Archaeology at La Isabela: America’s First European Town 9780300133912
In this important book, Kathleen Deagan and José María Cruxent present detailed technical documentation of their ten-yea
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Table of contents :
CONTENTS
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Columbus and La Isabela
2.The Taínos at La Isabela
3. The Geographical and Cultural Landscape of Columbus’s Colony
4. Excavations at El Castillo
5. The Medieval Enclave: Organization of Space at La Isabela
6. La Isabela’s Buildings
7. Starvation in Paradise: Food and Subsistence at La Isabela
8. Living in Bohíos: Domestic Life at La Isabela
9. Soldiers and Horsemen at La Isabela
10. Artisans and Craftsmen at La Isabela
11. Aftermath and Transformation
APPENDIX I. Supplies and Items Brought to La Isabela
APPENDIX II. Horizontal Distribution of Artifact Categories
APPENDIX III. Items Excavated at La Isabela
APPENDIX IV. Potentially Undisturbed Domestic Proveniences Used for Macrofaunal Analyses
APPENDIX V. Compositional Analyses of Ceramics from La Isabela
APPENDIX VI. Preliminary Comments on the Glass Bracelets from La Isabela
APPENDIX VII. Artifact Distributions at Three Spanish Town Sites in Hispaniola
References
Index
Citation preview
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Archaeology at La Isabela America’s First European Town Yale University Press New Haven & London
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Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund. Copyright © 2002 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by April Leidig-Higgins and set in Centaur type by Copperline Book Services, Inc. Printed in the United States of America by Edwards Brothers, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Deagan, Kathleen A. Archaeology at La Isabela: America’s first European town / Kathleen Deagan and José María Cruxent. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 0-300-09041-2 (alk. paper) 1. La Isabela (Dominican Republic)—History. 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—Dominican Republic. 3. Spaniards—Dominican Republic—Antiquities. 4. Indians—First contact with Europeans. 5. Dominican Republic—Antiquities. I. Cruxent, José María. II. Title. 1939.8 42 2002 972.93 —dc21 2001057515 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability on the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To Manuel García Arévalo, our colleague and collaborator, who has done so much for Caribbean archaeology
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List of Figures xi List of Tables xvii Preface xxi Acknowledgments xxvii Columbus and La Isabela 1 The Taínos at La Isabela 15 The Geographical and Cultural Landscape of Columbus’s Colony 47 Excavations at El Castillo 59
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The Medieval Enclave: Organization of Space at La Isabela 85 La Isabela’s Buildings 97 Starvation in Paradise: Food and Subsistence at La Isabela 139 Living in Bohíos: Domestic Life at La Isabela 187 Soldiers and Horsemen at La Isabela 225 Artisans and Craftsmen at La Isabela 247 Aftermath and Transformation 273 Supplies and Items Brought to La Isabela 301 Horizontal Distribution of Artifact Categories 305 Items Excavated at La Isabela 311 Potentially Undisturbed Domestic Proveniences Used for Macrofaunal Analyses 335
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Compositional Analyses of Ceramics from La Isabela, by Emlen Myers 337 Preliminary Comments on the Glass Bracelets from La Isabela, by Robert Brill 341 Artifact Distributions at Three Spanish Town Sites in Hispaniola 345 References 355 Index 371
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1.1. 1.2. 1.3.
Location of La Isabela. Maps of La Isabela in 1891. La Isabela basemap showing the human-made features and disturbances to the site during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5. 2.6. 2.7. 2.8. 2.9. 2.10. 2.11. 2.12. 2.13.
Meillacan-Ostionoid sherds from La Isabela. Chican-Ostionoid adornos and vessel rims from La Isabela. Chican-Ostionoid collared jar and shallow bowl. Chican-Ostionoid bowls. Chican-Ostionoid small carinated bowl. Chican-Ostionoid water bottles. Water-bottle rim, Perenal site. Stone tools. Necklace of bone cuentas de colár and amulet. Bone and shell amulets. Round shell plaque. Stone amulets. Examples of Taíno lapidary work from La Isabela.
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3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. 3.6.
Vicinity map of La Isabela region. Geological and geographical map of La Isabela region. Map of Las Coles. Excavation of Tamarindo kiln. Ceramic arcaduce fragment. Waterwheel (Noria de Vuelo) using arcaduces.
4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 4.7. 4.8. 4.9.
Archaeological basemap of La Isabela. Topographic contour map of La Isabela. Stratigraphic section at E8-LLS. Spanish post mold placement technique and stratigraphy. Spanish fogón (hearth or oven). Spanish fogón. Spanish refuse pit. Locations of all excavated units at La Isabela. Locations of units for which all materials were intensively analyzed.
5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5.
La Isabela basemap showing archeological features. Hypothesized location of town elements and boundaries. Large post thought to be associated with the town wall. Excavation in vicinity of the town wall. Locations of designated town zones.
6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. 6.5. 6.6. 6.7. 6.8. 6.9.
Excavation of the Columbus house. Tapia construction technique. Tapia wall segment at Columbus house. Ladrillos and tejas. Architectural hardware elements. Joining nails from La Isabela. Columbus house, archaeological plan view. Columbus house remains. Stone threshold at the main entrance of the Columbus house after restoration. 6.10. Dimensions and placement of the stone threshold at the main entrance of the Columbus house. 6.11. Ceramic goznes (door-post pivots) in situ at the opening in the wall surrounding the Columbus house. 6.12. Tapia and stone base of tower at the northeast corner of the Columbus house, before consolidation. xii
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6.13. Stratigraphic cross section of Columbus house. 6.14. Columbus house walls, showing position of tapia over stone foundations. 6.15. Detail of plaster coating on Columbus house wall. 6.16. Rubble footing of the circular wall surrounding the Columbus house. 6.17. Foundations of the church of La Isabela. 6.18. Archaeological basemap of the church. 6.19. Stratigraphic section of church excavation. 6.20. Regular rubble foundation of the church. 6.21. Incised and painted plaster from the church. 6.22. The alhóndiga foundations after conservation. 6.23. Archaeological basemap of the alhóndiga. 6.24. Pillar bases inside the alhóndiga (including the north end). 6.25. Stone foundations, alhóndiga east wall. 6.26. Alhóndiga footing with post mold support. 6.27. Archaeological basemap of polvorín-calzado-drenaje complex. 6.28. In situ foundation of the polvorín. 6.29. Rustic cistern. 6.30. Rustic cistern, plan view and section. 6.31. Torre foundation. 6.32. Torre, plan view. 6.33. Spanish post molds in unit . 6.34. Cross sections of post molds in the La Isabela Poblado. 6.35. Post structure features in ñ. 6.36. Post structure features in . 7.1. 7.2. 7.3. 7.4. 7.5. 7.6. 7.7. 7.8. 7.9. 7.10. 7.11. 7.12.
Harpoon/fish gig. Columbia Plain majolica plato, dipped in green glaze. Isabela Polychrome designs. Unnamed Blue-on-White majolica examples. Decorated bizcocho sherds. Sgraffito slipware. Melado plate. Loza común mortero. Food-preparation forms at La Isabela. Puchero sherds. Burén (griddle) fragment. Food-consumption forms at La Isabela. xiii
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7.13. 7.14. 7.15. 7.16. 7.17. 7.18.
Loza común plato. Liquid storage and serving vessels. Loza común jarrito. Jarrito forms at La Isabela. Loza común cantimplora necks. Copper-alloy spoon.
8.1. 8.2. 8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.7. 8.8. 8.9. 8.10. 8.11. 8.12. 8.13. 8.14. 8.15. 8.16. 8.17. 8.18. 8.19. 8.20.
Clothing-related items from La Isabela. Aglets retaining their laces. Copper-alloy buckles from La Isabela. Copper-alloy strap tips. Finger rings from La Isabela. Finger rings. Personal ornaments from La Isabela. Glass bracelet fragments. Copper-alloy cascabeles (hawk’s bells). Furniture-related items from La Isabela. Ceramic oil lamps. Domestic ceramic forms at La Isabela. Albarelos. Glass vials. Crucifix from La Isabela. Excavation of extended burials in the La Isabela cemetery, 1990. Coins from La Isabela. Numismatic elements. Distribution of numismatic elements at La Isabela. Possible copper-alloy book fastener.
9.1. 9.2. 9.3. 9.4.
Crossbow elements from La Isabela. Varieties of guns represented at La Isabela. Bronze barrel fragment from a hacabuche firearm. Fragment of breech chamber from a bombardeta or falconeta light artillery piece. Iron breech plug. Shot varieties from La Isabela. Composite shot, showing iron centers (dados) and outer lead ball. Stone shot mold for a single 45-millimeter ball. Stone shot mold for five 16-millimeter balls. Iron sword-blade fragment.
9.5. 9.6. 9.7. 9.8. 9.9. 9.10.
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9.11. 9.12. 9.13. 9.14. 9.15. 9.16. 9.17. 9.18. 9.19. 9.20. 9.21. 9.22.
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Possible iron dagger pommels. Dagger-hilt fragment (iron). Copper alloy scabbard tips from La Isabela. Pole-arm tips. Horseshoe and horseshoe nails. Shapes of horseshoes from La Isabela. Items of horse tack. Box stirrup of the type used by the Lanzas de Jinetas. Spur elements. Brigandine armor plates. Brigandine plate varieties at La Isabela. Chain-mail varieties at La Isabela.
10.1. Chest or cupboard cotter-pin hinge, possibly produced at La Isabela. 10.2. Spanish nail varieties of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. 10.3. Varieties of nails at La Isabela. 10.4. Iron ax head. 10.5. Iron tools and implements from La Isabela. 10.6. Iron router and iron punch or sail needle. 10.7. Possible ship-construction fasteners. 10.8. Assaying crucible. 10.9. Subterranean metal-working furnace or forge area, after consolidation. 10.10. Metal furnace, plan view and cross section. 10.11. Semi-subterranean smelting furnace design possibly similar to that used at La Isabela. 10.12. Raw materials and by-products of lead working. 10.13. Misfired loza común “kiln waster” from Tamarindo. 10.14. Mortero rim, showing thumb-and-finger-pinching technique used to form the pouring lip. 10.15. Moorish-influenced updraft kiln types used in late medieval Spain, similar to the kiln at La Isabela. 10.16. Base of kiln excavated by Cruxent at Tamarindo. 10.17. Cross section of kiln excavated by Cruxent at Tamarindo. 10.18. Carved stone emblem. 11.1. Towns in Hispaniola, ca. 1503. 11.2. Fortaleza of Concepción de la Vega, north tower. xv
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11.3. Site basemap, Concepción de la Vega. 11.4. Central plaza excavation, Puerto Real. 11.5. Italianate Ligurian Blue-on-Blue majolica tableware, Concepción de la Vega. 11.6. Venetian glassware, Concepción de la Vega. 11.7. Copper-alloy candleholder, probably North European, Puerto Real. 11.8. Nuremberg thimbles, Puerto Real. 11.9. Gilded brass unicorn pendant, Puerto Real. 11.10. Merchants’ baling seals, Concepción de la Vega. 11.11. Ceramic lion image made from an infant’s footprint, Concepción de la Vega. 11.12. Generic colono-ware vessel form found throughout the Spanish Caribbean region. 11.13. Cerámica Indo-Hispano, Concepción de la Vega. 11.14. Christophe Plain pottery, Puerto Real.
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1.1.
Chronology of Events Pertinent to La Isabela
2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4.
Indigenous Items at La Isabela Varieties and Forms of Indian Ceramics at La Isabela Decorative Motifs on Indigenous Ceramics at La Isabela Indian Vessel Form Sizes at La Isabela
3.1. 3.2.
Archaeological Materials from Las Coles Contents of the Tamarindo Kiln Interior
4.1. Vertical Distribution of Materials Excavated in the Solar Area 4.2. Distribution of Materials in Five-centimeter Zone Increments, Poblado Excavation 4.3. Distribution of Materials in Features and Intrusions, Poblado Excavation 5.1.
Orientations of Structures at La Isabela
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6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. 6.5.
Exterior Dimensions of Masonry Structures at La Isabela La Isabela Teja Measurements Ladrillo Measurements from La Isabela Non-masonry Architectural Items at La Isabela Fastener Varieties at La Isabela.
7.1. 7.2.
7.15.
Food Sources at La Isabela Documented in Spanish Accounts Approximate Daily Dietary Values of the La Isabela Sueldo (Official Food Ration) La Isabela Faunal Species List Distribution of Analyzed Fauna through Residential Areas Archaeobotanical Samples from Undisturbed Spanish Proveniences at La Isabela La Isabela Vessel Forms in Ware Groups Varieties and Forms of Majolica and Bizcocho Vessels at La Isabela Summary of Majolica Vessel Forms at La Isabela Categories of Lead-Glazed Earthenwares at La Isabela Melado Vessel Forms and Varieties at La Isabela La Isabela Vessel Forms: Size Ranges Distribution of Nonceramic Food-Technology Items at La Isabela Burén Distribution at La Isabela Vertical Distribution of Indian Ceramics in Poblado Residential Areas Vessel Forms from Sixteenth-Century Sites in Andalusia.
8.1. 8.2. 8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6.
Domestic Items Requested for La Isabela, 1493 Domestic Personal Items at La Isabela Furniture and Household Items at La Isabela Ware Types of Domestic Utilitarian Pottery at La Isabela Distribution of Glass Vessel Forms at La Isabela Fifteenth-Century Coins Identified at La Isabela
7.3. 7.4. 7.5. 7.6. 7.7. 7.8. 7.9. 7.10. 7.11. 7.12. 7.13. 7.14.
9.1. Military Items and Horse Equipment at La Isabela 9.2. Shot Varieties and Sizes from La Isabela 9.3. La Isabela Horseshoe Measurements
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10.1. Craft and Industrial-Activity Items at La Isabela 10.2. Sixteenth-Century Spanish Fastener Varieties and Sizes 11.1. Summary of Artifact Distributions at Three Spanish Town Sites in Hispaniola 11.2. Sizes of Spanish and Spanish-American Towns Established ca. 1480–1520
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In 1987 American historical archaeologist Robert Schuyler noted the puzzling fact that anthropologist Eric Wolf was able to incorporate only one instance of historical archaeological data in his groundbreaking 1982 opus, Europe and the People without History (Schuyler 1988; Wolf 1982). Wolf ’s book had established a new anthropological agenda that transcended traditional disciplinary boundaries, traditional geographical-national boundaries, and traditional notions of elite agency in the shaping of the past. The meager contribution of historical archaeology was perplexing because the field even then had a long tradition of emphasis on people “without history,” and particularly on the encounter of Western and non-Western people (for a recent compilation of this work see Cusick, ed., 1998). Historical archaeology, with its implied promise of documenting the unwritten past by integrating insights from history, anthropology, art, literature, and political economy should have provided an important piece of the foundation for Europe and the People without History. Why, then, did it not? The omission had little to do with Wolf and much, we believe, to do with the rhetorical styles chosen by most archaeologists. Although a
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great deal of historical archaeology had been done by 1982, the results of this work were often contained in obscure, frequently unpublished, or limited-circulation reports. Much of it was furthermore technical and descriptive, offering findings but reluctant either to weave archaeological data with historical information or to interpret it in the framework of social theory and historical issues. Historians often found archaeological reports to be jargon laden, with an emphasis on descriptive typology, stratigraphic chronology, and other site-specific details that were of little use to larger historical questions (see, for example, Hoffman 1980:39). In all fairness, we should note that there were unavoidable reasons for this, the most compelling of which was the need to present research results to one’s colleagues in a professionally sanctioned format. For most historical archaeologists in the 1970s and 1980s this meant the format of prehistoric archaeology, which emphasized descriptive analyses of physical remains interpreted by reference to site stratigraphy and organization. All archaeologists must be attentive to this kind of documentation, since we are acutely aware that we destroy our evidence as we recover it, in a manner analogous to a historian burning each page of a manuscript as she reads it. The urgent need to produce detailed, precise, technical descriptions of the site and its materials quite appropriately dominates the process of field excavation but often unfortunately (and improperly) also dominates the interpretive reports. It is little wonder, then, that historians and cultural anthropologists (let alone the interested general public) find it difficult or impossible to distill useful insights from the anesthetizing technical detail of most archaeological reports. This presents a dilemma, however, for those archaeologists committed to a multidisciplinary, integrated perspective that can transcend the individual site, or to an archaeology that is both methodologically rigorous and accessible to interested nonarchaeologists. A comparative, multiscalar (and multiaudience) approach to archaeology demands both the presentation of technical procedures and data that can be used for comparative archaeological analysis with other sites and, at the same time, the presentation of a coherent, integrated story about the site and its significance that is useful to researchers who are not necessarily archaeologists. We have attempted to address this dilemma in our study of La Isabela by offering two books. Columbus’s Outpost among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493–1498, the companion volume to this book, xxii
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presents the general contours of the Isabeline encounter and places it in the larger context of Spanish-American integration and cultural transformation. It is based on the integration of results from archaeological and documentary studies and is intended to be accessible in a way that is useful (and, we hope, interesting) to both archaeologists and nonarchaeologists. At the same time, we recognize the need to provide the technical, evidentiary bases for these observations for our archaeological colleagues. Detailed description and statistical profiles of artifacts, architecture, site stratigraphy and features, and the patterned distributions of these elements are necessary for comparative purposes (and to justify our interpretations to concerned skeptics). Acknowledging not only this need but also the fact that such evidentiary information will be of more restricted interest, we have prepared this volume, Archaeology at La Isabela: America’s First European Town. It is cross-referenced with, and follows essentially the same organization as, Columbus’s Outpost, summarizing and incorporating the issues, background information, and conclusions of our general research program. Archaeology at La Isabela, however, provides a more complete and detailed analysis of the site itself in archaeological terms, as well as documentation of its architectural features and artifact assemblage in a way that permits comparison to other contemporary sites. This two-volume approach also helps to integrate our own personal styles of research and interpretation as archaeologists and authors. It is by now axiomatic that we recognize ourselves as positioned observers, speaking from diverse and occasionally conflicting theoretical, methodological, and experiential positions. José Cruxent, for example, was trained in prewar Europe, working with Juan Bosch-Impera. After escaping from Catalonia in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, he eventually established the discipline of anthropology in Venezuela. He has worked intensively on questions ranging from human settlement in the Pleistocene to ceramic taxonomy of the colonial period, and on broad structural questions as well as questions of individual experience. Cruxent’s approach to the archaeological past is narrative, self-reflective, and ethnographic, and he emphasizes reconstruction of conditions and events experienced by people in the past. He achieves reconstruction and interpretation of those conditions and events from archeological evidence by the use of analogy (both ethnographic and historical), as well as from his own personal experience and logic. Using this array of xxiii
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sources, he considers few aspects of past life to be unobtainable through archaeology. Kathleen Deagan’s approach is somewhat different. She was trained in North America during the dominance of the New Archaeology of the 1960s and 1970s and was among the first generation of North American archaeologists to practice as self-identified “historical” archaeologists. Unlike the broad range of topics studies by Cruxent, she has focused her work on Florida and the Caribbean in an attempt to understand those transformations in post-1500 Spanish colonial society that contributed to the genesis of the hybrid Euro-Afro-American society and identity that characterize Latin America today. Her approach to the archaeological past is consciously multiscalar and essentially empirical, acknowledging (but keeping separate as analytical units) both the structural/processual scale of analysis appropriate for aggregate groups and the historical/behavioral scale of analysis appropriate for local communities. Rather than emphasizing reconstruction, she addresses the interplay between structures, processes, and agencies, emphasizing empirically grounded interpretation, thereby admitting areas not amenable to archaeological resolution. It is no more our intent to achieve resolution of these contrasted styles of approaching the past than it is to resolve La Isabela’s contested meaning. As in any multinational, multidisciplinary, and multiscalar undertaking, we accept the tension and acknowledge it as a source of fruitful dialogue in the research process, leading in many cases to richer insight. We begin by introducing La Isabela and our research agenda in chapter 1, along with a summary of the background history necessary to contextualize the program (this essentially synthesizes chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 of Columbus’s Outpost). The archaeological evidence for the precontact Taíno presence at La Isabela is documented in chapter 2, which draws extensively on the more general treatment of the American people who encountered Columbus presented in chapter 3 of Columbus’s Outpost. In chapter 3 of the present volume we document the physical and cultural landscapes that made up Columbus’s colony, and chapter 4 details the site’s archaeological structure as well as the excavation strategies and protocols used to uncover it. The spatial organization of the town and the buildings within it are considered in chapters 5 and 6, respectively, and chapters 7 through 10 provide the archaeological evidence upon which our understanding of xxiv
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life at La Isabela is based. In the final chapter we document the changes in Spanish strategy after the demise of La Isabela as they are revealed archaeologically in the early sixteenth-century towns of Hispaniola, and we explore the larger implications of these developments for understanding the genesis of Spanish-American society.
