Taino Archives - Page 4 of 7

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.

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…

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.

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…

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…

This jar was for water or fermented corn and similar beverages that were common during festivities like the Areytos. The Areytos were social gatherings in which the community danced and chanted songs related to their mythology and historic deeds as a means of preserving and passing down their traditions. Singing was accompanied by various instruments.…

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…

On several petaloide axes, meaning shaped like flower petals, we have seen that the decoration covered the entire piece. It shoes a squatting anthropomorphic figure which covers the entire piece. The figure becomes wholly integrated into the functional form giving it a sacred and magical sense. This piece had been designated as effigy axe.

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…

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…

Portfolio Tag: Taino

Stone collar

Elbow stones

Stone axe

Stone grater

Necklace of stone beads

Shard of earthernware jar

Fishing net weights

Ceremonial petaloide axe

Decorated elliptical grinding stone

Frog pendent

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