Taino Museum Archives - Page 5 of 7

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…

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…

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.

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…

These axes had the shape of a petal from a flower and were generally manufactured from stone. They were celts hafted into wooden handles. They were used to clear land, carve canoes or other wooden objects and cut manioc roots. The very polished ones appear to have had ceremonial functions. They existed in all farmers…

The snake is part of an important mythological triumvirate who dominated the cosmology of the people from the Orinoco-Amazon region. Most of the culture groups who arrived in the Antillean islands originated from this region. The snake exemplified by the anaconda represented the subaquatic world. Since anacondas did not exist in the islands this specie…

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…

Shamans played an important role in Taíno society as medical practitioners, using an hallucinogenic preparation named "Cohoba" to get in trance and to contact the spirits for help to determine the cause of the illnesses. The Shaman recited sacred chants accompanied of maracas to play a rhythm. He produced a stone amulet and which he…

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.

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…

Portfolio Tag: Taino Museum

Taino vessel with anthropomorphic representation

Ceramic Vessel handle with anthropomorphic representation

Ceramic Vessel with tortoise representation

Food preparation on Buren

Petaloid axes

Wooden snake

Globular bowl with geometric design

Small stone zemi

Little bone zemi with skull head

Wooded Duho

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