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A project as lengthy and as complex as that of La Isabela was possible only through the cooperation and assistance of a great many agencies and individuals in the Dominican Republic, the United States, Venezuela, and Spain. Their support was crucial to all aspects of the project, those offered in this book as well as those in our companion volume. Funding for the research and analysis upon which this book is based has been provided by grants from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (R0–21831–89 and RK20135–94), from the National Geographic Society Research Committee and National Geographic magazine, from the University of Florida Division of Sponsored Research, and the University of Florida Institute for Early Contact Period Studies, and from the Florida Museum of Natural History. The excavations undertaken by Cruxent were supported by the Dirección Nacional de Parques de la República Dominicana (), with major assistance from the Instituto Española de Cooperación Internacional. The Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda of Venezuela and the University of Florida each generously allocated the time of Cruxent and Deagan, respectively, to this project for nearly a decade.
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It is owing to the commitment and vision of the Dirección Nacional de Parques de la República Dominicana that the project at La Isabela was conceived and successfully completed. The original impetus and energy for the program reported in this book was provided by Eugenio Pérez Montás and the late Manuel Valverde Podestá, the director of the from 1986 to 1989. Pérez Montás was instrumental in forging the international collaboration at La Isabela, and he provided important advice and assistance throughout the project. We would particularly like to acknowledge his professional assistance in interpreting the architectural remains from La Isabela. The commitment of the to La Isabela was continued by Cristián Martínez, director of the Park Service from 1988 to 1992, and we are grateful for his unswerving support during that critical period. The Dirección Nacional de Parques has consistently supported the research and interpretive programs at the site since then, financing the excavations directed by Cruxent, providing housing for the foreign participants in the project, and furnishing research facilities at the site. Archaeologist Manuel García Arévalo has not only been one of the collaborating investigators at La Isabela but has also been an immensely valuable colleague in resolving the many complex intellectual and logistical issues related to the project. He has provided support for the La Isabela project in Santo Domingo and, along with Francie Pou-García, has generously offered hospitality and advice to the Dominican and foreign participants in the archaeological work at La Isabela. We have depended on the expertise of many other scholars in this undertaking. Consuelo Varela (Universidad de Sevilla), Frank Moya Pons (Centro de Estudios Avanzdos and and the University of Florida), and Carlos Dobal (Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago, Dominican Republic) provided much of the historical documentation and interpretation upon which our understanding of events at La Isabela is based. Emlen Myers and Jacqueline Olin of the Smithsonian Institution Conservation Laboratory contributed invaluable analysis and interpretation of ceramics from the site. Alan Stahl of the American Numismatic Society identified and studied coins from La Isabela, Walter Karcheski of the Higgins Armory Museum provided assessment of some of the weaponry from the site, and Patricia Muller of the Hispanic Society of America commented on items of jewelry. Robert Brill of the Corning Glass Museum gave generously of his time and experxxviii
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tise in the chemical analysis of glass from La Isabela. Photographer James Quine and artist Merald Clark spent several weeks on site photographing and drawing the artifact collection, respectively. John Masemann (South Florida Conservation Center) surveyed the artifact collection from La Isabela for conservation needs and developed guidelines for a conservation program. These have since been partially implemented with assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Museo de la Atarazana in Santo Domingo, directed by Pedro Borrell. We would especially like to acknowledge the generous assistance of Frances Soto and the conservation staff of the Museo de la Atarazana for their work in conserving the materials from La Isabela. Emilio Tejera Gaspar of the Universidad de La Laguna, Gran Canaria, offered invaluable comparative insights from his work on the Columbian contact sites in the Canary Islands, both during the time he spent with us at La Isabela and subsequently. Elena Sosa of the Universidad de La Laguna also contributed many voluntary hours in the lab. Elizabeth Reitz of the University of Georgia provided uncounted hours in the search for faunal and dietary evidence from La Isabela, including her time spent (uncomfortably) on site. Archaeobotanists Lee Ann Newsom and Margaret Mosenfelder Scarry also made valuable contributions to our assessments of plant use at La Isabela. Margaret was stung by a scorpion under the dinner table on her first night in La Isabela, yet continued nevertheless to be enthusiastic about the project. The substance of this book would not have been possible without the dedicated work of a number of highly competent graduate students (and now former graduate students) in historical archaeology programs at the University of Florida and the Universidad Francisco de Miranda. Ricardo Fernández-Sardina, Gardner Gordon, James Cusick, and Ed Napolean very capably supervised the fieldwork sponsored by the University of Florida. Kate Hoffman, George Avery, James Cusick, Jeremy Cohen, Mary Herron, Terrance Weik, Gifford Waters, Ann Stokes, Robin Stuhlman, Kimberly Martin, Marietta Estéfan, and Gianna Brown all spent many months both on site in El Castillo and at the University of Florida analyzing, documenting, and computerizing the data reported here. Alvira Mercator of the Universidad Francisco de Miranda provided invaluable assistance and input throughout the project, both on site and from Coro, Venezuela. She contributed significantly to this undertaking in many ways. xxix
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Lab technicians from El Castillo included Isabel Peralta, Amable Osorio, Paula Rodríguez, and Diamilde Aristide, and they provided continuity, excellent technical assistance, and steadfast companionship in the lab over the years. The current laboratory was constructed as part of the site museum by the Instituto Española de Cooperación Internacional, and we appreciate not only the much more comfortable working conditions the institute provided but also the long- term protection of the collections themselves. Maurice Williams and Al Woods, historical archaeologists at the Florida Museum of Natural History, were instrumental in the organization, computerization, and interpretation of field and lab data throughout the project. We appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm for the program of all these participants under what were often very physically uncomfortable conditions. We would also like to thank Miguel González of Cabudare, Venezuela, for his considerable support of Cruxent and the generous hospitality he extended to both Cruxent and Deagan during the final stages of writing these books. He also provided secure and accessible storage facilities in the restored Convento de Santa Barbara in Cabudare for Cruxent’s personal papers related to La Isabela and for copies of Cruxent’s field records. We acknowledge our intellectual debt to the many scholars who worked at La Isabela before us, and whose work we had the advantage of building upon. These include Juan Puig Ortíz, Rafael Cantisano, Fernando Luna Calderón, José Guerrero, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Elpidio Ortega, and Carlos Dobal. This project would also not have been possible without the assistance and cooperation of several of our colleagues at the University of Florida. We would like to acknowledge the critical input of Michael V. Gannon, then director of the Institute for Early Contact Period Studies, who provided seed money and initial encouragement for the project. Invaluable logistical assistance was also provided by Gene Hemp, vice president for academic affairs, Terry McCoy, director of the Center for Latin American Studies, George Scheffer of the College of Architecture, and William Keegan and Jerry Milanich, chairs consecutively of the Florida Museum Department of Anthropology during our work at La Isabela. Valuable editorial assistance and reviews were provided by Jeremy Cohen, Bekis Suárez y Cohen, and Al Woods. We would particularly xxx
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like to acknowledge the assistance of Otto Bohlmann, whose graceful way with words and steel-trap mind have made this an immeasurably more readable book. We must finally and gratefully acknowledge the help and amistad of our many friends in El Castillo, who have made it possible and pleasant for us to work there by their open acceptance of us all into their community. We would especially like to thank Corina Peralta and her family for their many kindnesses to the foreign archaeologists, not to mention the many wonderful meals they have prepared over the years. Doña Corina as well as Roberto Montolio and his family have made our time at El Castillo not only an immensely enjoyable cultural adventure but also gastronomically rewarding and, more often than not, fun.
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1 Columbus and La Isabela Christopher Columbus came to the Americas on his second voyage in 1493 with great expectations and golden dreams, prepared to establish a colony that would become wealthy from gold and flourish as a base for his dynasty. He founded his first town with nearly fifteen hundred men on what is today the north coast of the Dominican Republic (figure 1.1), and called it La Isabela after the queen of Spain. His hopes were not to be realized, however. Just four years later La Isabela was in ruins. La Isabela has captured the imagination of archaeologists and historians for centuries, as the first European attempt at colonization in the unknown Americas. Until recently, however, our understanding of the settlement has in fact been based on historical imagination rather than systematic scholarly work. Although a huge literature pertaining to Columbus has been generated over the past five hundred years, little of it has been directed specifically toward the circumstances and events of La Isabela itself. We discuss and document this argument (as well as the scholarship on Columbus) in greater depth in chapter 1 of Columbus’s Outpost. This first European colony was outfitted and organized without any
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1.1. Location of La Isabela.
substantial information about the social or environmental circumstances of life in America other than the brief shipboard sojourn during Columbus’s first voyage. La Isabela represents a medieval Iberian concept of colonization, and because of this it provides us with an extremely important archaeological reference point from which to study the development of the diverse and distinctive cultural mosaic of the post-1500 Americas. It is also an essential datum from which to measure the direction and intensity of changes in the material worlds of both Europeans and Native Americans as they made cultural adjustments to one another. We argue in Columbus’s Outpost that the life conditions and social processes in fifteenth-century La Isabela were deeply influential in shaping subsequent Spanish colonial experiences in the Americas. We also suggest that these conditions and processes were encoded most comprehensively in the materiality of life in the colonies, as it is only in the largely democratic record of trash disposal, loss, and abandonment that we find expression by the majority of people in the past, not just by those who produced intentional written or iconographic records. As many have pointed out before us, most historical accounts of European-American contact offer an essentially one-sided perspective, reflect
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ing that experience as perceived by the literate (and often elite) minority. It is left to archaeology to construct the experiences and perspectives of those who willingly or unwillingly constituted the great majority of people in early fifteenth-century America. The experiences of such people—artisans, foot soldiers, women, farmers, Indians, and Africans—were not trivial. Nor were these ordinary folk passive. Their perceptions of and reactions to the conditions of life in fifteenth-century Hispaniola led to the collapse of the Columbian project and the recasting of Spain’s approach to America from a mercantile to an imperial venture. We argue both in Columbus’s Outpost and in the pages ahead that La Isabela was a carefully planned venture that failed, largely through the reactions of colonists who were unable—or unwilling—to recreate Spain in America. We also assert that this failure led to adjustments, both locally in the Spanish Americas and remotely at the imperial center in Spain, that became central to the transformation of Spain in America. Archaeological evidence from La Isabela offers us one of the few sources of information about the original configurations of the experiment as well as the local circumstances that provoked the earliest changes in the colonial project. The archaeological evidence we present in the following chapters was generated as part of a multidisciplinary, multinational program of research, conservation, and development that took place at La Isabela between 1987 and 1996. This program was initiated by the Dirección Nacional de Parques of the Dominican Republic in anticipation of the 1992 observation of the five-hundredth anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage to America. Archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, architects, and conservators from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the United States, Spain, and Italy have collaborated in the salvage and documentation of this remarkable settlement, and the story of that collaboration is detailed below and in chapter 5 of Columbus’s Outpost.
Historical Context and Narrative Structure The medieval background of La Isabela and its roots in Iberian expansion, reconquista, and religiosity have been explored by a great many authors, and we consider these themes in detail in chapter 2 of Columbus’s Outpost. Juan Pérez de Tudela Bueso was one of the earliest historians to show that Columbus’s project was a peculiar amalgam of private and monarchical rights and interests, in which the Crown financed an eco
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nomic venture modeled on the Portuguese trading factorías in West Africa but permitted Columbus to share in a small part of the profits. It was an arrangement that would not serve the colonies well, particularly in the view of those hidalgos and adventurers who expected recompense for their participation in the manner of the reconquisa—with hereditary rights to land, labor, and production. (For further analyses and discussion of these themes, see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 2, and also Pérez de Tudela Bueso, 1954, 1955, 1986.) King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela (in the Spanish spelling of her name) enthusiastically supported the Isabeline venture and had a major role in designing it. Columbus’s second fleet of seventeen assorted ships carried between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred men and was organized to establish a permanent colony that would serve as a base for trade with the people of this new land (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 2). The fleet left Cádiz on 25 September 1493 and arrived in the Caribbean in November. Columbus was anxious to return to La Navidad, the settlement he had inadvertently established in December of the previous year, 1492, after the Santa María was wrecked off the north coast of what is today Haiti. The admiral, ever ready to shape events to his vision, had concluded that the wreck of his flagship was a divine sign that he should establish his colony there. The forty crewmembers of the illfated Santa María had been left at the town of the Taíno Indian chief, Guacanagarí, with instructions to obtain gold and find its source. Columbus was understandably eager in the fall of 1493 to be reunited with them. The fleet arrived too late. When Columbus reached La Navidad on 28 November he found the fort and the Indian town burned, and all the Spaniards dead. Guacanagarí claimed that some of the men had died of disease or through fighting with one another, some had left to explore the interior and died there, and the rest had been killed in an attack by a rival chief, Caonabo (on La Navidad, see Deagan 1987b, Morison 1940). The tragedy at Navidad was to have far-reaching consequences, not only for the establishment of La Isabela but also—and more profoundly—in the mutual mistrust that was to pervade the attitudes of the Taíno Indians and the Spaniards toward one another from that time on. Beset by doubt, confusion, and probably some despair, Columbus and his men left La Navidad on 7 December and sailed eastward along the north coast of Hispaniola, looking for a more hospitable location. It took nearly a month of indecisive tacking to sail the 160 kilometers
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and choose the site that was to become La Isabela. The fleet dropped anchor on 2 January 1494, and the first Mass on land was celebrated on 6 January, marking the official establishment of the colony. The expedition was well equipped. Among its nearly fifteen hundred members were soldiers, sailors, carpenters, stonemasons, metalworkers, potters, and farmers. Four secular priests (who were not members of regular religious orders) accompanied the group, along with two Franciscan priests and the Hieronymite brother Ramón Pané, who was to become famous as the first ethnographer of the American Indians. Five monks of minor orders from the monastery of Monserrat in Catalonia were led by another Catalan friar, the outspoken and often disgruntled Crown appointee and papal representative Fray Bernaldo Buil. The expedition also included Dr. Alvarez Chanca, a physician who left invaluable accounts of the events of the second voyage; Juan Ponce de León, the future governor of Puerto Rico and Florida; the cartographer Juan de la Cosa; the father of Bartolomé de las Casas (who was later to become the defender of the Indians); and Columbus’s younger brother, Diego (see the appendix in Columbus’s Outpost for other individuals known to have been at La Isabela). Most of the colonists, however, were soldiers, adventurers, or hidalgos who flocked to join Columbus’s second expedition, which was launched in the year after the reconquest of Spain from the Moors had been completed. The crusading soldiers who had helped win the sevenhundred-year-long war and were now hoping for wealth, new lands, and adventure in the Indies were not the ideal contingent to establish a new colony. Few of the hidalgos were skilled in agriculture or animal husbandry, and even fewer were accustomed to such physical labor as tilling fields, digging ditches, or building houses. Although no rosters or supply lists from this voyage have survived, the archaeological record suggests that the materials for colonization were both varied and abundant. All of the things the colonists thought they would need to build a proper Spanish town were on board, with the remarkable exception of Spanish women (although some historians feel confident that at least one woman was present on the expedition; see Varela 1986:6). The expedition brought a wide variety of European plants and animals, many taken on in the Canary Islands, which the fleet left in October 1493 laden with horses, mules, swine, cattle, chickens, sheep, goats, dogs, and cats (see Tejera Gaspar 1998). Only twenty of the horses survived the voyage. Other, less desirable live passengers also
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arrived with the fleet—some, like rats and mice, as stowaways in the holds, and others—the European germs, microbes, and viruses that were to devastate the native people of the Caribbean—in the bodies of the Spanish human and animal passengers. Plants considered essential to the Spanish diet were imported to La Isabela—wheat seed, grapevine cuttings, chickpeas, melons, olives, fruit stones for planting, onions, lettuce, and radishes. Columbus also brought sugar cane to La Isabela in 1493, and long after Isabela was no more than a memory, this single introduction shaped the economic life of the Caribbean for centuries. Eyewitness accounts of La Isabela vary considerably, but they generally agree that the major buildings were constructed of stone. These stone buildings included Columbus’s fortified house (known as the “Castillo”), the church, a guard tower, and the fortified customhousecum-storehouse, or alhóndiga. The colonists lived in some two hundred “huts” (chozas or bohíos) made of wood and thatch. The problems besetting the community began almost immediately. Food supplies had spoiled and were quickly depleted—particularly (and most alarmingly to the Spaniards) the wine, which Columbus claimed had leaked out of the casks during the voyage because of the poor workmanship of his suppliers. Within a few days of their arrival most of the men fell sick, and many died. Columbus wrote to Ferdinand and Isabela in January 1494 that he wanted to send more gold back to them, and would have done so “if only the majority of the people here had not fallen ill” (Columbus, 1494, in Parry and Keith 1984:179). Their illnesses were attributed to the hardships of the long voyage, strange food, and the harmful “miasmas” of the unaccustomed tropical climate. Close quarters during the two months aboard ship as well as unfamiliar parasites in the local water probably provoked widespread dysentery and gastrointestinal ailments among the Spaniards. But Columbus added that “the country only tries them for some space of time and after that they recover.” It has also been suggested that influenza communicated by swine and horses may have been responsible for much of the illness suffered by both Spaniards and Indians at La Isabela (see, for example, Guerra 1985, 1988). Other historians, including Bartolomé de las Casas, have suggested that syphilis—the one contagious American disease to which the Europeans had no resistance—was a factor in the continuous disease experienced by the men of La Isabela.
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Fortunately for the colony, events other than sickness and death soon reduced the number of men dependent upon the supplies at La Isabela. In early January, shortly after arriving, Columbus sent a land expedition under Alonso de Hojedo to the interior to scout for gold, and just a month after dropping anchor, he dispatched twelve of the original seventeen ships back to Spain to carry news to Ferdinand and Isabela and to beg for more supplies—especially food, clothes, arms, and draft animals. La Isabela was essentially unprotected during those first months. The stone buildings and defense wall were not finished, the fields were not cultivated, and the town was made up of thatched huts filled with sick men unable to work. Undoubtedly with the catastrophe of La Navidad still fresh in his mind, Columbus worried that a single Indian torch could easily destroy the town. He pushed everyone on the expedition who was still standing—including the hidalgos—to work on constructing the settlement and planting crops. This overwhelmingly unpopular policy created a mutinous attitude among the colonists, and the first open rebellion against Columbus took place in January, the same month as the founding of the town. It was organized by the frustrated and disappointed royal accountant, Bernal de Pisa, who had been appointed to the expedition by Ferdinand and Isabela to represent their fiscal interests. Columbus crushed the rebellion, jailing Pisa and hanging several others. Among the Spanish burials in the town cemetery excavated in 1983 by physical anthropologists Fernando Luna Calderón and José Guerrero was the skeleton of a Spaniard buried face down with his hands behind his back, suggesting that he may have been one of the less fortunate mutineers (Guerrero 1983; Luna Calderón 1986). Shortly after the rebellion, the expedition to the interior returned with news of gold “in so many places that a man could not name them all.”This inspired even the sick and weary to abandon the construction and defense of the colony and march en masse to the interior in search of gold. By all accounts this was an impressive entourage. The expedition, headed by Columbus, left La Isabela in March “with colors flying, in rank and file, drums beating and trumpets sounding” (Herrera, in Parry and Keith 1984:192). The majority of the remaining Spaniards healthy enough to march went along, including four hundred men on foot and twenty horsemen. They marched twenty-seven leagues (about 160 kilometers) in this manner, undoubtedly to the astonishment of the Taíno inhabitants of the many towns through which they passed. The
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Indians were particularly alarmed by the horses; horse and rider appeared to them much like a centaur, half man and half beast (for an account and recent reenactment of this expedition see Guerrero and Veloz Maggiolo 1988). Columbus built a small fort of packed earth and wood in the interior and named it Santo Tomás. Leaving a contingent of some fifty men there, the party returned to La Isabela to find that disaster had struck again. Not only had another epidemic killed many of the remaining settlers, but a fire had destroyed some two-thirds of the infant community. Despite illness, disaster, the need to finish building the town, and the absence of a stable subsistence base, Columbus chose to leave the struggling settlement in April 1493 in order to explore Cuba and Jamaica. His brother Diego Colón was left in command of an increasingly mutinous company, and circumstances at La Isabela deteriorated even further. Throughout the short and unhappy life of La Isabela, none of these problems ever really went away. The disaffection of Columbus’s men compounded the difficulties of illness, food shortages, fire, and the disappointing yield of gold. Resentment reached a peak in May 1497, during another of Columbus’s absences, when open rebellion broke out. It was led by Francisco Roldán, a cavalry soldier who had come to La Isabela as a member of Columbus’s household entourage. Heading a band of nearly one hundred men, Roldán sacked La Isabela and left with munitions and livestock to establish a separate polity on the island. This event, as we discuss in chapters 4 and 11 of Columbus’s Outpost, marked the effective end of the Columbian project and the beginning of a new social, political, and economic order. By 1498, La Isabela had been abandoned as a Spanish town (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 4). Table 1.1 provides a chronology of major events concerning La Isabela.
