between 6000 and 5100 BCE. These deposits, consisting of discarded shells, bone tools, and stone tools, represent extended use of crustaceans as a food source, as well as the use of stone and bone tools by human inhabitants. They are considered to belong to the Ortoiroid culture.In the north, two distinct Ortoiroid subcultures have been identified: the
The Ortoiroid are considered the first settlers of the archipelago of Puerto Rico;[7] however, recent reexamination of data, artifacts, and agricultural evidence and assumptions about culture have suggested a more complex picture.[clarification needed][11]
Lifeways and material culture
The Ortoiroid were hunter-gatherers.[8] Shellfish remains have been found at Ortoitoid sites indicating that they constituted an important part of the diet. This diet also included turtles, crabs, and fish.[9]
They were known for their lithic technology but did not have ceramics.
Ortoiroid people lived in caves and the open. They buried their dead in the soil beneath shell middens.
Decline
The Ortoiroid were displaced by the Saladoid people in the West Indies.[6] In many regions, they disappeared by approximately 400 BCE;[3] however, the Coroso culture survived until 200 CE.[9]
See also
Notes
- ^ Granberry, Julian & Vescelius, Gary. Languages of the Pre-Columbian Antilles. University of Alabama Press 2004. pp 39-40.
- ^ Rouse, Irving. The Tainos: Rise & Decline of the People who Greeted Columbus. Yale University Press 1992. p. 81.
- ^ a b c Saunders 211
- ^ Rouse, Irving. The Tainos: Rise & Decline of the People who Greeted Columbus. Yale University Press 1992. p. 62.
- ^ a b Rouse 63.
- ^ a b c Saunders 13.
- ^ a b Rouse 69.
- ^ a b Saunders 260.
- ^ a b c d e "Prehistory of the Caribbean Culture Area." Southeast Archaeological Center (retrieved 9 July 2011).
- ^ Saunders 264.
- ^ Rodríguez Ramos 17, 54.
- ^ "Rewriting History: There were people before the Caribs and Arawaks ." Archived 2012-03-14 at the Wayback Machine Trinidad and Tobago Express via Archaeology Daily News. 4 February 2010 (retrieved 9 July 2011).
References
- Rodríguez Ramos, Reniel. Rethinking Puerto Rican Precolonial History. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-8173-8327-5.
- Rouse, Irving. The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People who greeted Columbus. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0-300-05181-0.
- ISBN 978-1-57607-701-6.
Further reading
- Ferguson, James: Far From Paradise. Latin American Bureau, 1990. ISBN 0-906156-54-8.
- Kurlansky, Mark. 1992. A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny. Addison-Wesley Publishing.
- Rogozinsky, Jan: A Brief History of the Caribbean. Plume, 1999. ISBN 0-452-28193-8.