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Portfolio Category: Materials

Fotuto shell musical instrument

Fotuto shell musical instrument
Shell of the species Charonia variegata with an orifice at its apex. This shell which is abundant in the waters surrounding the island was very useful, first as a food and also as a household item and for body ornaments. In this case it was made into a musical instrument some sort of a trumpet.…
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Chisel

Chisel
Taino were able to carve large works of art in stone and other materials. They used tools like chisels made of stone and shell. They were especially used to cut stone, wood, bone and shell as well as for finishing touches. When working with this tool, the artisans used a percutor which was a round…
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Canoe Anchor

Canoe Anchor
Admiral Christopher Columbus searching for a maritime way to India discovered land that Amerigo Vespucci identified as a continent unknown to Europeans. When reaching the island Guanani christened by Columbus he had his first encounter with the local people that he named Indians. He continued on to Cuba and La Hispaniola, and then returned to…
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Silex carvers

Silex carvers
The first groups that arrived at the island of La Hispaniola were carvers of silex or flint, from which they made various artefacts such as pointed tips for handles or weapons, knives, scrapers, hammers, burins, drills, chisels and chopping blocks. Their way of life was nomadic, and they lived from hunting, gathering and fishing. One…
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Stone collar

Stone collar
Stone collars are large stone rings. They date approximately from 600 AD to 1500 AD they are artifacts used at public ceremonies and would have to be visible to many people at the same time. They were produced to communicate and reinforce religious or social messages.
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Elbow stones

Elbow stones
The elbow stones are more gracile than the stone collars, it is possible that they represent an evolution of the originally form, they constitute an abbreviated form. Elbow stones were displayed during the ball games. The Taino played a ball game that existed in various forms throughout Mesoamerica and South America. Played by two teams…
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Stone axe

Stone axe
Celts were tools employed in cutting trees and working wood. They exist in a great variety of forms. Probably each aboriginal male adult manufactured his own axe. The shape of the axe was related to the ethnic group and to its use in daily life, in war or in religious ceremonies.
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Stone grater

Stone grater
Stone graters were made for grating foodstuff. The most important one was the cassava root. There are two varieties of yucca, a sweet one and a bitter one. The bitter contains an acid substance which intoxicates if eaten raw, and it was with this yucca that the Tainos made the cassava bread. The Spaniards adopted…
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Necklace of stone beads

Necklace of stone beads
The Taino liked to adorn their body with paint, jewelry, and other decorative objects. Necklaces were made of stone, shell or animal teeth. Occasionally extra holes were made on the beads for attaching other ornaments such as feathers. In certain circumstances amulets in the form of a small figure in squatting position were incorporated between…
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Fishing net weights

Fishing net weights
The net weights were often made of stone found in the rivers which were then dented on both sides only in order to fix them at the net. Taino people fished with nets and weirs, bone and shell hooks, spears, and occasionally bows and arrows. Not all segments of the society had the same level…
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