After Columbus For centuries after the abandonment of La Isabela by the Spanish colonists, the site itself was subjected to continuing depredation by both natural and human forces. As a nineteenth-century visitor to the site noted, “The hand of the vandal has been more destructive than the tooth of time” (Ober 1893:246). The ruins of La Isabela’s few stone buildings have always been well known to the residents of the northwestern Dominican Republic, who in the early years of the sixteenth century took stones from the site’s
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1.1 Chronology of Events Pertinent to La Isabela December 1492 25 September 1493 3 to 13 October 1493 27 November 1493 5 December 1493 2 January 1494 6 January 1494 7 to 20 January 1494 February 1494 12 March 1494 March or April 1494 April 1494 April 1494
24 April 1494 June 1494 September 1494 September 1494– January 1495 Winter 1494 February 1495
1495–1496 24 March 1495
June 1495 October 1495
October 1495 February 1496
Establishment of La Navidad (Haiti); Columbus returns to Spain from first voyage. Columbus departs from Cádiz to begin second voyage. In Grán Canária. Columbus arrives at Española, discovers destruction of fort and death of men. Columbus leaves La Navidad. Columbus arrives at La Isabela. Formal establishment (first Mass) of La Isabela. Antonio de Hojeda expedition to the interior. Antonio de Torres returns to Spain with twelve ships. Grand entrada into the interior. Establishment of Santo Tomás fort. Fire burns two-thirds of the houses in La Isabela. Epidemic among Spaniards at La Isabela. Columbus sends 470 Spaniards inland to march around the country, pacify the Vega Real, accustom the Indians to subjugation, and make the Spaniards “gradually grow accustomed to eating Indian food” (Ferdinand Colón in Keen 1959:128). Columbus leaves to explore Cuba and Jamaica. Bartolomé Colón arrives at La Isabela with two caravels. Columbus names Bartolomé Colón adelantado Columbus gravely ill. Antonio de Torres arrives at La Isabela with four caravels of relief supplies. Torres returns to Spain with 550 Indians and many disgruntled settlers, including Juan de Aguado and Padre Buil. Island-wide famine. Columbus leads Spaniards in open battle against Indians of the Vega Real with two hundred soldiers, twenty horses and twenty dogs. Hurricane wrecks caravels San Juan and Cardera; remains used to build the Santa Cruz (or India) at La Isabela. Juan de Aguado returns to La Isabela from Spain with livestock, dogs, fishermen, and craftsmen; conducts Crown investigation of complaints against Columbus. Hurricane sinks three of Aguado’s ships. Gold discovered in San Cristóbal region (southern Dominican Republic), and Santo Domingo established.
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1.1 Chronology of Events Pertinent to La Isabela (Continued) 1496? 10 March 1496 July 1496
February 1497 May 1497 31 August 1498
Caravel built at La Isabela in case Spaniards should have to sail to Castile in an emergency. Columbus leaves for Spain to protect his interests, taking two ships. Columbus writes to Bartolomé Colón in La Isabela, commanding him to seek another city site on the south coast and to relocate everything at La Isabela there. Two relief ships sail to La Isabela from Cádiz under Pedro Fernández Coronel. Roldán mutiny at La Isabela and Concepción. Columbus returns from Spain with eight caravels and supplies but goes to Santo Domingo, not La Isabela.
remnants to help build the town of Puerto Plata, some fifty kilometers away. Since then, no fewer than twelve archaeological expeditions have worked at La Isabela. Among the earliest were those of Frederick Ober, the North American commissioner for the Fourth Centenary of the Discovery of America, who mapped the site in 1891 (figure 1.2) and removed objects for display at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago (Ober 1893). In 1892 another North American, the U.S. Navy’s Lieutenant G. P. Colvocoressess, was sent on the U.S.S. Enterprise to investigate the site further. He saw and described La Isabela when the ruins of its buildings and defense wall bastions were still several feet high, and he left an invaluable map of the site at that time (figure 1.2). Dominican scholars made many expeditions to La Isabela through the twentieth century, including the research projects of José PuigOrtíz, Erwin Palm, Carlos Dobal, Emile Boyrie de Moya, Rafael Cantisano, Fernando Luna Calderón, and José Guerrero, all of whom studied and recorded the site in its various stages of preservation (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5, and Puig Ortíz 1973). Figure 1.3 identifies some of the known interventions and disturbances to the site during the past century. Few of the modern researchers were able to study the stone ruins mapped in 1892, because of a series of horrifying, if well-intentioned, events that took place after 1945. In that year, the military government of Rafael Trujillo ordered that the site be “cleaned up” in preparation for a group of visiting dignitaries. Local administrative officials of the
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1.2. Maps of La Isabela in 1891. Top, by Lt. Colvocoresses (in Thatcher 1903). Bottom, by Frederick Ober (in Ober 1893). Key to Colvocoresses map: A–C: “Small Martello towers.” D, F, G: “Remnants of walls, nearly 40 feet long, which connect to a fourth wall marked H, that runs parallel to the first.” K: “A rectangular structure, 40 feet by 20 feet.” L: “A structure enclosed on the east by a circular wall.” M–P: “Circular towers.” S: “A pit of some 20 feet in diameter and 15 feet in depth; it is said that it was excavated by treasure hunters.”
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1.3. La Isabela basemap showing the human-made features and disturbances to the site during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
district went to great pains to comply—including, disastrously, grading the site of La Isabela, ruins and all. This happened again in 1959, when La Isabela was designated as a military lookout point in response to the Cuban Revolution. Two H-16 Alice Chalmers tractors were put to work to create a parade ground, flattening and pushing much of the remaining part of the site over the cliff and into the sea. The archaeological stratigraphy in the principal area of the site along the waterfront indicates that about fifty to seventy centimeters of surface soil and remnant walls were removed in this way, leaving only between five and thirty
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. . Monument. . Location of excavations by the Junta para la Celebración del Centenario () and also by Lt. Colvocorresses (). . Roofed, circular cement palapa constructed in as a field lab (). . Monument placed in the west wall of the alhóndiga by the Amantes de Luz (). . “Trinchera construída por los Dominicanos cuando La Restauración”—an “entrenchment built by the Dominicans during the War of Restoration” (–). Noted by Pla and Arena during their survey of the site in . . Rancho and animal grazing area, s. . Monument and flagpoles erected in . . Earthen dais prepared for the visit of the king of Spain in . . Cement drying platform for corn and other crops (–). . Excavations by the Patronato Interamericano Pro Restauración de La Isabela (). . Excavations by the Museo del Hombre Dominicano (). . Excavations by the Museo del Hombre Dominicano and the University of Florence (–). . Large pit thought to have been excavated by treasure hunters (early twentieth century). Shaded geometric areas are earth-fast wood and thatch structures with associated privies and outbuildings, mapped in .
centimeters of original ground surface intact in many places. Some of the soil was used to level and grade the site, but most of it, according to the tractor operator, was pushed over the cliff into the sea (one of the tractor operators was located and interviewed on tape by Cruxent in 1990). The very lowest layer of Columbus-era soil—admittedly churned up—was nevertheless left at the site, as were the foundations of the stone walls.
The Research Program In 1986 the site became a national park of the Dominican Republic known as the Solar de las Américas. Since then the park has been the
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focus of an intensive and international program of archaeological investigation and interpretation coordinated by the Dominican National Park Service. Excavations began in 1987 under the direction of José M. Cruxent (Universidad Nacional y Experimental Francisco de Miranda — — in Coro, Venezuela), with support from the Dirección Nacional de Parques of the Dominican Republic (). The University of Florida joined the project in 1989, under the direction of Kathleen Deagan, and the excavation and analysis of the site continued jointly through 1995 with the support of the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, the , the University of Florida, and the (Deagan 1992). The Agencia Española de Cooperación International conserved the masonry remains at the site and developed an interpretive plan and site museum for La Isabela (Campos Carrasco et al. 1992). The excavation of the cemetery and biological anthropological studies were carried out by the University of Florence (Italy) in collaboration with the Museo del Hombre Dominicano, and the report on that work is pending. The multiple objectives and perspectives of this complex program are considered in greater detail in chapter 1 of Columbus’s Outpost. We concentrate in the chapters ahead on the archaeological aspects of the program.
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2 Taínos at La Isabela The “Caribbean” that Columbus encountered was the domain of indigenous societies who had been there for centuries. The largest of these in the Greater Antilles were the Taínos, and neither the Taínos nor the Spaniards were completely ignorant of each other when La Isabela was established. Although we have little direct evidence of the Indian assessments of the Spaniards, there is a great deal of ethnohistorical and archaeological information available concerning the Taíno from a European perspective. We synthesize the archaeology and ethnohistory of Taíno society in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 3, and other synthetic ethnographic portraits of the Taínos can be found in Alegría (1983, 1997a, 1997b); Anderson-Córdova (1990); Arrom (1988); Bercht et al., eds. (1997); Cassá (1975); Gerbi (1985); Keegan (1992; 1996b; 1997; 2000); Pantel, ed. (1983); Rouse (1948, 1986, 1992); Sturtevant (1961); Veloz Maggiolo (1993, 1997); and Wilson (1990, 1997, ed.). We discuss other studies considering specific aspects of Taíno society in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 3. Our intent in this chapter is to document the large assemblage of Native-American material culture that was recovered during the exca-
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vation of La Isabela, placing it in the general context of Taíno archaeology and ethnohistory, drawing from the sources cited above.
Indians and Spaniards in Fifteenth-Century Hispaniola By 1492, the people of the Greater Antilles had established a densely settled and highly centralized society. Complex hereditary chiefdoms were organized hierarchically into competing regional polities. They planted manioc and other crops, were efficient hunters and gatherers, and had wide seaborne trade networks throughout the region. Artistic expression had reached an intense level of development, and the Spanish encountered craftspeople who were highly skilled in ceramic production, stonework and other carving media, boatbuilding, and weaving. Spiritual belief and ritual, based on a cult of spirits, pervaded most aspects of native Caribbean life and was sufficiently intriguing to the Spaniards that within a year of establishing La Isabela Columbus commissioned a formal study of Taíno religion. Most archaeologists and ethnohistorians have referred to this cultural complex of centralized cheifdoms, mixed agriculture and gathering subsistence patterns, and the highly developed artistic and ritual expression found throughout much of the Greater Antilles as “Taíno.” It should be noted, however, that some recent work suggests that Taíno should refer primarily to those groups who produced a particular style of Ostionoid pottery known as “Chican,” after the Boca Chica site in the southern Dominican Republic (see particularly Veloz Maggiolo 1993:115–20; Veloz Maggiolo et. al. 1981). Other contemporary groups coexisted with the Taínos, including those known as Macoríx (who produced Meillacan pottery) and Ciguayos (who produced Chican pottery but spoke a different language and are distinguished from the Taínos in Spanish chronicles). These groups are thought to have been ethnically distinct from the Taínos while sharing a number of traits, including highly developed political and artistic traditions (see Guerrero and Veloz Maggiolo 1988:42–47 and particularly Veloz Maggiolo 1993: 115–22; Veloz Maggiolo et al. 1981). As we shall see, the archaeological evidence from the region around La Isabela indicates that both Macoriges and Taíno groups were probably in residence there when Columbus arrived. Although the initial encounters between Spaniards and Hispaniolans
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during Columbus’s first voyage in 1492 appeared optimistic and relatively amicable, by the following year the events at La Navidad had forced both sides into an uneasy and distrustful coexistence. The deterioration of La Isabela as a town paralleled the deterioration of Spanish relations with the region’s native groups (a decline we chronicle in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 4). There were several Taíno towns within a few miles of La Isabela, and both Columbus and Chanca noted that the Indians—no doubt consumed with incredulous curiosity—were constantly coming and going in the Spanish settlement, bartering gold and foodstuffs for bits of glass, metal, and trinkets. Early narratives—particularly those written by Columbus himself—note the delight of the Taíno people when they were introduced to hawk’s bells and beads, which were a success in barter. Hawk’s bells were soon to become a very different kind of symbol, however, for they were used to measure the enforced tribute Columbus imposed on the Taínos in 1497: one hawk’s bell, or about three ounces, of goldust every three months, for every Indian over fourteen years old. After the disaster of La Navidad, an uneasy peace persisted for nearly a year on the island, but the reckless mistreatment of the Taínos by many of the foraging soldiers and conquistadors soon changed this. One of the first incidents to shatter the truce took place in April 1494, when Alonso de Hojeda, on his way to reinforce the fortress of Santo Tomás, seized the local cacique and some of his party at the crossing of the river Yaque, a critical point in the passage to the interior fort. Claiming that these Indians were guilty of an earlier theft of clothing from some Spaniards, he cut off the ears of one of the cacique’s people and sent the rest in chains to La Isabela. Hojeda thus both ensured the Indians’ continuing animosity and lost the security of the crucial river crossing. Such incidents led ultimately to an organized Taíno reprisal in 1495, which was ruthlessly crushed by the Spaniards. Famines occurred among the Taínos of the region in 1495 and 1496, compounded by continuing conflict and the imposition of tribute. But it was the disease brought unwittingly by the Spaniards to Hispaniola that irrevocably devastated the Native-American inhabitants. Within three decades of contact, measles, influenza, colds, and later smallpox reduced the native peoples of Hispaniola from what may have been a population of more than a million in 1492 to fewer than twenty thousand in 1514. The Taíno cultural legacy is nevertheless still strongly
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evident in the Dominican Republic and other parts of the Caribbean. Dominican diet, craft designs, architecture, pottery, hammocks, and even faces are all present-day manifestations of the complex native Caribbean societies that encountered Columbus at La Isabela (for examples, see Vega 1981).
The Taínos at La Isabela As we discuss below, the archaeological evidence from La Isabela indicates that site had been occupied (and probably abandoned) by the Taínos prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. The precise political identity of the Taíno people who occupied the site is not certain, and neither are the precise dates of Taíno occupation. Nevertheless, the assemblage represents a large and detailed body of information about late prehistoric Taíno life that should be of comparative interest. The region in which La Isabela was established seems to have been an ethnic, linguistic, and political frontier of sorts, not only between Macoriges and Taínos but also between major political territories and language groups. According to Las Casas, the mountainous area to the north of the area of the Vega Real (Cibao) was occupied by speakers of the Macoríx de Arriba language, and this probably extended to the coast east of Puerto Plata. Macoríx de Arriba was distinguished from the Macoríx de Abajo language, which was centered in the Vega Real itself. Neither of these languages was mutually intelligable to speakers of Taíno, which was the common language of the island outside the Macoríx regions (Las Casas I, CX, 1985, vol. 1:429). It is unclear from ethnohistoric sources whether the area around La Isabela fell within the region of speakers of Macoríx de Arriba. Some scholars suggest that the language was spoken to the east of Puerto Plata, and others feel that it was spoken as far west as Monte Cristi (see, for example, suggestions by Guerrero and Veloz Maggiolo 1988:24; Vega 1987:25–26; Wilson 1990:103). The political affiliation of the Native-American towns around La Isabela is equally unclear, and Columbus and other chroniclers are uncharacteristically silent about the caciques in their immediate neighborhood. The locations of chiefdoms as proposed by Charlevoix and Rouse (detailed in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 3) imply that La Isabela would have been located near the border between the northern territories of Ciguayo (ruled at contact by Mayabonex) and Marién (ruled by
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Guacanagarí or his superior chief ). The interpretations of Morales and Vega locate La Isabela within the province of Cayabo close to the fierce Ciguayo province. As Wilson (1990:14–15) and Veloz Maggiolo (1993:112) note, however, these asserted boundaries are ambiguous and shifting, based as they are on fragmentary documentary and archaeological data, each frozen at its own point in history. Many modern views (as in Sauer 1966:89 and Wilson 1990) assume that La Isabela was in a peripheral part of the territory governed by Guarionex. Both documentary and archaeological sources suggest that there were both Taíno and Macoriges towns near La Isabela at the time of Spanish contact (Veloz Maggiolo 1990; Ortega 1988; Guerrero and Veloz Maggiolo 1988; Taviani 1991, vol. 2:161; Caro 1973). Several Taíno sites that seem to have been occupied both before and after 1492 have been located within a few kilometers of the Spanish town site. Two of the bestknown sites, El Perenal and Bajabonico, were within the two-league area noted by Cuneo. The Perenal and Bajabonico sites are located a halfkilometer apart on the northeastern side of the Bajabonico River. They are situated about eighty meters above the river bank, on a high, ridgelike hill known as the Loma de Candelón. The sites were tested archaeologically by Elpidio Ortega and Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, who found Spanish trade goods at both locations and believe that both were occupied from about .. 1300 to after the time of contact (Guerrero and Veloz Maggiolo 1988:79–80; Ortega and Guerrero 1988; Veloz Maggiolo 1990). Both sites have large, raised mounds used for farming (conucos) along the edge of the slopes overlooking the river, as well as evidence of domestic village occupation. The ceramic assemblages at the sites, however, appear to be distinct from one another, with Meillacan Ostionoid ceramics found at El Perenal and Chican Ostionoid ceramics at Bajabonico. The residents of these sites were interpreted to have been Chican Taíno and Meillacan Macoriges, respectively (Veloz Maggiolo 1990). Recent excavations at the Perenal site by Alejandro Coppa of the University of Rome and Fernando Luna Calderón of the Museo del Hombre Dominicano have recovered Chican Taíno ceramics in association with Spanish materials (Coppa to Deagan, personal communication, La Isabela, 1998). Carreta Podrida is a more recently located Indian site, approximately 3.5 kilometers southwest of La Isabela in a rich agricultural zone (see chapter 3, figure 3.1). The site covers an area of about two hundred
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square meters, with abundant Chican ceramic remains. Investigations have not, however, established date ranges for its occupation (Cruxent, personal communication, El Castillo, Dec. 1992; Campos Carrasco et al. 1992:25). The Spaniards, as we discuss in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 4, interacted regularly with the Taíno inhabitants of the area and received a considerable amount of food from them during the early weeks or months of settlement. Dr. Chanca reported, “There come here constantly many Indians. . . . All come laden with ages, which are like turnips, very excellent for food; of these we make here many kinds of foodstuffs in various ways. It is so sustaining to eat that it comforts us greatly” (Chanca in Parry and Keith 1984:86–87). The documentary evidence is, nevertheless, ambiguous concerning Indian occupation on the site of La Isabela itself when Columbus arrived. Las Casas reports that “he anchored in a large river port where there was an Indian village” (Las Casas I, LXXXIII in Collard 1971:47). Ferdinand Colón records that “he proceeded to anchor in front of an Indian village” (Ferdinand Colón in Keen 1959:121). And Cuneo says that, “having established the said area for our residence, the inhabitants of the island, who are distributed from one to two leagues away from us, came to see us. (Cuneo in Gil and Varela 1984: 243). Columbus himself did not comment about Indian settlements at the site of his new town, other than to voice concern about protecting La Isabela from destruction, which, he noted, “one Indian with a burning faggot could bring about, setting fire to the huts, for they come and go constantly, night and day. On account of them we have guards in camp, while the settlement is unwalled and without defense” (in Parry and Keith 1984:180). There is no mention of native people being forced out of an existing village by the Spanish colony. The archaeological evidence from excavations at La Isabela, however, clearly indicates that there was at some time Taíno occupation of the site, concentrated at the south end in the area where the Spaniards built their church, cemetery, and the house of Columbus (see appendix 2). This area includes both a Taíno cemetery and a small occupation area marked by dense deposits of fauna, shell, and Taíno artifacts in a dark earth midden. The enormous twentiethcentury disturbances to the site have made it impossible confidently to determine the chronological associations of the Taíno and Spanish occupations at the site, although the balance of evidence leans toward the
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interpretation that the Taíno occupation at La Isabela itself predates— and was abandoned before—Spanish arrival . The same disturbance circumstances have made unreliable the assignment of those potential radiocarbon samples that are available for the Taíno occupation of the site. The archaeological data relevant to this issue are detailed in chapter 4 and in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5.
