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Portfolio Tag: Haiti

Decorated elliptical grinding stone

Decorated elliptical grinding stone
This sculptured stone had an oval shape. An anthropomorphic figure was carved in the stone s upper portion and the opposite side was made smooth and convex. This form did not have any indentations by which they might have been hafted or attached to a staff or handle. Its function is unclear. It pertains to…
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Frog pendent

Frog pendent
The frog was figuring the women and is symbol of fertility. The representation of frog in combination to necklaces was common in Saladoide culture. Archaeologist might have discerned a strong change took place in the material culture of the Caribbean 2500 years ago, the arrival of people we know by their pottery, which we call…
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Taino vessel with anthropomorphic representation

Taino vessel with anthropomorphic representation
This image represents a chief. Many Taino works of art belong to the chief, the cacique. The Taino culture reached its highest development in the island of Hispaniola. It is difficult to mark the beginning of the Taino. Their society emerged as a continuation of Caribbean prehistory for several thousand years. In some cases artifacts…
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Ceramic Vessel handle with anthropomorphic representation

Ceramic Vessel handle with anthropomorphic representation
This human figure in red color can be attributed to the Ostionoide culture. We have evidence for several kinds of changes throughout the Caribbean between 600 A.D. and 1200 A.D. Saladoide settlers moved to the highland where they changed the techniques of cultivating plants and other cultural trades. Arqueologist decided to see this like an…
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Ceramic Vessel with tortoise representation

Ceramic Vessel with tortoise representation
Many Taino objects are in the shape of turtles, an important animal in Taino creation myths. The female tortoise, a feature common to other universal myths, takes on a human role and becomes the Taino Eve.
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Food preparation on Buren

Food preparation on Buren
Shard of flat earthenware circular dish for cooking. Manioc was the main crop of the Taino. The roots were grated on a grinder, put through a large wicker strainer called a cibuacan to squeeze out its poisonous juice, and finally cooked on a buren. The result was a kind of bread called casabe. There were…
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Polished stone

Polished stone
The Antilles were first settled by small, nomadic groups, perhaps bands of 30 to 100 people, who, arrive approximately 6000 years ago. They lived by hunting, gathering and fishing. Pottery and agriculture were unknown to them. The tools used by these first groups that extended throughout the Antilles were artifacts made of polished stone, mortars,…
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Globular bowl with geometric design

Globular bowl with geometric design
Amerindian ceramic vessel were mostly formed with the coil method, in which strips of wet clay are jointed in circular patterns fused together to make cups, bowls, jars etc. The geometric design of this bowl shows a sequence of points under the rim. This appears most frequently in the Meillac culture, which is the one…
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Little bone zemi with skull head

Little bone zemi with skull head
The Taíno placed strong importance on ancestor worship. They believed in afterlife and great care was given to the dead. Skull designs represent dead ancestors. Zemies who represented ancestors were objects of great power and were perceived as supernatural beings who could help the person who possessed them.
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Wooded Duho

Wooded Duho
This wooden seat was used by chiefs in the Caribbean Taino culture during ceremonial communication with the spirit world. Wooden seat carved in the shape of an ancestor spirit by the Taino, one of the pre-European, native Caribbean peoples. This wooden seat known as a duho was sculpted by a Taino artisan. The Taino were…
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