The Taíno Assemblage Taíno materials from the site included ceramic, stone, shell, and bone artifacts (table 2.1; our discussion of spatial distribution of remains follows the site divisions proposed and documented in the chapters ahead). The materials were concentrated at the south end of the site between the Casa de Colón and the plaza, covering an area of about 75 meters north to south and 50 meters east to west. In the area of the Casa de Colón, for example, Taíno materials occurred at a density of 16.5 artifacts per square meter excavated. In other parts of the site this figure ranged from 0.70 to 7. Taíno artifacts per square meter excavated. A puzzling exception to the distribution of Indian remains is that of small ornamental or ritual items (beads, zemis—small images of spirits —and other small carved objects). They occur least frequently in the Taíno midden and cemetery at the south end of the site and most frequently in the ravine trash deposit at the north of the site (38 percent of all Taíno ornamental items occur here, or .07 artifacts per square meter excavated). They are also quite frequent in the area interpreted as the elite residential zone of the town (on the north side of the plaza), where 16 percent of Taíno ornamental items occur (.21 artifacts per square meter excavated). The third-densest distribution of Taíno ornaments was found in the non-elite residential sector referred to as the Central Poblado (15 percent of all remains, or .01 artifacts per square meter excavated). These decorative or ritual items do not appear to occur in association with the Taíno occupation or burial areas but are instead associated with Spanish occupation areas and trash deposits. These small, attractive, intact objects have considerable artistic charm and may perhaps have been collected and kept by Spaniards, either at La Isabela or elsewhere. Tribute records reveal that colored stones, necklaces of stone beads, and “badges” were brought to La Isabela as part of the Taíno tribute, and some of the ornamental items at La Isabela may have ar
Tools and Implements Grater Metate Grindstone Ax Blade Celt
Chican Decor. Chican Plain Meillac Plain Meillac Decor. Unidentified Colono? Burén Subtotal indig. ceram. Ceramics/m2
% Ceramics
316 3,634
# Ceramics
%
2,496
1,217 13,375 3
#
%
# Ceramics
%
1,856
1,163 14,655 8 22 1
Ceramics
3,520
1,120 12,498 7 61 1
#
% Ceramics
704
694 6,615
# Ceramics
%
1,344
1
% Tools
4
% Tools
4
1
% Tools
1
% Tools
2
% Tools 3
1
4
% Tools
% Ceramics
8
217 3,429
#
Ceramics
%
3,200
106 1,008 2 4
#
Ceramics
%
1,216
7
6
% Tools
1 1
1
% Tools
1
% Tools
4 1 18 10 3 9,384 0.130 3,665 0.051 1,123 0.016 2.3 1.1 0.7
1
659 8,702
#
3,648
Zone 5 Zones 6 –7 Zone 8 Zone 9 Zone 10 (Casa Colón) (Laguna) (Pob. Cent.) (Pob. Este) (Pob. Sur)
17 5 24 5 2 2 16 45 11 138 30 75 8 3,978 0.055 4,004 0.055 14,768 0.204 15,879 0.219 13,762 0.190 7,380 0.102 2.7 1.3 3.8 6.7 15.4 7.2
283 3,650
#
1,408
Zone 4 (Plaza)
1 1 15 1 16
5,669 66,558 18 142 28 25 335 72,778 33.000
19,392
Total
12:11 PM
Ceramics
Area in m2:
Zone 2 Zone 3 (Alhóndiga) (Residential)
2/22/02
Zone 1 (Playa)
2.1 Indigenous Items at La Isabela
Deagan2.02 Page 22
Ornamental/Ritual Items Bead Bead blank Shell bead
Stone bowl
27
% Tools
36 2
% Tools
1 1 41 1
1
% Tools
Zone 4 (Plaza)
2
% Tools
1 1
% Tools
% 1
Ornaments
4 %
1
1
Ornaments
% 1 1
Ornaments
%
1
Ornaments
% Ornaments
%
18
1
Ornaments
% Tools
11
3
Ornaments
%
6
Ornaments
%
78 0.037 37 0.018 0.019 0.011
28
57
1
3 2
% Tools
5 1
1
1
Ornaments
%
50 0.024 0.031
48
1
% Tools
Zone 5 Zones 6–7 Zone 8 Zone 9 Zone 10 (Casa Colón) (Laguna) (Pob. Cent.) (Pob. Este) (Pob. Sur)
7 1 37
4
2 3 1 1 2 1 186 15 1 1,556 3 2,108 0.097
Total
12:11 PM
54 18 1 7 1 103 489 269 593 17 1 2 3 0.001 134 0.064 533 0.253 315 0.149 658 0.312 49 0.023 0.002 0.044 0.137 0.133 0.734 0.048
2 1
% Tools
Zone 2 Zone 3 (Alhóndiga) (Residential)
2/22/02
Tools and Implements Chisel Fishhook Hammer stone Punch Scraper Project. point Fish-net weight UID tool Chert core Debitage Flake Total Tools Tools/m2
Zone 1 (Playa)
2.1 Indigenous Items at La Isabela (Continued )
Deagan2.02 Page 23
Total Taíno items
0.06
13 0.05
2
1
2 4 2
%
2 1 1 41 0.17
1
6
7 21
Ornaments
%
12 0.048
1 2
1
5 2
Ornaments
2 7 0.028
2
1 2
Ornaments
%
95 0.383
6
2
5
2
1 60
Ornaments
%
2 28 0.113
2
1
2
1
5 9
% Ornaments
%
4 0.016
3
1
Ornaments
9,498 0.127 3,730 0.050 1,177 0.016
36 0.145
1 3
1 16 1
Ornaments
%
Zone 5 Zones 6–7 Zone 8 Zone 9 Zone 10 (Casa Colón) (Laguna) (Pob. Cent.) (Pob. Este) (Pob. Sur)
4,001 0.053 4,151 0.055 15,342 0.205 16,206 0.217 14,427 0.193 7,482 0.100
15
1
3
1
4 5
% Ornaments
% Ornaments
Zone 4 (Plaza)
74,838
26 119 3 3 1 17 1 4 1 4 2 3 13 1 5 248
Total
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Stone bead Cuenta colar Earplug Gorget Labret Pendant Stamp Stone ball Jadeite celt Pipe Phallus Shell plaque Zemi Carved coral Carved stone Total ornamental
Ornamental/Ritual items
Zone 2 Zone 3 (Alhóndiga) (Residential)
2/22/02
Zone 1 (Playa)
2.1 Indigenous Items at La Isabela (Continued)
Deagan2.02 Page 24
1,408 3,978 2.7 3 0.002 15 0.011 4,001 2.7
Zone 2 Zone 3 (Alhóndiga) (Residential)
Zone 4 (Plaza) % All % All Taino 1,344 Taino 0.190 7,380 0.102 7.2 0.312 49 0.023 0.048 0.028 95 0.383 0.071 0.193 7,482 0.100 7.3 3,648 9,384 2.3 78 0.019 36 0.010 9,498 2.3
% All % All Taino 3,200 Taino 0.130 3,665 0.051 1.1 0.037 37 0.018 0.011 0.145 28 0.113 0.009 0.127 3,730 0.050 1.1
1,216 1,123 0.7 50 0.031 4 0.003 1,177 0.7
0.016
0.016
19,392 72,778 3.345 2,143 0.098 248 0.014 74,838 3.439
Total
12:11 PM
0.023
% All Taino 0.016
Zone 5 Zones 6–7 Zone 8 Zone 9 Zone 10 (Casa Colón) (Laguna) (Pob. Cent.) (Pob. Este) (Pob. Sur)
% All % All % All % All Taino 2,496 Taino 3,520 Taino 1,856 Taino 704 0.055 4,004 0.055 14,768 0.204 15,879 0.219 13,762 1.3 3.8 6.7 15.4 0.001 134 0.064 533 0.253 315 0.149 658 0.044 0.137 0.133 0.734 0.060 13 0.052 41 0.165 12 0.048 7 0.005 0.012 0.006 0.010 0.053 4,151 0.055 15,342 0.205 16,206 0.217 14,427 1.4 3.9 6.8 16.1
Zone 1 (Playa)
2/22/02
Area in m 2 Ceramics Ceram/m2 Tools Tools/m2 Ornamental/Ritual Items Ornaments/m2 Total Taíno items Items/m2
Summary
2.1 Indigenous Items at La Isabela (Continued)
Deagan2.02 Page 25
3,696 4,250 0.870
No form Total % Type no form
0.002 0.027 0.007 0.379 0.002
1 15 4 210 1 554 0.295
0.087 0.025 0.412 0.014 0.042 0.333 0.500 0.211 0.284 1.000
0.343 0.237 0.267 0.571 0.418
% of Form
56,324 57,606 0.978
1,282 0.682
4 81 43 549 6 32 1 2 15 14 534
Plain Indigen. (Chican) 0.003 0.064 0.034 0.433 0.005 0.025 0.001 0.002 0.012 0.011 0.421
% of Type 1.000 0.604 0.754 0.674 0.429 0.582 1.000 0.667 0.500 0.737 0.718
% of Form
21 25 0.840
1 4 0.002
13 15 0.867
2 0.001
1
1
1
1
1
Colono ?
Plain Meillac
108 147 0.735
39 0.021
36
3
Decor. Meillac
60,162 62,043 0.970
4 134 57 815 14 55 1 3 30 19 74 1 1 1,881
Total
0.002 0.071 0.030 0.433 0.007 0.029 0.001 0.002 0.016 0.010 0.395 0.001 0.001
% of Total by Form
12:11 PM
48 14 228 8 23
Bottle Bowl Boat-shaped bowl Carinated bowl Round bowl Shallow bowl Star bowl Cazuela Jar Platter Water bottle Spouted vessel Shallow basin Total % of total by type
Form
% of Type
2/22/02
Decor. Indigen. (Chican)
2.2 Varieties and Forms of Indian Ceramics at La Isabela (Excluding Burén)
Deagan2.02 Page 26
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rived in this manner (helping to account for their being distributed differently from other, more mundane Taíno goods).
Ceramics Because the emphasis of the Isabela archaeological project was on the Spanish occupation of the site, the Taíno ceramics have not yet been subjected to systematic microscopic or petrographic analyses. They have, however, been catalogued according to paste composition, color, form, surface treatment, decoration, and size (vessel diameter and wall thickness), and the following discussion is based on these observations. Vessel form and decorative motif taxonomies follow those first developed by Rouse (1941) and modified by Cusick (1989). Quantitative information is summarized in tables 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4. The overwhelming majority of Native-American ceramics (90.6%) from La Isabela are small fragments of undecorated, handmade, lowfired pottery. These conform in general to the paste characteristics described for Chican Ostionoid wares at other Taíno sites in northern Hispaniola (Cusick 1987; Rouse 1939:113–45). The pottery is usually grayish-brown or reddish-brown. The paste is granular, tempered with quartz sand, grit, and naturally occurring minerals of the clay source, and the sherds themselves range from about seven to ten millimeters in thickness. Surfaces are usually smoothed and often polished, particularly when decoration is present. Because the paste of these undecorated sherds is consistent with that of the more easily classifiable Chican Ostionoid decorated wares from the site, the sherds are assumed to be associated with that ceramic tradition. Many of them are in fact without doubt fragments from undecorated portions of decorated vessels. A very small proportion of the undecorated ceramics (.02 percent, or eighteen sherds) could be identified as part of the Meillacan Ostionoid tradition. These sherds were red or red-brown in color, with light sand temper, rather than the quartz-sand or grit temper of the Chican sherds. The Meillacan sherds were also thinner walled (3–7 mm) than the Chican sherds, and their surfaces in general appeared to be carefully smoothed, but not polished. The paste of these sherds was consistent with the more easily recognized decorated examples of the Meillacan pottery (142 sherds, or 2 percent of the decorated Taíno wares). The decorated Meillacan sherds have deep, finely incised designs usually in
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2.1. Meillacan Ostionoid sherds from La Isabela. Left sherd 3.3 centimeters wide at rim.
sets of straight parallel lines or cross-hatching, sometimes with fine punctates in zones. Appendages and adornos (small modeled lugs on vessel rims) on the decorated Meillacan examples are small, finely modeled, and often wedge-shaped (figure 2.1). Ninety-eight percent of the decorated ceramics, however, are of the Chican Ostionoid tradition. These vessels are decorated with a variety of techniques, including broad and narrow incising, punctation, appliquéd elements, and molded adornos. Nearly 2 percent of the decorated wares had a white or reddish slip applied to the surface, and the majority of these slipped sherds (showing evidence of vessel form) were water bottles. Figures 2.2 to 2.7 show examples of the Chican Ostionoid decorated wares, and tables 2.2 to 2.4 provide information on form. The dominant decorative method used on these vessels was incising in both curvilinear and rectilinear designs, often combined with punctation at the terminus of the incised lines. Twenty-one percent of the decorated forms had applied elements, including adornos and various appliquéd forms on the body of the vessel. Of the latter, the undulating linear “sigmoid” appliqué was particularly frequent. Table 2.3 shows
Frag. 53 21 15 9 2 16 15 3 134
55 26 45 2 5 6 12 1 1 1
Decoration
Adornos Adorno frag. Anthropomorphic Zoomorphic Node-shaped Pinched Punctate Incised/punctate Red filmed Subtotal adornos
Appliqué (Non-Sigmoid) Appliqué frag. Punctate Incised Bull’s eye Circle Limb Ovoid Zoomorphic Vertical strip Horizontal strip
Bottle
1
4
1
1
1
2
10
1 1
1 2 1
2
1
1
6 1
Bwlcar.
Bwrnd.
1
1
1
Bwsh.
Caz.
1
1
Jar
Plat.
2
11 27 5 1 1 1
45
19
2 23 1
Watbot.
69 55 53 3 6 8 14 3 1 2
63 46 16 10 2 38 18 3 196
Total
0.029 0.023 0.022 0.001 0.003 0.003 0.006 0.001 0.000 0.001
0.027 0.019 0.007 0.004 0.001 0.016 0.008 0.001 0.082
% of All
12:11 PM
1 1
Bwbt.
2/22/02
1 1
Bowl
2.3 Decorative Motifs on Indigenous Ceramics at La Isabela
Deagan2.02 Page 29
Frag. 5 8 1 168 32 19 1 1 1 6 2 62 3 2 2 1 2 10
Incised node Punctate node Pinched node Subtotal Appliqué
Sigmoid Appliqué Sigmoid Incised Sigmoid Diagonal Sigmoid Dot Sigmoid Horizontal Sigmoid Punctate Sigmoid Undulating line Subtotal Sigmoid
Handles Incised Lug Punctate Strap Ridged Subtotal handles
Bottle
4
Bwbt.
13
3
10
7
1
Bwlcar.
Bwrnd.
2
2
1
Bwsh.
Caz.
2
2
Jar
Plat.
1
1
48
Watbot.
3 2 2 1 2 10
51 19 1 1 1 9 2 84
5 9 1 229
Total
0.001 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.004
0.000 0.021 0.008 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.004 0.001 0.035
0.002 0.004 0.000 0.096
% of All
12:11 PM
4
5
Bowl
2/22/02
Decoration
2.3 Decorative Motifs on Indigenous Ceramics at La Isabela (Continued)
Deagan2.02 Page 30
189 10 3 1 47 8 258
Broad Line Incised Double line Dot/incised Ovoid Red filmed Horiz. parallel Undulat. parallel Subtotal broad line
1
Bottle
42
1
3
4
21 1 1 11
5
1
1 2
2
1
2
1
4
Bwlcar.
1
1
1
Bwrnd.
1 2
3
4
Bwsh.
1
1
Caz.
1
1
2
1
1
Jar
1
1
Plat.
4
1 5 1
5
20 1
7
7
Watbot.
458 10 10 103 1 1 80 2 23 2 269 3
207 10 3 1 48 8 277
Total
0.193 0.004 0.004 0.043 0.000 0.000 0.034 0.001 0.010 0.001 0.113 0.001
0.087 0.004 0.001 0.000 0.020 0.003 0.117
% of All
12:11 PM
5
1
Bwbt.
2
Bowl
2/22/02
Narrow Line Incised Incised line 402 Bull’s eye 8 Circle 8 Ovoid 85 Ovoid/punctate 1 Ovoid/white slipped Curvilinear 66 Curvilinear dot 1 Diagonal 23 Diagonal dots 2 Dot/line 217 Rectilinear 1
Frag.
Decoration
2.3 Decorative Motifs on Indigenous Ceramics at La Isabela (Continued)
Deagan2.02 Page 31
1
3
1
Bwrnd.
1
1
1
2 12
Bwsh.
2
1
1
1 1
4
4
23 5 3 111
Bwlcar.
106
1
3
3
1 6
Bwbt.
1
1
4
1
3
1 11
Bowl
85 3 2
13 3
65 6 8 18 1 7 105
Punctate Punctate Punctate circles Punctate dots 3 Punctates Horiz. parallel line Incised/punctate Subtotal punctate
1
Bottle
Caz.
2
2
4
Jar
1
1
2
2
Plat.
1 16
11 3
1
1
1
1 38
Watbot.
17 4 1 1 98 6 2 1 130
81 6 9 18 1 7 122
41 110 98 1,211
Total
0.007 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.041 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.055
0.034 0.003 0.004 0.008 0.000 0.003 0.051
0.017 0.046 0.041 0.509
% of All
12:11 PM
Filmed/Slipped Red filmed Red film. incised Red film. pinched Red film. punctate White slip. White slip. incised White slip. punctate White slip. dot/line Subtotal Filmed
18 105 90 1,027
Crosshatch Undulat. parallel Horiz. parallel Subtotal incised
Frag.
2/22/02
Decoration
2.3 Decorative Motifs on Indigenous Ceramics at La Isabela (Continued)
Deagan2.02 Page 32
12
157
4
6 37
4
Bwlcar.
5
3
3
Bwrnd.
20
1
1
Bwsh.
1
Caz.
11
1
1
Jar
4
Plat.
158
2
2
Watbot.
2,377
7 10 98 2 1 118
Total
0.003 0.004 0.041 0.001 0.000 0.050
% of All
Form Abbreviations: Frag. = fragment; Bwbt. = boat-shaped bowl; Bwlcar. = carinated bowl; Bwrnd. = round bowl; Bwsh. = shallow bowl; Caz. = cazuela; Plat. = platter; Watbot. = water bottle.
1
Bwbt.
6
Bowl
12:11 PM
1,971
7 10 81 2 1 101
Other Decoration Impressed Molded Pinched Pinch horz. par. line Simple stamped Subtotal other
Bottle
2/22/02
Total
Frag.
Decoration
2.3 Decorative Motifs on Indigenous Ceramics at La Isabela (Continued)
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2.2. Chican Ostionoid adornos and vessel rims from La Isabela. Top-left adorno height: 5.2 centimeters. Lower-right adorno height: 3.5 centimeters. Width of upper-left sherd at rim: 6.5 centimeters.
the distribution of decorative methods and motifs among the Taíno vessel forms recorded at La Isabela. Many of the molded adornos are zoomorphic in form, most often representing animals thought to be symbols of death, such as the bat— murciélago—and the owl—lechuza (see Arrom and García Arévalo 1988;
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2.3. Chican Ostionoid collared jar and shallow bowl ( 6243, 5677).
2.4. Chican Ostionoid bowls ( 6243, 648, 6379, 5846).
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2.5. Chican Ostionoid small carinated bowl ( 6379). Diameter at shoulder 10.2 cm.
García Arévalo 1977, 1997). Others appear to be anthropomorphic, thought to represent zemis or sometimes skulls. (The skull is another symbol of death.) Examples of these adornos are shown in figure 2.2. The most frequent vessel form for decorated Taíno wares (both Meillacan and Chican) was the carinated bowl (figures 2.4 and 2.5). Nearly 40 percent of the measurable examples were between 14 and 19 centimeters in rim diameter, although the population of measurable bowls (N = 33) ranged from 11 to 40 centimeters in diameter (table 2.4). Other bowl forms—shallow, round, and boat-shaped—accounted for an additional 13.6 percent of the decorated forms (figure 2.3). Nearly as frequent as carinated bowls were water-bottle forms. These were nearly all white-slipped and decorated, often bearing elaborate modeled and incised necks (figures 2.6 and 2.7). Curiously, the spatial distribution of water bottles was distinct from that of other Taíno ceramics, which, as we noted above, were concentrated in the Indian midden at the south end of the site (where the Spaniards established their church and cemetery). Water-bottle fragments, in contrast, were most densely concentrated in the beach and ravine refuse dump areas at the north end of the site, where 35 percent of all examples occurred. They do not appear to have been used by Spaniards themselves, however, as their frequency is lowest in the areas of Spanish residential occupation.
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2.6. Chican Ostionoid water bottles.
Tools and Implements Native-American tools and implements excavated at La Isabela are related most frequently to fishing, food preparation, and stone work (table 2.1). Apart from fragments of burén (the griddles used to cook manioc), fishnet weights are the most common nonvessel Taíno items (figure 2.8). These are small, flat oval rocks with a groove or indentation at their centers, creating a butterflylike appearance. The form is found widely throughout Hispaniola, not only in Ostionoid sites (see, for example, Rouse 1939:plate 1; Veloz Maggiolo 1993:134) but also in preceramic archaic sites (Ortega and Guerrero 1982:104). The fishnet weights occur at La Isabela in a variety of sizes, ranging from three to ten centimeters in length and from less than twenty to
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2.7. Water-bottle rim, Perenal site. Height: 9 centimeters. (Photo: James Quine.)
2.8. Stone tools. Left to right, black ax, length: 4.8 centimeters; gray groover or polisher; fishnet weight, length: 4.9 centimeters; green celt or ax, length: 6.5 centimeters; gray polishing stone, length: 5.4 centimeters.
in centimeters
0.045
a Diameter
1 33
4
9
3 1 4
0.333 0.111 0.444
0.111
3
1 1
1
#
0.33 0.33
0.33
Jar % Form
1
1
1
Platter # % Form
6 5 16
4
1
0.375 0.313
0.250
0.063
Water Bottle # % Form
7 5 88
0.080 0.057
Total # % All 1 0.011 6 0.068 12 0.136 5 0.057 12 0.136 14 0.159 14 0.159 5 0.057 7 0.080
12:12 PM
5 5 2 3 2
1
Shallow Bowl # % Form
2/22/02
1 3
22
Bowl Carinated Bowl Round Bowl % Form # % Form # % Form 1 0.030 0.045 5 0.152 0.136 6 0.182 4 0.121 1 0.25 0.227 3 0.091 0.227 7 0.212 1 0.25 0.091 6 0.182 2 0.5 0.136 1 0.030 0.091
Diameter a 38–40 30–32 26–28 23–25 20–22 17–19 14–16 11–13 8–10 7–9 4–6 >4 Total #
2.4 Indian Vessel Form Sizes at La Isabela
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more than one hundred grams in weight. The median weight is forty-six grams, and the most frequently occurring weight is thirty-nine grams. The abundance of weights at La Isabela underscores the suggestion that the Taíno occupation emphasized (or possibly specialized in) net fishing. The weights, as we noted earlier, were concentrated in the vicinity of the Columbus house, in the underlying Taíno midden. Two eightby-eight-meter units ( and ) contained what appear to have been caches of twenty-seven and thirty-one net weights, respectively. It is tempting to speculate that these may have been the locations of net production, or of abandoned nets. Fragments of other stone tools included a number of ground-stone granite axes, a scraper, a punch or awl, blades, a chisel, a hammer stone, and unidentified stone implements (figure 2.8). Chert debitage was most densely distributed in the south end of the site, particularly in the area between the church and the Casa de Colón. Shell implements and tools were noticeably absent in the assemblage, possibly owing to the abundant and varied rocks and large pebbles deposited adjacent to the site by the Bajabonico River.
Ornamental and Ritual Items A wide variety of beads, pendants, carved images, and small petaloid celts were found at La Isabela, and, as we noted above, they were most frequent in the ravine trash deposit at the north end of the site. These items also occurred more often in the Spanish residential sections of the town than they did in the Taíno midden area at the south end of the site. Bone and shell beads and pendants were the largest component of this category, particularly the flat, elongated bone pendants known as cuentas de colár (figure 2.9). These are known from a number of sites throughout the Greater Antilles, and they are thought to have been strung together in the manner shown in figure 2.9. Carved bone or shell zemis, or spirit amulets (discussed in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 3), may also have been parts of these necklaces, and a number of such zemi ornaments were found at La Isabela. Several of these (such as those in figure 2.10) feature a wide grinning or grimacing mouth with prominent rows of teeth. This trait is widespread in Taíno artistic expression throughout the Caribbean, particularly in bone and shell amulets but also as inlay in wood carvings, stone three-pointers, and other objects (Alegría 1981; for illustrations see also Bercht et al. 1999 and Montás,
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2.9. Necklace of bone cuentas de colár and amulet. (National Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology, Florence, Italy.)
2.10. Bone and shell amulets. Length of intact bone-toothed zemi: 5.7 centimeters; height of perforated shell: 5.4 centimeters; length of shell plaque: 5.2 centimeters; length of headless zoomorphic shell zemi: 9.3 centimeters.
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Borrell, and Moya 1983). A very small set of carved teeth (similar to dentures) was recovered at La Isabela, no doubt once inlaid into a wood or cloth image. The bone amulets with prominent teeth at La Isabela are of a type thought to represent a death’s-head, or skull (García Arévalo 1997:114), or in other cases an alligator (Montás, Borrell, and Moya 1983:103). Perhaps the most elaborate shell amulet from La Isabela was an elongated anthropo-zoomorphic figure, standing vertically (figure 2.10). Similar amulets have been found in other parts of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico (see, for example, illustrations in Bartzan 1972; Brecht et al. 1997:51, 92). All of these figures feature a prominent navel, which was a symbol of a living person to the Taínos (as opposed to the stillpresent dead, who did not have a navel, as discussed in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 3). Fragments of six rectangular shell plaques or badges with the design shown in figure 2.10 were recovered, and an intact circular shell plaque is shown in figure 2.11. These have perforations on the sides for attachments. Several small, anthropomorphic stone idols or amulets like those shown in figure 2.12 were perforated laterally, presumably for stringing and wearing (for suggested examples of how these amulets were used in ornaments see Montás, Borrell, and Moya 1983:97–99). The most common of these small idols were crouching figures with exaggerated headdresses, sometimes thought to represent behiques, or shamans, who crouched during the cohoba ceremony, in which trance-inducing drugs were ingested by sniffing (Montás, Borrell, and Moya 1983:99). It has been suggested that these small stone figures were amulets worn by all groups of Taínos, as opposed to only caciques, who had carved mask amulets or figures of ancestors (García Arévalo 1997:114). Hundreds of similar amulets are shown by Baztan (1972), and although the examples do not have accompanying chronological or provenience information, they provide a broad representation of these evocative objects used so widely by the Taínos. Both the stone and shell amulets may have either been strung on necklaces or been worn directly against the skin attached by cords. This observation has led José Arrom to suggest that these small kneeling figures may represent one or both of the sacred twins of Taíno mythology, who mediated between the opposing elements of sun and rain and were worn by the Taínos when they supplicated the spirits of these elements (Arrom 1988:67–69).
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2.11. Round shell plaque. Diameter: 6.5 centimeters.
2.12. Stone amulets. Height of intact amulet in center: 2.3 centimeters.
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2.13. Examples of Taíno lapidary work from La Isabela.
Ornamental or ritual items of stone included beads of green, white, black, and brown stones; lip or ear ornaments; petaloid celts; and crudely carved phallus images. Some of these are shown in figure 2.13. The petaloid celts are small, highly polished, and without evidence of use, and they are thought to have a ritual rather than a technological function.
Discussion The Taíno materials excavated at La Isabela are consistent with late classic Taíno assemblages from throughout Hispaniola. The nature of the site organization and of the artifact assemblage itself is perhaps most similar to that reported from the late fifteenth-century site of La Unión near Puerto Plata (Veloz Maggiolo 1977:95–97; Veloz Maggiolo et al. 1973). La Unión, like La Isabela, was a coastal settlement located on very thin soils over a limestone base. It was thought to have been a Taíno site dedicated to fishing, with an adjacent cemetery that contained a large number of stone fishing weights as grave goods. At La Isabela, the midden deposits, domestic pottery, tools, imple
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ments, and Taíno burials are concentrated at the south end of the site, and we suggest that this was the primary occupation area of the Taínos who lived at La Isabela. We also conclude that the occupation ended before the arrival of the Spanish expedition. There is no mention of forced removal of Indians at the site of the town, which, given the events at La Navidad, would have certainly been a subject of concern for Columbus (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 2). Furthermore, the Spaniards built their own church, cemetery, and governor’s house over the Taíno occupation area at La Isabela, suggesting that it had been abandoned prior to the arrival of the colonists. It is possible that the Taíno presence at La Isabela was one of a special function or intermittent domestic occupation with an emphasis on fishing, and it is not inconceivable that the Taínos of the region may have consolidated their activities at one central place (such as the Perenal and Bajabonico sites on the Loma del Candelón) before the arrival of the Spaniards, abandoning their special-function outpost at La Isabela. It is not possible to determine how long before 1493 that abandonment may have taken place, except to note that the ceramics and other carved items are stylistically consistent with those known from very early Taíno contact-period sites. Similar or identical styles of pottery decoration, zemis, amulet forms, and fishing weights have been documented at the La Unión site near Puerto Plata (Veloz Maggiolo 1977:95–97), contact-period Sabana Yegua near San Juan de la Maguana (Vega 1979:14), late fifteenth-century En Bas Saline, Haiti (Cusick 1987), and the most recent excavations at Perenal, where excavators recovered both Taíno and Spanish materials (Coppa, personal communication to Deagan, La Isabela, 1998). The cuentas de colár and the zemi carvings from the site are also identical to certain examples in European museums that are thought to have been acquired in the early sixteenth century, such as that shown in figure 2.9 (see also Vega 1973). Taken together, these factors suggest a date in the second half of the fifteenth century for the Taíno occupation at La Isabela.
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3 The Geographical and Cultural Landscape of Columbus’s Colony For centuries since the establishment of La Isabela, historians and sailors have pondered the question of why that site was chosen. Most suggest that it was hastily and ineptly picked because of weariness and illness among the people and animals on board the ships, an impending storm, and the horror of La Navidad. Columbus—without exploring the coastline on foot or in longboats—apparently chose the Bay of Isabela as the site for his settlement under some duress. In defending his choice some years later, Columbus asserted that the site was the “best suited spot and better than any other in the land; and this must be believed.” But he also admitted that “our Lord miraculously led me there to a point from which I could no longer proceed nor retreat with the ships, but had to unload them there and establish a settlement” (Parry and Keith 1984:234). Although the Bay of Isabela is exceptionally lovely, it is not well protected. It is open to the south and west and is sheltered only on the east, by Cape Isabela. There are many better-protected bays within a day’s
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sail. Because La Isabela is located on the leeward side of the coastal mountain range, it is arid and scrubby, and the soils overlying the limestone base of the site are very thin and rocky. The site did have certain advantages, however, including an unusual, high, flat rock promontory almost surrounded by water. There were ravines and deep estuaries on each side of the rock, and it rose straight up from the sea to a height of nearly four meters. This promontory was described by Columbus as a “well-situated rock” (peña bien aparejida), providing a natural fortress for defense—as reported by Las Casas (I, LXXXVIII, 1985, vol. 1:363). Indian towns that would be useful for trade and labor were located nearby, and there was a convenient limerock outcrop easily accessible by water that provided a quarry for stone building materials. Perhaps most important, according to Dominican archaeologists José Guerrero and Marcio Veloz Maggiolo (as well as historian Samuel E. Morison), La Isabela was one of the first sites Columbus found on the coast that had a direct line of communication to the allegedly gold-rich central region, known as the Cibao (Guerrero and Veloz Maggiolo 1988:35–36). The passage was visible from La Isabela as a gap through the mountains, and this alone could have been reason enough for the gold-hungry admiral to choose the site of the settlement. But it was not until 1987 that the true dimensions of Columbus’s settlement strategy were understood. One of the most unexpected archaeological discoveries about the Isabela enterprise was that Columbus established another, apparently unfortified, settlement in an area known today as Las Coles, which is located across the bay from the principal fortified town at what today is El Castillo (figure 3.1). José Cruxent discovered this second Spanish site, on the banks of the Bajabonico River, while surveying the areas of the bay surrounding La Isabela. The second settlement area is approximately 2.5 kilometers by land and 1.7 kilometers by water from the “well-situated rock” at El Castillo. Las Coles is located adjacent to the fresh-water Bajabonico River in an area with fertile agricultural soils and excellent clay sources, and it is unequivocally contemporaneous with the site at El Castillo (which has been traditionally identified as La Isabela). Las Coles contains the remnants of domestic occupation, as well as a fifteenth-century pottery kiln, and was probably a satellite settlement devoted to agriculture, artisanal activities, milling, and other service functions. Because of its ease of access to the river and fresh water, we believe that this may also have been the first
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3.1. Vicinity map of La Isabela region.
area in which the settlers of La Isabela lived, while the fortified center at El Castillo was constructed. We consider the archaeological data from Las Coles later in this chapter. It is now apparent that Columbus implemented a dual-settlement system—or perhaps had a very broad concept of colony that encompassed the entire bay—with agricultural and artisanal activities separate from the principal fortified center. While the main colony was located for excellent defense, the second settlement took advantage of the closer sources of fresh water, the river, clay, and better agricultural soil. Its existence was completely unknown to historians or archaeologists prior to the current archaeological project.
Geography The site chosen by Columbus for his first city is located between 19º53' and 19º58'30" N and between 70º01' and 70º05' W. The region is part of the Atlantic coastal plain of the island, a narrow strip of alluvial soils between the sea and the northern edge of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range (figure 3.2). It is a geologically recent area of actively
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3.2. Geological and geographical map of La Isabela region. (After Campos Carrasco et al. 1992:28.)
forming coral reefs, dynamic coastal change, and fluvial sedimentary deposits (Díaz del Olmo et al. 1991). The land around La Isabela consists of three geographical soil regions. At each end of the bay the land is comprised of highly fossiliferous, lightly metamorphosed limestone that is part of the Pleistocene Isabela Formation (Marcano 1981). Between these two limestone areas is a zone of alluvial plain and mangrove swamp formed by the Bajabonico River system, and inland to the east of all these zones (the Isabela Formation and river floodplains) are the foothills of the Septentrional range (figure 3.2). The occupation at El Castillo is located on part of the Isabela Formation limestone, while that at Las Coles is in the alluvial plain of the Bajabonico River. The Bay of Isabela is dominated by the Bajabonico (also known as the Río Isabela), which is the region’s principal river and empties into the bay. The Bajabonico is more than sixty-five kilometers long, with a catchment area of 2,392 square kilometers (Marcano 1981). A tributary of the Bajabonico, known as the Río Unijica (or Río Tablazo), diverts from the main course some nine hundred meters inland and empties into the bay one kilometer north of the Bajabonico’s present mouth, closer to the town of El Castillo (figure 3.1). The locations of the rivers and tributary beds are quite volatile, changing with storm and alluvial
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depositional activity. In 1944, for example, the mouth of the Bajabonico was approximately where the Unijica’s mouth is today. Underwater survey by Texas A & M University has suggested that the mouth of the Unijica (or possibly even the Bajabonico) may have been considerably closer to the present town of El Castillo in the past than it is today, at the beach and lagoon bordering the south side of the “well-situated rock” promontory that contains the ruins of the Spanish structures (Keith and Thompson 1985:11). The rivers also shaped the distribution of soils around the bay. The areas dominated by the Isabela Formation have very thin and rocky soils that are inappropriate for farming. Those in the river plains, however (no more than a few hundred meters from the settlement at El Castillo), have significant deposits of rich alluvial soils subject to intermittent flooding that are still used today for intensive cotton, peanut, and tobacco agriculture. As we have already noted, the principal masonry remains of the settlement (and consequently the original boundaries of the national park El Solar de las Américas) are concentrated on the rocky promontory at the present town of El Castillo—Columbus’s “well-situated rock.” This promontory is an uplifted ancient fossil reef, comprised of fossiliferous limestone of the Isabela Formation rising from four to five meters above the sea. Today it is (and presumably has been for the past five hundred years) actively eroding into the bay. The promontory is bounded on the west by the Bay of Isabela and on the north and south by rías, or lagoons, that in recent memory have been filled with salt water (Díaz del Olmo et al. 1991). Both the north and south rías have been partially filled in and covered by the road leading from El Castillo to Luperón. To the east of the promontory the land of the Isabela Formation is flat for a distance of approximately two hundred meters and then rises sharply to the foothills. Today it is an open space, but it was apparently heavily vegetated until the village of El Castillo was built here in the twentieth century. The eyewitness Dr. Chanca described the site in 1494: “Nearby there is one main river, and another of reasonable size, not far off, with very remarkable water. On the bank of one a city, Marta, is being built, one side being bounded by the water with a ravine of cleft rock, so that no defensive work is needed on that side. The other side is protected by a wood, so thick that a rabbit could scarcely pass through it, and so green that never at all will fire be able to burn it” (in Parry and Keith 1984:86–87).
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Visitors to the site in the late nineteenth century also made similar observations (see, for example, Ober 1893; Colvocoresses in Thatcher 1903:284). All modern interpretations of La Isabela before now have been predicated upon the assumption that the site at El Castillo designated today as the national park of La Isabela, Solar de las Américas, was the entire Columbian settlement. The discovery of a second site, at Las Coles, gave a new dimension to our understanding of Columbus’s organization of his colony.
Archaeology at Las Coles Las Coles is a flat plain located on the south bank of the of the Bajabonico River (Río Isabela), about 1,700 meters by boat from the site at El Castillo (figure 3.1). Following Cruxent’s identification of the site through surface collection, the University of Florida team carried out a systematic, subsurface survey of Las Coles in 1989 (Deagan 1989). Two concentrations of Spanish material were located, one close to the river in an area designated El Tamarindo and a second, designated La Breña, some two hundred meters to the south of the first site (figure 3.3). The materials at El Tamarindo were concentrated in an area of approximately thirty meters by thirty meters, and those at La Breña covered an area of about thirty meters by forty meters. The artifact-bearing deposits are very shallow at both sites, extending no more than about twenty-five centimeters from the surface. Ten (11.3 percent) of the eighty-eight excavated units at El Tamarindo (each 8 m x 8 m) yielded a total of twenty-three artifacts, all of which were colonial European (a mean of .26 artifacts per test). An area of approximately thirty meters by thirty meters contained nearly all the artifacts recovered. Six of the tests (7.5 percent) at La Breña yielded a total of six artifacts, or .07 artifacts per test. These were all salmon-colored, unglazed, coarse earthenware (Deagan 1989). Returning to Las Coles in 1990, Cruxent conducted extensive excavations at both La Breña and El Tamarindo. Eight units measuring eight meters by eight meters were excavated at La Breña, and thirty units of the same size were tested at El Tamarindo. As the survey predicted, remains from La Breña were much sparser than those at El Tamarindo (table 3.1). Furthermore, the identification of features at La Breña was rendered almost impossible by the hundreds of tunnels made by the
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3.3. Map of Las Coles.
enormous population of burrowing land crabs in the area, exacerbated by the holes made by the cangrejeros who gather them for food. The kinds and proportions of the remains at La Breña, however, tend to support the suggestion that this was a residential area, possibly related to the craft-production areas located at El Tamarindo. Although the unglazed, locally produced earthenware referred to as loza común dominates the assemblages of both areas, the La Breña site proportionately contains nearly ten times the amount of glazed Spanish pottery found at El Tamarindo. Much of the abundant ceramic and architectural European material at El Tamarindo may have been related primarily to ceramicproduction workshops. The material assemblages from both areas contained about 25 percent Native-American remains. The outstanding feature of the Tamarindo site was the foundation of a pottery kiln located during Cruxent’s excavation (figure 3.4). The kiln appears to have been a small, two-chambered updraft kiln of a type well-known throughout late medieval Andalusia (described in greater detail in chapter 9). It was clearly used to produce European-style pottery rather than tiles or bricks, as many sherds of ceramic wasters were found inside and around the kiln, while very few fragments of bricks or tiles were recovered. Table 3.2 shows the contents of the kiln itself, including both in-situ deposits and post-use deposits.
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3.1 Archaeological Materials from Las Coles La Brena
Freq. European Ceramics Loza común Majolica Lead glazed Subtotal European Nonceramic Lead fragments Metal fragments European Architectural Plaster Ladrillo Teja Subtotal Total European Native-American Items Ceramics Fishnet weight Lithics Burén Worked stone Total indigenous Total artifacts
374 42 27 443
% European Ceramics 0.844 0.095 0.061
Tamarindo
Freq. 6,892 17 29 6,938
% of all
0.760
28 1 175
204
0.993 0.002 0.004
2 112
10
4 4 457
% European Ceramics
% of all 12 21 528 1,161 7,613
0.747
5,211
0.24
661
312 11 3 5,537
0.253
13,151
3.2 Contents of the Tamarindo Kiln Interior Item
Frequency
European unglazed coarse earthenware, body sherds European unglazed coarse earthenware, handle fragments European unglazed coarse earthenware, base fragments European unglazed coarse earthenware, rim fragments Aboriginal sherds Teja (barrel tile) fragments
104 18 3 6 49 11
Total
191
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3.4. Excavation of Tamarindo kiln.
No other features related to pottery production were noted at El Tamarindo, although such elements as pit wheels, drying surfaces, storage sheds, and mixing pits were undoubtedly in the vicinity, and may yet remain to be located. Sherds from European coarse earthenware vessels were concentrated to the immediate north of the kiln and in a diagonal line extending away from the kiln toward the east, covering an area of about sixty-four square meters. Except for a single eight-meter-byeight-meter concentration, the region to the west of the kiln was kept relatively free of ceramic debris. A fragment of a ceramic arcaduce, or cangelone (waterwheel jar), was recovered at Las Coles from the mouth of the Bajabonico River (figure 3.5). The arcaduce is of a type used commonly on the vertical waterwheel known as Noria de Vuelo (figure 3.6), a Moorish mechanical innovation found commonly throughout medieval Iberia and used in a variety of production tasks, such as milling grain, grinding cane, crushing minerals, or driving bellows and trip hammers in iron forging (see Glick 1977; Lister and Lister 1987:21–23). Although only a single arcaduce has been identified, it suggests that this new form of producing energy was
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3.5. Ceramic arcaduce fragment. Height: 14 centimeters.
also introduced to America at Las Coles—and in addition supports the identification of the area as the agricultural and industrial sector of the colony. The Las Coles site is ideally situated for access to the Bajabonico river, alluvial clays, and wood for fuel. It is furthermore in an area of rich agricultural productivity. It is Cruxent’s contention that this was in fact the original point of disembarkation from the seventeen ships in Columbus’s fleet, and the first installation at La Isabela. It potentially had a protective shelter for the ships a short distance in from the mouth of the Bajabonico, where there is also convenient access to the banks of the river for easy unloading of livestock and goods. He reasons that the immediate access to fresh water provided by the site (which was not available at the “well-situated rock”) would have been essential to the exhausted members of the expedition. Alternatively, it is possible that the Las Coles settlement served as the initial campsite while the fortified city was being constructed, or that it served primarily as a serv
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3.6. Waterwheel (Noria de Vuelo) using arcaduces. (After Lister and Lister 1989:28, figure 23. Reproduced with permission of the University of Arizona Press.)
ice settlement for artisanal, industrial, and agricultural activities in support of the fortified center at El Castillo. Although the discovery and exploration of Las Coles were critical to understanding the Isabeline enterprise, the major archaeological effort was devoted to the site at El Castillo, where the principal (and densest) architectural and artifactual remains were concentrated. The chapters ahead document both the excavations at El Castillo and their results.
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4 Excavations at El Castillo By 1987, La Isabela–El Castillo was a badly damaged site located in an underdeveloped rural community poised on the brink of tourism development. Its unique archaeological, historical, and social circumstances (detailed in our Columbus’s Outpost, and summarized in the preceding chapters) demanded a methodological philosophy and strategy that could capture the most information possible, while acknowledging and attending to the many actual and potential alterations to the site’s archaeological record. When the project began, the archaeological efforts were restricted to that part of the site west of the Carretera 19 de Junio road bordering the sea (figure 4.1), which was the area then designated as the national park El Solar de las Américas. The rest of the site was owned and occupied by the residents of El Castillo.
The Archaeological Problem The program outlined by the Dirección Nacional de Parques in 1986 had three principal objectives, including:
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4.1. Archaeological basemap of La Isabela.
1. The recovery of information and materials that could be used to reconstruct and interpret the story of La Isabela to the general public in an appealing and accessible way 2. A comprehensive assessment of the site and its environs in order to provide guidelines for the management of park resources 3. The salvage, documentation, stabilization, and conservation of what could be saved of the site and its physical remains Furthermore, it was intended that these objectives be met within five years, in anticipation of the opening of the public interpretation program and site museum at La Isabela in 1992. When Cruxent arrived at La Isabela in 1987 and realized both the ex
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tent of past disturbance to the site and the potential for continuing disturbance by development and the tourist antiquities market, it was evident to him that the project had to be specifically attentive to and embedded within the local community. It needed to involve residents in long-term protection and interpretation of the site and to integrate the existing community with the intended development of the site for tourism. Cruxent took up residence in El Castillo and began programs to train local residents in field and laboratory methods, as tourist guides, and in site maintenance. Given the high unemployment and low wages in the rural Dominican Republic, and the consequent economic temptation of artifact looting and sale, he found it necessary also to become an advocate for social and economic welfare in the town. This included negotiations between the park service and the residents of El Castillo who owned property and resided within the confines of the fifteenth-century town, but beyond the park boundaries. These negotiations continued until 1992, when a new, planned town was built outside the site boundaries, and the residents moved there from their former houses on the site. Cruxent also felt strongly that, given the massive past disturbance and the probable future disturbances to the site at El Castillo, only broad scale spatial analysis could recover information that would permit the interpretation of lifeways in fifteenth-century La Isabela. The short occupation of the site, coupled with the devastating vertical and horizontal disturbances to the soil deposits after abandonment, rendered most traditional approaches to archaeological recovery inappropriate. The scale of provenience that most archaeologists strive to capture (that is, discrete events, associated deposits, or individual household units) had essentially been destroyed and was impossible to recover within the area of the national park. That did not, however, preclude the possibility of useful and appropriate recovery and analysis on a different and larger scale, in much the same way as variations of scale in North American sites has been cogently assessed by James Deetz (1993:164–65). Cruxent recognized that small units of horizontal or vertical control were not likely to yield any reliable distinctions in vertical or spatial organization of the site, and that they would furthermore impede the efforts at broad excavation coverage. A really extensive excavation approaching a total recovery was the only scale that would permit inference from the severely disturbed deposits and at the same time record and recover materials before they were destroyed by development or looting.
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Excavation Protocols and Controls: El Solar With these concerns in mind, Cruxent established a horizontal grid across the site, and a survey team prepared a topographic map (figure 4.2). Horizontal grid controls were established in relation to an eastwest baseline that extended through the approximate center of the Solar de las Américas, and it was designated the Linea Base. A north-south meridian line (approximately 5º15" west of magnetic north) intersected this at the Solar center and was designated Linea 0 East. East-west grid lines extended to the north and south of the Linea Base at increments of eight meters and were designated by their distance north or south of it (for example, L16N or L16S; L32N or L32S). These were intersected by north-south grid lines at eight-meter increments, designated either numerically or alphabetically. To the west of the Linea 0 East line, each eight-meter grid increment line was designated numerically (Linea 1 East, Linea 2 East, and so forth). To the east of the Linea 0 East line, each eight-meter grid increment line was designated alphabetically (Linea A East, Linea B East, and so forth), as shown in figure 4.1. Any given unit of eight meters by eight meters (cala) was designated by the grid coordinates of its northwest corner. For excavation purposes, the eight-meter-by-eight-meter units could be divided into sixteen two-meter-by-two-meter units (cuadros), numbered sequentially, west to east, beginning with the northwestern cuadro. In those parts of the site subjected to the most serious disturbance from the tractor grading, excavation was carried out in eight-meter-by-eight-meter units. In other, less disturbed areas, the two-meter-square subunits were employed for horizontal control. An alternate set of Cartesian coordinate grid designations was superimposed on the existing grid in 1989 at the request of the University of Florida team. This consisted of numerical coordinates at eightmeter intervals north and east of the grid center point on the original site grid (E0, LB on the original grid and 1000N, 1000E on the 1989 grid). This alternate designation was implemented in order to permit the computerization of horizontal artifact-distribution maps and for point plotting of site features on computer maps. Both grid systems were maintained in recording protocols throughout the project, and they are both shown in figure 4.1. Excavations began within the area encompassed by the national park Solar de las Américas. It quickly became evident that virtually all traces
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of the natural stratigraphy had been obliterated (see below), and excavation proceeded in arbitrary vertical increments of twenty-five centimeters (apart from encountered features or intrusions). The severe disturbance to the soil deposits also obliterated most evidence for features other than those constructed of stone, such as building foundations. Soil stains from post molds, for example, were rarely present. A number of posts had been partially cut into the underlying limestone bedrock, although the original stratigraphic point of initiation had been eliminated. These were mapped and recorded individually. We should note that a number of human burials were encountered around the church structure. These were mapped but not excavated, since that component of the project was designated as part of the work to be undertaken by a team from the University of Florence (see Chiarelli 1987). Soil excavated from each vertical increment or intrusion was screened through .55-centimeter wire mesh, and all recovered materials from a single excavation increment were bagged together, labeled, and given a unique field-specimen number (FS#) . Once screened, bagged, and labeled, the materials were brought to the field laboratory established on the site, where all recovered items were cleaned, identified, weighed, counted, and recorded. Artifacts and original site records are maintained at the on-site museum in the national park at La Isabela, with copies of the records at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.
Stratigraphy: El Solar The depth of deposits throughout the Solar area varied from a few centimeters in the flat central area to nearly seventy centimeters at the south end of the site, where the tractor grading was minimal. Details of stratigraphy and typical stratigraphic sections within the Solar area can be found below in the discussions of specific structures and features at the site. The extent of vertical mixing of the deposits was dramatic, and only rarely could distinctions in soil color be recognized within the deposits. This is also reflected in the vertical distribution of remains from the Solar, which showed no significant difference in artifact composition from one level to another (table 4.1). Seventy-two percent of all artifacts were recovered from the upper twenty-five centimeters of soil (surface collection and level 1). The overall proportions of buried European materials were highest in levels 3
SPANISH Majolica Lead glazed Loza común Kitchen items Furniture Nails Clothing items Personal items Religious items Activity items Military items Tools Horse gear Metal fragments Subtotal Spanish TAINO Ceramics Burén Ornaments Activity items 0.012 0.021 0.452 0.000 0.013 0.000 0.001 0.006 0.001
0.014 0.520 0.473 0.002 0.001 0.003
78 138 3,017 1 88 1 5 40 7
94 3,469 3,158 16 6 19
% of Level
0.005
0.634 0.003
0.009 0.017 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.036 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.019 0.004 0.000 0.001 0.011 0.358
% of Level
7,088 67 1 59
298 28 3 4 106 4,033
508 2 2
86 90 2,889 17
Level 2 #
0.630 0.006 0.000 0.005
0.026 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.009 0.358
0.045 0.000 0.000
0.008 0.008 0.257 0.002
% of Level
1,844 13 14 37
166 130 2,092 3 1 271 3 2 1 74 11 1 1 84 2,840
Level 3 #
0.388 0.003 0.003 0.008
0.035 0.027 0.441 0.001 0.000 0.057 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.016 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.018 0.598
% of Level
10
56
2 2 52
Levels 4–6 #
0.152
0.848
0.030 0.030 0.788
% of Level
12:19 PM
21,597 113 31 173
291 596 8,850 4 5 1,234 5 17 1 653 149 6 19 364 12,194
Level 1 #
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Surface #
4.1 Vertical Distribution of Materials Excavated in the Solar Area
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2,042
20th-century items % of Total Artifacts Total artifacts 8,712
6,670
0.234
0.117
0.000 0.480
38,108
4,023
34,085
7 1 21,891
Level 1 #
0.106
0.600
0.000 0.000 0.642
% of Level
11,992
741
11,251
7,218
3
Level 2 #
0.062
0.198
0.642
0.000
% of Level
4,887
138
4,749
1 1,909
Level 3 #
0.028
0.084
0.000 0.402
% of Level
66
10
Levels 4–6 #
1
0.152
% of Level
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All 15th-c. artifacts % of 15th-c. artifacts
2 3,201
% of Level
2/22/02
Tools Weaponry Subtotal Taino
Surface #
4.1 Vertical Distribution of Materials Excavated in the Solar Area (Continued )
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and 4, whereas Indian materials were most frequent in levels 2 and 3, and least frequent in level 4 (the exception to this distribution was found in the areas underlying the church and cemetery, where Taíno materials were most heavily concentrated). This suggests that in most parts of the site (other than the area identified as a Taíno midden) the Spanish materials were deposited first, prior to the mixing and redeposition of Indian materials after the town was abandoned. We favor the interpretation of postdepositional mixing of the deposits, since twentieth century modern items, although decreasing in proportion from the top to the bottom of the strata, are consistently present in the lowest level of soil.
The 1989 Survey and the Isabela Poblado The area of the site located outside the original park boundaries (that is, to the east of the Carretera 19 de Junio) is referred to as the Poblado. Although it was occupied by the twentieth-century residents of El Castillo who lived in earth-fast wood and palm-thatch structures, the Poblado had apparently not been subjected to the same degree of leveling and grading by heavy equipment as had the Solar. We hoped that intact fifteenth-century soil deposits might be present in this area, and so our approach to the initial excavation of the Poblado was somewhat different from the approach taken in the Solar. The Poblado was first investigated in 1989, when Cruxent and the Dirección Nacional de Parques invited the University of Florida to collaborate in the study of La Isabela. As Cruxent continued his work in the Solar area, the University of Florida team began a systematic subsurface survey of El Castillo in order more precisely to define the limits of the fifteenth-century town, and also to assess the condition and integrity of the deposits. Twenty-five-centimeter-square test pits (sondeos) were excavated at every accessible grid intersect across the Poblado (246 tests in all), extending between the two lagoons and toward the east until no more artifact materials were recovered. The tests were excavated to bedrock, and all material was screened through .55-centimeter wire mesh. Everything, including rocks, modern objects, wood, and so forth, was retained and bagged. The depth of the excavation and the grid coordinates were labeled in the field on the bags. Once screened, bagged, and labeled, the materials were brought to the field laboratory established on the site,
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4.2. Topographic contour map of La Isabela.
where all recovered items were cleaned, identified, weighed, counted, recorded, coded, and entered into computerized database and mapping programs ( and ) to prepare artifact-distribution maps. The materials recovered from the sondeos were sparse and not highly variable, consisting primarily of European-style unglazed coarse earthenware that was probably produced locally (at Las Coles). They did, however, provide an index to the limits of occupation as well as to the locations of densest deposits within those limits. The distribution of fifteenth-century remains revealed by the survey (when combined with the Solar area) indicated that the entire site covered an area of about two hundred meters north-south at the western edge, one hundred meters north-south at the eastern end, and about 150 meters east-west. This encompasses approximately 34,000 square meters, with the widest north-south distance along the shoreline within the national park. The topographic map of La Isabela made during the 1989 survey
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(figure 4.2) provided additional information about site structure and alterations. It indicates a consistent slope from the eastern end of the site to the western (shoreline) edge. The slope averages a drop of seven millimeters per meter over the site as a whole, but it is more markedly pronounced between the present road and the water’s edge, where the ground slopes at 2.6 centimeters per meter. A significant discontinuity in elevation is evident at approximately the 1075N East line (the edge of the road) and may indicate either the limits of the suggested grading activities or the limits of natural or other culturally induced erosion.
Poblado Excavations As part of the collaborative effort, the University of Florida team began excavation of the Poblado area of La Isabela in 1990. At the conclusion of the Florida team’s 1990 field season, excavations in the Poblado were continued by the park-service team under Cruxent’s direction. The results of the 1989 subsurface survey had revealed several concentrations of fifteenth-century Spanish remains. Three areas were selected for fine-grained sampling (figure 4.1), including one near the center of the site, with the densest subsurface indication, and another near the eastern periphery of the site, in which a significant concentration of colonial materials was indicated. A third area, at the northeastern corner of the site, was investigated in 1991 both because this area yielded a higher than average concentration of aboriginal items during the subsurface survey and because it was one of the few remaining areas of the Poblado left unexcavated by the park-service team when the University of Florida team returned in 1991 for a second season. Each block of eight meters by eight meters was divided into excavation units of two meters by two meters for horizontal control. Vertical control was maintained during excavation through the use of a transit and datum plane. Excavation of the 1990 and 1991 test units was carried out in five-centimeter vertical increments within the visibly distinct, naturally occurring soil zones. Soil excavated from each zone increment or intrusion was screened through .55-centimeter wire mesh, and all recovered materials from a single excavation increment (for example, a five-centimeter level within a zone, a feature, or a five-centimeter increment within a feature, a post, and so forth) were bagged together and given a unique field-specimen number (FS#). This number thus refers to a specific field-excavation
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4.3. Stratigraphic section at -.
provenience. A half-liter soil sample for botanical and faunal analyses was taken from each five-centimeter level in each zone, normally resulting in a five-liter sample of soil for each zone of each two-meter-square excavation unit (approximately eighty liters per zone for each unit of eight meters by eight meters). Intrusions were designated as features if they were recognizable as the results of human activity, given unique numerical designations, mapped, and excavated separately. Other soil discolorations or intrusions were assigned “post-mold” or “area” numbers within individual excavation units, mapped, and excavated separately.
General Stratigraphy: Poblado In contrast to the single-deposit stratigraphy in the Solar, two distinct soil zones could be identified in the Poblado excavation units: an upper zone of soil disturbed by twentieth-century activity (Zone 1), and a lower, less disturbed but nevertheless mixed-soil zone (Zone 2) shown in figure 4.3. The interface of these zones, at approximately twenty to twenty-five centimeters below the current ground surface, is interpreted as the late fifteenth-century ground surface. The uppermost layer of dark-brown soil (Zone 1) had been subjected to severe postcolonial turbation and disturbances, and it ranged in depth from fifteen to twentyeight centimeters (figure 4.3). Less disturbed Spanish-era deposits were encountered at the base of Zone 1, marked by the appearance of dark,
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red-brown soil designated as Zone 2, thought to represent the fifteenthcentury surface. The depth of Zone 2 ranged from fifteen to forty-five centimeters throughout the Poblado, extending to the underlying early Pleistocene limestone substratum known as the Isabela Formation (Marcano and Tavares 1981). Post molds and occasional features or intrusions occurred throughout the initial excavation units, but only those with a point of initiation below the base of Zone 1 were considered potentially colonial.
Stratigraphy, Disturbance, and Artifact Morphology Disappointingly, the distribution of artifacts that were found through vertical excavation in five-centimeter increments indicated that disturbance from modern (twentieth-century) activities was evident from the top to the base of virtually all the deposits (table 4.2). Additional evidence for modern disturbance through farming and construction is the fact that the densest concentration of Spanish-era remains (76 percent) was found in the uppermost ten centimeters of soil (Levels 1 and 2 of Zone 1). A second, much less intensive concentration of Spanish-era remains (9 percent) was recovered in Zone 2, Level 1, or at about twentyfive centimeters below the present ground surface. The Poblado test units of 1990 and 1991, covering 245 square meters, suggested that although soil zones were intact and distinguishable in this part of the site, there had still been a considerable amount of vertical mixing and disturbance. House construction, sweeping, gardening, animal foraging, and other activities had mixed the materials from the four years of Spanish occupation of the site with those from the four decades of twentieth-century occupation. Fortunately, the materials that resulted from the brief Spanish occupation at the site do not overlap either morphologically or typologically with any of the later materials, which were nearly all deposited during the twentieth century. For this reason, it is possible confidently to distinguish the Spanish-era assemblage from the intrusive materials for nearly all categories of remains. The most troubling exceptions to this are the faunal and floral remains from the Spanish occupation, which cannot be distinguished morphologically from faunal and floral remains from the twentieth-century occupation. Nor has it been possible to distinguish morphologically or stratigraphically the sequence of deposi
1
1 2
7 13 4
2
1
3
1 32
1 1
1 26 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 2
1 7
11
3
1
1
3
1
1
1
10 24 7
1 47
1 30 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 7
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Glazed Wares Melado Melado A Melado A or C Melado B Melado C Melado D
Majolica Caparra Blue Columbia Plain Columbia Gunmetal Isabela Polychrome Yayal B/W UID B/W UID Majolica UID Green/White UID Green/Aqua UID Morisco Bizcocho
% All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All Z1L1 Items Z1L2 Items Z1L3 Items Z2L1 Items Z2L2 Items Z2L3 Items Z2L5 Items Z2L6 Items Z3L1 Items Total Items
2/22/02
Level:
4.2 Distribution of Materials in Five-Centimeter Zone Increments, Poblado Excavation (Units E16LñS, E16LHN, E16LIN, E8LñN, E40LñN, excluding features)
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7 3
1
159 169 0.648
5
2 4 2 2 9 5 651 771 0.685
1 2 1
15 19 0.422
1
1
419 446 0.723
1 1
1
1
40 49 0.521
1
1 1
14 16 0.696
1
5 6 1.000
1 1
4
4
4
13
2 2 2 1 1 2 5 6 2 9 5 1 1,315 0.599 1 0.125 1,488 0.678
12:19 PM
Nonceramic Items Wrought nail Bolt nut Iron object Key Knife blade Brigandine
Vitreo Vitreo A Vitreo B Vitreo C Vitreo D Vitreo E Vitreo F Vitreo G Vitreo H Vitreo I Vitreo I–2 Loza común Subtotal ceramics
% All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All Z1L1 Items Z1L2 Items Z1L3 Items Z2L1 Items Z2L2 Items Z2L3 Items Z2L5 Items Z2L6 Items Z3L1 Items Total Items
2/22/02
Level:
4.2 Distribution of Materials in Five-Centimeter Zone Increments, Poblado Excavation (Continued ) (Units E16LñS, E16LHN, E16LIN, E8LñN, E40LñN, excluding features)
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Nonceramic Items Celt Hammer stone Polishing stone Fishnet weight UID stone tool Debitage 7
4
1
TAÍNO MATERIALS Ceramics Chican adornos Chican incised 6 Aboriginal plain 324 Chican punctate 1 Chican white-slipped 6 Subtotal ceramics 337 0.299
777 0.690
6
26
26 0.578
82 0.314
19 0.422
81
1
179
10
5
1
163 0.264
1 1 161
448 0.726
2
1
1
1
41 0.436
41
51 0.543
2 2
7 0.304
7
16 0.696
6 0.261
1
3 0.375
3
1 1 4 1 1 12
2 7 646 1 6 662 0.302
5 0.625 1,512 0.689
4
1 2 24
12:19 PM
Total European
Pendant Coin Subtotal nonceramic
% All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All Z1L1 Items Z1L2 Items Z1L3 Items Z2L1 Items Z2L2 Items Z2L3 Items Z2L5 Items Z2L6 Items Z3L1 Items Total Items
2/22/02
Level:
4.2 Distribution of Materials in Five-Centimeter Zone Increments, Poblado Excavation (Continued ) (Units E16LñS, E16LHN, E16LIN, E8LñN, E40LñN, excluding features)
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UID = unidentified
Subsistence Remains (in grams) Animal bone 877 Shell 500 32
195
1
5
43 253.4
50
7
33
43 0.457 51 94 1.000 0.043
15.4
10
7 0.304 16 23 1.000 0.010 6 0.261 6 0.261 0.003
1 1
1
975.4 753.4
4,811 85.5
3 0.375 682 0.311 5 1,512 0.689 8 1.000 2,194 1.000 0.004 1.000
4,508 85.5
169 0.274 448 617 1.000 0.281
Modern Items Teja (in grams)
26 0.578 19 45 1.000 0.021
349 0.310 777 1,126 1.000 0.513
Total Taíno Total European Total artifacts % of total artifacts
12:19 PM
82 0.314 179 261 1.000 0.119
% All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All % All Z1L1 Items Z1L2 Items Z1L3 Items Z2L1 Items Z2L2 Items Z2L3 Items Z2L5 Items Z2L6 Items Z3L1 Items Total Items
2/22/02
Level:
4.2 Distribution of Materials in Five-Centimeter Zone Increments, Poblado Excavation (Continued ) (Units E16LñS, E16LHN, E16LIN, E8LñN, E40LñN, excluding features)
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tion for Taíno materials at the site before, during, or after Spanish occupation. These issues are discussed separately in subsequent chapters. Based on the results of the initial Poblado tests, the excavation of the Poblado area continued after 1991 in horizontal increments of two meters by two meters. Soil was removed in twenty-five centimeter increments or less, depending upon the depth at which Zone 2 appeared, and was screened through .55-centimeter mesh. Intrusions at the interface of the zones as well as those occurring within zones were mapped, and the original maps and field records are curated at the site in the La Isabela Museum, with copies of the records at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.
Features and Intrusions Post molds, trash pits, and hearths were occasionally encountered in the Poblado excavations (figures 4.4 to 4.7; see also chapter 5, figure 5.1). The hearths have in fact provided the best archaeological index to the locations of structures, as the evidence for the post structures themselves was ephemeral at best (see our discussion of bohíos in chapter 6). The criteria for consideration as a fifteenth-century feature included: 1. A stratigraphic point of initiation within (below the top of ) or below Zone 2 2. The absence of any post-fifteenth-century materials or burned wood indicating a modern post or root 3. A depth to the feature of 10 cm or greater, usually extending into the underlying bedrock 4. A shape consistent with a post rather than a root, burrow, or other form of bioturbation One of the most clearly defined nonmasonry features at the site was a hearth adjacent to a large post structure in unit E16LIN (the structure and associated posts are discussed in chapter 6); see figures 4.5 and 4.6. The hearth (feature 1), had two depositional components. The lower part of the hearth (sixty centimeters in diameter) was dug by the Spaniards to a depth of some fifty centimeters below the fifteenthcentury grade, apparently serving during La Isabela’s occupation as a hearth or furnace. The lower twenty centimeters of the pit was lined with rocks and used for a fire-related activity. Fire is indicated both by
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4.4. Spanish post mold placement technique and stratigraphy.
4.5. Spanish fogón (hearth or oven), .
the lining rocks, which are burned, and the dense concentration of ash that made up the fill of the feature. The pit was abandoned as a hearth, however, before the town was deserted, and a large trash pit was excavated over and around the feature, apparently destroying its original upper thirty centimeters. This pit was filled with late fifteenth-century material, including several nearly whole earthenware vessels, a coin, a key, and a number of nails (table 4.3). Many of these appear to be the result not of purposeful domestic trash discard but of cleanup activities prior to or after an occupation episode.
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4.6. Spanish fogón, and .
The contents provide few clues to the original use of the stone-lined fire pit. The ash fill of the lower section of the hearth was removed for analysis and flotation. Very few artifacts were present in this ash, and no identifiable bone fragments or floral elements were recovered. A relatively large quantity of unidentifiable iron fragments and lead sprue
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4.7. Spanish refuse pit.
were recovered from the ash, however, and may indicate the feature’s use for a metallurgical purpose. Hearths that appear to have been used for cooking are much more typical of the Poblado than is the hearth furnace near the structure in unit E16LIN. These are shallower features, of about one to 1.5 meters in diameter and from twenty to twenty-five centimeters in depth. They are also filled with ash, charcoal, and some artifacts, but very little bone. Figures 4.5 and 4.6 show examples of fifteenth-century hearth features. Although most of the refuse at the site comes from the sheet deposits of Zone 1 and Zone 2, a few trash pits were located in the Poblado area near the presumed bohío structures. These were shallow depressions excavated into the Zone 2 soil (or filling in natural depressions in the top of Zone 2), containing small quantities of artifacts and construction refuse, but rarely faunal bone (figure 4.7; table 4.3). Very few of these trash pits were free of twentieth-century disturbances.
Caparra Blue Columbia Plain UID gr/wh majolica Bizcocho Melado A Melado B Melado C Melado C Vitreo A Vitreo C Vitreo F Vitreo G Vitreo I Loza común Subtotal ARCHITECTURAL Bolt nut Corroded nail Wrought nail Wrought spike 100 145 1 2 3
1 2
2
4 3 1 51 70
2 4 1
2 14 2 8 10
4
1 1 2 48 57
1
1 2
1
Fea. 1 Level 3
12 14
1
1
1
1 24 25
Fea. 1 Fea. 1 Level 4 Level 6
1 7 5 1
3 17 2 9 19 2 2 5 1 1 5 6 4 235 311
Total Fea. 1
0.56
% of Fea. 1 Total
8 9
1
1 2 20 25
2
6 6
5 7
1
1
5 5
Area 1 Area 1 Area 1 Area 1 Area 1 Cuad 2 Cuad 9 Cuad 10 Cuad 16 Cuad 7
5 6
1
Area 1 Cuad 4
52 52
Fea. 2
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1 7
1 2
Fea. 1 Level 2
2/22/02
EUROPEAN CERAMICS
Fea. 1 Level 1
4.3 Distribution of Materials in Features and Intrusions, Poblado Excavation
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Fea. 1 Level 2
11 11 25
304 149 134 2,146
1 15 16 77 2
16 334 293 131.4
14
5,500 3 1,500
5 1,547 1
0 26
26
Fea. 1 Fea. 1 Level 4 Level 6
1 5 1,865 2,057.8 540 8,356 947 1,647
39 185 224 555 4
331
1 2
3
Total Fea. 1
0.404
0.596
% of Fea. 1 Total
293 14
1 6 7 17
1
60
4 2,000 41 84
6 4 10 46 3
4 4 10
268.2 10
8 2 15
2 2 9 1
30 29
2 20.1
2 2 9
1
1
Area 1 Area 1 Area 1 Area 1 Area 1 Cuad 2 Cuad 9 Cuad 10 Cuad 16 Cuad 7
14
0 6
Area 1 Cuad 4
565 59
213
10 10 62
Fea. 2
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61
Fea. 1 Level 3
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MILITARY ITEMS Brigandine 1 2 Scabbard tip Knife PERSONAL ITEMS Coin 1 Key 2 Straight pin Subtotal European 74 156 INDIGENOUS CERAMICS Chican Decorated 38 Plain 61 98 Subtotal 61 136 Total items 135 292 20th-cent. items 1 1 WEIGHED SUBSTANCES (In Grams) Bone 1 Charcoal Coral 14 Chert debitage 7.8 1,884 Iron fragments 8 64 Rock 710 Shell 143 508 Teja 16
Fea. 1 Level 1
4.3 Distribution of Materials in Features and Intrusions, Poblado Excavation (Continued)
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4.8. Locations of all excavated units at La Isabela.
j
Artifact Analysis By 1995, 454 units of eight meters by eight meters had been excavated at the site, including those in the Solar, the Poblado, and areas to the north and south of the ravines (figure 4.8). Nearly one million specimens (including noncultural items) had been recovered from these units, and we elected to approach the analysis of this huge assemblage in two distinct stages. The first level of analysis, referred to as the Gen
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4.9. Locations of units for which all materials were intensively analyzed.
eral Category Analysis (Análisis Cuantitativo) recorded and quantified the excavated materials into broad general categories. This was done concurrently with the excavations. The General Category Analysis covers 100 percent of the items excavated from the site, which include 454,298 artifacts and 1,090,980 culturally deposited items (construction materials, fauna, shell, metal fragments, rocks, and so forth; see appendix 3B. We coded and entered this general catalogue into a database management system (), which allowed us both to characterize the dis
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tribution and density of artifacts in general terms across the site and to guide subsequent sampling for more intensive analysis. Using this database, we were able to select spatially representative subsamples of the excavated materials for a more intensive, attributelevel analysis. Between 1993 and 1996 the excavated remains from 303 of the 454 excavation units were analyzed by item and recorded at an attribute level. This represents 68 percent of the area excavated and approximately 65 percent of the material excavated. Figure 4.9 shows the locations of the intensively analyzed units. Artifacts were identified and ordered by recognized typological designations when they existed, and they were described by attributes when prior descriptions did not exist. Discussion and documentation of specific artifact categories is included in the following chapters, which thematically address both the material and social aspects of fifteenthcentury La Isabela based on those remains.
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5 The Medieval Enclave Organization of Space at La Isabela Life in the Spanish community of La Isabela—as in any community— was both structured and reflected by the intentional organization of space. Although Isabela was initially established as a military base and trading center, it was the clear intent of Columbus to establish a town that would become the capital of Spain’s American colony. These intentions were materially expressed not only in the personnel and supplies brought on the expedition but also in the ways the Spaniards laid out and physically organized their settlement. This fundamental aspect of La Isabela has been recovered and understood almost exclusively from an archaeological perspective. As the first European “urban” enclave in America, La Isabela has been a source of profound interest for European and American scholars of Ibero-American urban planning, particularly regarding the development of the rectilinear grid-plan city and its imposition on the American landscape. We consider the state of urban design in the late
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fifteenth century as it related to La Isabela and Columbus in chapter 6 of Columbus’s Outpost. As we mentioned earlier, the colony of La Isabela had traditionally been conceived of by historians as a single urban entity until contemporary archaeological work revealed the existence of multiple foci of activity around the bay, including the fortified center at El Castillo, the agricultural and artisanal site at Las Coles, Indian towns, and the stone quarry (see chapter 3, figure 3.1). Of these, the most substantial occupation was at El Castillo, where the fortified town was established and the principal public structures were located. The archaeologically recovered information about La Isabela’s urban physical organization comes primarily from that site.
Isabela’s Town Plan: El Castillo We read in Guillermo Coma that “they have done the houses, and are constructing the protective walls, which adorn the city and give secure refuge to its inhabitants. A wide street like a straight cord divides the city in two parts, this street is cut transversally by many other streets to the coast [cortada . . . por otras muchas costaneras]. At the beach a magnificent castillo is being raised, with a high defense [elevada fortaleza]” (Coma in Gil and Varela 1984:199). Las Casas relates that Columbus “hastened to proceed to the building of a fort to guard their provisions and ammunitions, of a church, a hospital and a sturdy house for himself; he distributed land plots, traced a common square and streets; the important people grouped together in a section of the planned township and everyone was told to start building his own house. Public buildings were made of stone, individuals used wood and straw for theirs” (Las Casas I, LXXXVIII in Collard 1971:47). And Michel de Cuneo records that “here we built 200 houses, which are small, like the cabins [cabañas] we use for hunting, and they are covered with grass” (De Cuneo in Gil and Varela 1984:243). Documentary descriptions such as these tend to indicate that La Isabela was formally laid out on a regular plan, and most researchers have asserted that the town was the first example of the classic IberoAmerican grid town (Puig Ortíz 1973; Dobal 1988:59; García Zarza 1996:73–74; Solana 1986:13; Varela 1987:738; for one of the few contrary opinions see Palm 1955, vol. 1:52). The archaeological evidence (detailed below) disputes this. There is
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5.1. La Isabela basemap showing archeological features.
no indication in the shape of the town, the alignment of structures, or the distribution of remains that a regular rectilinear pattern was established. On the contrary, the orientations of the principal buildings suggest that few if any of the town’s elements shared even the same cardinal orientation (figure 5.1, table 5.1). The unifying element in the layout of the town is instead a conformance to the geographical features of ravines and sea. The stone buildings, for example, are oriented in relation to the immediate topography of the rocky shelf on which the public part of the site was located (figure 5.1). The storehouse (alhóndiga) was constructed to command both the cliff on the west and the beach access to the north at the northwest corner of the rocky promontory. The powder house (polvorín), slightly to the south of the alhóndiga, was constructed with its long walls roughly parallel to the cliff. At the southwest corner of the site the fortified house of Columbus (Casa de Colón) was sited to command the cliff and bay to the west and the mouth of the Bajabonico River to the southwest. The exception to this topographical orientation is the church (iglesia), which has an alignment running approxi
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5.1 Orienations of Structures at La Isabela Structure
Orientation (Long Walls)
Alhóndiga Polvorín Iglesia Casa de Colón E16LñS E16LIN
49º15' 9º30' 86º45' 32º5' 25º 20º
East of North East of North East of North East of North West of North (post structure, approximate) West of North (post structure, approximate)
mately east to west, consistent with Catholic liturgical precepts during both medieval and early modern periods (see chapter 8). The construction techniques used in these buildings also varied slightly in relation to the ground conditions in their vicinities (see chapter 6). The rest of the town (to the east of the principal buildings and away from the waterfront) appears to have been configured in relation to the ravines that border the north and south sides of the rocky plateau. There is very little intact, systematic evidence for structures in this area, but several roughly linear clusters of hearths and post mold concentrations are present in the Poblado area (figure 5.1). They extend from north to south approximately twenty to twenty-five meters apart and may indicate a fairly regular placement of non-elite housing. This suggestion is made cautiously in light of the modern residential usage of the area and the concomitant disturbances to it. The overall distribution of archaeological remains forms an irregular parallelogram, describing an area of some 150 meters east to west, and between 190 meters (along the western shoreline) and 105 meters (along the eastern end) north to south (figure 5.2). The assessment of La Isabela’s town plan is complicated by the fact that no direct evidence for streets or roadways has been recovered in any part of the site. Any such evidence in the Solar area—that is, along the waterfront to the west of the present road—was obliterated by modern disturbances. The distribution of the few nonmasonry features (posts, hearths, and so forth) preserved in that part of the site is furthermore far too fragmentary to permit useful conjecture about street locations in relation to these secondary features. We recall Guillermo Coma asserting that “a wide street like a straight cord divides the city in two parts, this street is cut transversally
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5.2. Hypothesized location of town elements and boundaries.
by many other streets along the coast [cortada . . . por otras muchas costaneras](in Gil y Varela 1984:199). If this can be believed, we might speculate that the wide street divided the town into eastern and western sections in much the way that the Solar and Poblado sectors are traditionally separated today by the Carretera. If streets extended from east to west from the residential Poblado to the seafront, the town would have had the form of a wedge, or section of a radial plan (figure 5.2).
The Town Walls Columbus’s own accounts make it clear that one of his first concerns was to construct a defense wall around the town. With the memory of La Navidad still fresh, he was concerned that “one Indian with a burning faggot could bring about [the loss of people and supplies], setting fire to the huts.” He wrote in February 1493 that “with those few healthy that remain here, every day is employed in enclosing the settlement and putting it in some posture of defense and the supplies in a secure position. This will be done in a few days, as there need be nothing but dry
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walls” (Columbus in Parry and Keith 1984:180). The word Columbus used for these walls was albarradas (“porque non ha de ser sino albarradas,” in Varela 1986:209), which can refer to dry-laid walls or earthen defense walls used provisionally in the country (Real Academia 1995). Guillermo Coma embellished Columbus’s account, writing that “they have done the houses, and are constructing the protective walls, which adorn the city and give secure refuge to its inhabitants” (in Gil and Varela 1984:199). Both the documentary and archaeological accounts of the settlement indicate that the walls were not of stone but of rammed earth, or tapia. No remnants of the wall itself survived into the twentieth century, owing both to the perishable nature of earthen construction under tropical conditions and to the many modern disturbances to La Isabela discussed in the preceding chapters. Nevertheless, several lines of evidence make it possible to suggest with some confidence where the wall was located. One of these is the map made by the U.S. Navy’s Lt. Colvocoresses during his 1891 visit, which shows the locations of tapia watchtower or bastion remnants along the wall guarding the town periphery (chapter 1, figure 1.2). The map shows two towers on the north side and two on the south side of the site. Those on the north extended eastward from the alhóndiga along the edge of the ravine at intervals of about one hundred yards, and those on the south extended eastward from the Columbus house, also at intervals of about one hundred yards (although we should note that in his report Covocoresses states that the towers are at intervals of fifty yards). One of these towers was probably located in the vicinity of unit E48LñN (932N 1120E), where a very large post mold was found with a substantial circular reinforcement of rocks (figures 5.1 and 5.3). It is located about one hundred meters east of the Columbus house and marks the approximate southern limits of archaeological remains at the site. A second feature at the northeastern corner of the site, one hundred meters almost due north of the large post, may also have been associated with the defense wall. This was a circular mound of rock located in unit E48LON (1028N 1128E), measuring from 1.8 meters to two meters in diameter. A topographic anomaly along the eastern side of the site is also suggestive of earthen construction. A ditchlike depression extends from south to north along approximately the 1172 east grid line (LTE line). It varies in width from eight meters to ten meters and has a maximum
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5.3. Large post thought to be associated with the town wall (at ).
depth of about sixty centimeters (chapter 4, figure 4.2). The depression marks the eastern boundary of artifact distribution at the site, and it may have been related to excavation and borrowing activities in the construction of the wall. Several areas with a slight increase in elevation (of about ten centimeters) were found immediately to the west of, and paralleling, the ditchlike depression. This area was tested in 1991 with a trench of one meter by six meters extending from west to east across the area hypothesized as having been the wall location (E24LQN-E24LRN). The trench located an area of distinctive, compact brown soil mixed with a large quantity of limestone fragments at about twenty-five centimeters below the present ground surface. It covered an area of somewhat more than five meters in width and may have been related to the town wall (figure 5.4). Although none of these lines of evidence is fully conclusive in itself, taken together they point to the location of an earthen wall in the approximate position suggested in figure 5.2.
Spatial Organization of Community Functions The brief occupation of La Isabela and subsequent centuries of depredation to its site left few traces of the ways in which activities within the
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5.4. Excavation in vicinity of the town wall (at ).
walled town were spatially organized. We can nevertheless infer certain things about the spatial organization of the town on the combined basis of topography, architectural remains, and artifact distributions. The two major divisions of the site were the waterfront area on the rocky promontory, where the public structures were located (the Solar), and the area to the east and away from the sea, where the wood and palm-thatch huts occupied by the settlers of La Isabela were located (the Poblado). The division seems to have been at approximately the 1040 E (LE) line, or about eighty meters east of the water. Functional divisions of space within these areas are suggested primarily by a combination of architectural features (which are few) and the distribution across the site of artifacts (which are abundant). Maps showing the horizontal distribution of excavated of artifacts were generated using the graphics package and are detailed in appendix 2. These maps are based on the general-category database discussed in the previous chapter (shown in appendix 3B), and they reflect 100 percent of the excavated materials. They reveal not only the concentrations of Spanish residential and production activities at La Isabela but also many of the postoccupational disturbances to the site. It is now clear, for example, that the greatest density of materials is in the ravine to the north of the site itself, which was used both as a trash-disposal area during the time of Columbus and as a deposit for
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earth and archaeological deposits pushed there during grading activities at the site in the 1960s. The least amount of material is found along the waterfront, where the leveling activities were most severe and the deposit depth is the shallowest. In this waterfront area the archaeological record, like the documentary accounts, indicates that a great deal of material was pushed over the cliff on the west side of the site and into the water. Within the Solar there are clear distinctions in the use of space indicated by the architectural remains (discussed individually in chapter 6). The northern end, commanding the beach and lagoon, was dominated by the fortified alhóndiga, which apparently served a combination of customhouse and royal storehouse. The powder house, a forge, and a stone tower are also located in this area, and the highest concentrations of metallurgical by-products, horseshoes, and other materials occur here also, suggesting industrial and military activities. A dense concentration of post molds—many intruding into the bedrock—were recorded in this area as well, describing a rectangle of about forty-eight meters by twenty-two meters at the southeast corner of the alhóndiga. Because of the severe damage to this part of the site from grading activities, we cannot eliminate the possibility that this structure may be related to the ranch that was located approximately on this site in the early part of the twentieth century (shown in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5, figure 5.2). At the opposite end of the Solar from the alhóndiga, a stone building with a tower and a circular defensive wall is presumed to be the fortified house of Columbus. It commanded the south lagoon and the mouth of the Bajabonico River and served as citadel for the town (the role of such fortified elite buildings in medieval towns is examined in more detail in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 6). The principal areas of the town were established between the two fortified points of the Columbus house and the alhóndiga, including the church and cemetery, the plaza, and the houses of hidalgos (although only indirect evidence exists for the latter two). The area to the north of the church is thought to have been the plaza, not only because of the near absence of Spanish artifacts or features there but also because of its position adjacent to the church (figure 5.1). It is roughly twenty-five meters north to south and somewhat longer than that from east to west. It is bounded on the south side by the church, on the east side by the cemetery, and on the west side by the cliff.
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On the north side of the presumed plaza area there is a heavy concentration of Spanish domestic and personal artifacts, and more post molds. This concentration forms a square measuring about sixty meters on each side, and it is oriented at approximately 46º east of north. It extends between the suspected plaza and the military-industrial zone around the alhóndiga. We posit this to have been an elite residential sector because of its position adjacent to the plaza and the relatively dense concentration of Spanish domestic materials and coins in this area. The Poblado area is somewhat more homogenous than the Solar in both artifact remains and architectural evidence. Two zones of fairly dense occupation are evident within the Poblado near the center and southern parts of the area, marked by artifact concentrations, large numbers of post molds, and Spanish-period hearths, or fogónes (figure 5.1). The colonists of La Isabela also used several other areas outside of the space enclosed by the town walls for special functions (chapter 3, figure 3.1). One of these was the presumed dock (muelle) on the north side of the lagoon bordering the north end of the site. The western end of the lagoon (today a sand-filled beach) was apparently used as a site for careening and shipbuilding, suggested by the enormous quantities of metal and construction items recovered there. A shallow fifteenthcentury well was found on the south side of the lagoon, some eighty meters inland from the present waterline, indicating that ship-related activities may have taken place in this area as well (figure 5.1). As the lagoon extended eastward and inland it became deeper, and was used for trash disposal during both colonial times and the twentieth century. The operators of the modern grading and leveling equipment we mentioned in chapter 1 apparently also took advantage of this ravine on the north side of the site by pushing large quantities of displaced archaeological materials over the edge. By far the largest number of fifteenth-century artifacts, and the highest densities of all artifact categories, are found in the ravine, where the deposits extend in places to 1.75 meters.
Analytical Zones In order to statistically characterize the distributions of excavated materials at a meaningful spatial resolution, the intensively analyzed subsample described in chapter 4 (which incorporates 68 percent of the total area excavated) was subdivided by areal zones, shown in figure 5.5.
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5.5. Locations of designated town zones.
The zone definitions were based on a combination of visible architectural and geographic divisions apparent across the site, as well as on information derived from the distributional maps of the general artifact categories shown in appendix 2. These zones included: 1. Playa norte: This is the area to the north of the western portion of the site (adjacent to the alhóndiga). Today it is a beach, and during the time of Columbus it was a tidal estuary apparently used for ship construction, maintenance, and provisioning. 2. Alhóndiga: This includes the alhóndiga itself, the polvorín, the small tower at the northwest corner of the site, and the surrounding area. It is thought to represent the focus of military, economic, and industrial activity. 3. Elite residential zone: This zone encompasses the space along
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the waterfront south of the alhóndiga and north of the plaza. Its location adjacent to the plaza indicates that it may have been an area of elite residence, as the plaza area was normally reserved for elite residents in cities throughout Spain and Spanish America (see, for example, Carlé et al. 1984; Crouch, Garr, and Mundigo 1982). This interpretation is reinforced by the large quantities of glazed ceramics and coins recovered in this area. 4. Plaza and iglesia: This zone incorporates the church ruins, the Spanish cemetery, and the relatively refuse-free and feature-free area around the church, which in accordance with fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury Spanish town-planning norms would incorporate the plaza. 5. Casa de Colón: This zone incorporates the ruins of the Columbus house and its surrounding defensive wall, extending to the cliff edge bordering the sea at the southwest corner of the site. 6 and 7. La laguna norte: These zones are located to the north of the site’s occupation area, along the edge, side, and base of a steep ravine that borders the northeastern part of the site. This was a refuse-disposal area in both colonial and contemporary times. 8. Poblado central: This is an area of concentrated domestic refuse and hearths, thought to have been the most intensively occupied residential area for the men of La Isabela. 9. Poblado este: This is also an area of domestic refuse and hearths, bordering the eastern periphery of the residential zone and presumably bounded on the east by the town wall. 10. Poblado sur: This zone contained the southern parts of the residential section up to the southern boundary of the site, presumably bounded by the town wall. Appendix 3A shows the statistical distributions of artifacts and other materials throughout these zones. This information provides a basis for interpreting the activities and uses to which various parts of the site were put in the fifteenth century, and we refer to it throughout the following chapters.
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He hastened to proceed to the building of a fort to guard their provisions and ammunitions, of a church, a hospital and a sturdy house for himself. Public buildings were made of stone, individuals used wood and straw for theirs. — Las Casas I:LXXXVIII in Collard 1971:47.
6 La Isabela’s Buildings La Isabela’s buildings are the only surviving remnants of fifteenthcentury European architecture in the Americas, and they reflect the traditions and techniques familiar to the masons, carpenters, and craftsmen who accompanied the expedition. These traditions derived largely from fifteenth-century Andalusia, with its blend of Roman, Iberian, and Muslim influences, but were obviously influenced by local materials. Footprints have survived only for the masonry structures at the site, and five of these—the alhóndiga-storehouse, the church, the house of Columbus, the powder house, and a watchtower—have been located and excavated. Of these, only the house of Columbus has intact wall remnants, and it is by far the best preserved and most informative of the structures at La Isabela (figure 6.1). The in-situ masonry architectural remains at La Isabela have been cleaned, stabilized, and given conservation treatment by technicians of the Agéncia Española de Cooperación International (see Campos Carrasco et al. 1992). These efforts included the construction of a protective structure over the remains of the Columbus house. This chapter will first discuss the materials used in La Isabela’s build-
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6.1. Excavation of the Columbus house.
ings (drawing heavily on the information provided by the Casa de Colón) and then document the individual structures at the site. Table 6.1 shows the dimensions of these buildings, and figure 5.1 indicates their locations and orientations within the town.
Materials Despite the statements of La Isabela’s fifteenth-century chroniclers, who imply that the public buildings were constructed of stone, the archaeological record makes it clear that these structures were a mixture of stone (in the short facade walls) and tapia, or rammed earth (in the lateral walls). The walls were often coated in lime plaster, which was also used for flooring. Roofs were either tiled with clay tejas (barrel tiles) or thatched. Nearly all of the construction materials were readily at hand—earth, stone, clay, wood, and limestone or oyster shell for making lime. The only category of construction material imported from Spain were the metal fasteners and hardware elements used in the buildings, and many of these were probably made at La Isabela using imported iron. Wood planking and boards seem to have been used only infrequently at La Isabela. Clinched nails (representing fasteners for boards) were ’
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6.1 Exterior Dimensions of Masonry Structures at La Isabela, in Meters
Length Casa de Colón Casa de Colón tower Iglesia Campanario Alhóndiga Polvorín Tower
13+ 2.94 N. 15.37 S. 15.05 2.60 W. 43.17 E. 42.58 W. 8.80 E. 8.65 4 (diameter)
Width 5.5 1.25 W. 5.85 E. 5.95 .80 N. 13.6, S. 13.65 N. 5.20 S. 4.90
Foundation Width
Roof Material
.60 1.25 .56-.58 .56-.58 .80 .56-.60
Teja Teja? Thatch, wood or mortar ? Teja
.80
Teja
quite rare in the fastener assemblage, suggesting that nails were used most commonly for joining frame elements rather than for fastening boards, as we discuss further below.
Tapia Construction at La Isabela The walls of the principal buildings were constructed of rammed earth shaped by forms, a technique known as pisé in French-influenced areas, tapia in the Spanish-speaking world, tabya in Islamic countries, and cobwork in English (Hassan and Hill 1986:75; Norton 1997). Tapia was used widely in the vernacular housing of medieval France, Spain, and North Africa (Norton 1997), and earth was said to have been the most common building material in fifteenth-century Córdoba and Seville (Córdoba de la Llave 1990:302– 03). It was also the standard construction method in many Muslim countries after .. 1200, particularly for military structures (Hassan and Hill 1986:75). The city walls of Carmona near Seville, for example, were built of tapia to a height of between ten and twelve meters (Pavón 1992:305–06), as was the wall surrounding the Alcazar in Seville. A tapia wall is built up in sections between two wooden forms, typically in units of 1.5 to three meters long and from .5 to one meter high (Norton 1997:43–44). The width of the forms obviously depends on the intended height for the wall, but most rammed earth walls are no less than .4 meters wide, because a worker has to stand between the forms on the top of the wall in order to ram the earth. The typical ratio ’
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6.2. Tapia construction technique. a, vertical sides of wooden forms; b, vertical stakes to hold forms in place; c, horizontal stakes or supports extending across the top of the tapia layer beneath; d, interior of form into which earth is compacted. (Drawing: Pauline Kulstad, after Norton 1997:44.)
of width to height for a tapia wall is from 1:8 to 1:12 (Norton 1997:47). A layer of dry earth, often mixed with stones, fired clay, or lime aggregate as reinforcement, is placed in the forms, and compacted manually (figure 6.2). When lime is added to the clay, it is known as tapia real (Real Academia 1995). When one section is complete, the forms are dismantled and moved to an adjacent section. As the wall is built up, the forms are attached to the top of the already completed section, leaving horizontal depressions in the wall between each section. As remnants of the tapia walls themselves survived only in the Casa de Colón, we can merely speculate about the nature of the tapia used in other masonry structures. The subtapia stone foundation treatments, however, are quite similar throughout the site and suggest a consistency in tapia construction technique. We therefore use the wall remnants of the Casa de Colón as a model for the nature of tapia construction at La Isabela. The tapia walls of the Columbus house are comprised of dark-red clayey sand mixed with lime, gravel, and lumps of unfired clay (tapia real). The fragmentary state of the surviving walls makes precise measurement of the tapia sections difficult, but they were consistently sixty centimeters wide and greater than seventy centimeters high (as this is ’
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6.3. Tapia wall segment at Columbus house.
the maximum height of the surviving wall remnants, and these bear no evidence for horizontal form supports); see figure 6.3. Two sections of tapia wall are greater than two meters long, suggesting that the Casa de Colón wall segments fell in the longer end of the predicted range. During his excavation of the Columbus house, Cruxent documented vertical post molds embedded within parts of the wall itself, suggesting that posts were placed at irregular intervals in the wall both for reinforcement and as a potential means of attaching roofing elements. These post molds ranged between ten and sixteen centimeters in diameter and were spaced at intervals of between .7 and 1.03 meters. They occur primarily in those sections of the north and south walls to the east of the lateral doorways, possibly suggesting that different wallconstruction methods were used in different sections of the structure.
Ceramic Architectural Elements Hundreds of thousands of teja (barrel roof tile) fragments were recovered from the principal buildings at the site, and most of these are thought to have been produced in the kilns of Las Coles (figure 6.4). Despite the fact that the size and quality of tejas were strictly regulated in Andalusia during the 1490s (Córdoba de la Llave 1990:303– 04), those ’
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6.4. Ladrillos and tejas. Top, teja roof tile, length: 36.4 centimeters; bottom, ladrillos; bottom ladrillo: 27.8 centimeters by 15.4 centimeters.
at La Isabela were clearly not standardized. Table 6.2 shows the measurements for a sample of the intact tejas from the site, and the spatial distribution of tejas across the site is shown in appendices 2 and 3A. The flat bricks known as ladrillos were also used in La Isabela’s masonry buildings (figure 6.4, table 6.3). These occur far less frequently than do the tejas, however, and ladrillos were probably used for trim rather than as basic construction elements. Several doorjamb pivots (goznes) were essentially ladrillos containing a circular depression to receive the jamb (these are illustrated in figure 6.11). ’
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6.2 La Isabela Teja Measurements, in Centimeters
Length
Small-End Width
Large-End Width
Weight (kgs)
E112LCS E112LCS E112LCS E120LBS E40L5N None
38.2 38.5 38.5 38.8 40 38.3
12 12.5 12.5 13 12.8 13
20 19.7 19.5 21.2 19.4 19.2
2.40 2.55 2.45 2.50 2.20 2.20
Teja mean
38.9
12.6
19.5
2.38
Provenience
All examples are from the Casa de Colón, except E40L5N, which is in the alhóndiga.
Nonmasonry Architectural Elements The great majority of architectural iron fasteners and other elements at La Isabela were found at Columbus’s house and in the elite residential sector of the town, suggesting that housing in these areas was somewhat more substantial than in the Poblado, where very few nails or spikes were recovered. As a limited commodity either imported or produced from imported materials, nails and spikes were probably most readily available to the elite sectors. As tables 6.4 and 6.5 and appendix 3B show, the great majority and highest density of all fasteners and fastener fragments were recovered from the Playa area, which is thought to have been the shipyard. We shall consider those elements not found in the Playa and therefore assumed to have been related to building construction rather than shipbuilding. Metal architectural elements other than fasteners were scarce at the site; only handles or pulls, hinge fragments, and a single doorlock fragment were found (table 6.4, figure 6.5). The varieties and sizes of nails are considered in more detail in chapter 10. Round-headed joining nails were by far the most common variety among the nails thought to have been used in building construction (figure 6.6). Headless nails for casing, flooring, or finishing were the second most common variety, and these were heavily concentrated in the alhóndiga, possibly indicating the presence of a wooden floor in that building. ’
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6.5. Architectural hardware elements. Clockwise from upper left, doorlock fragment; hinge fragment; key; bolt and nut.
Casa de Colón Despite the fact that the west end of the structure has eroded into the bay, the Casa de Colón gives us the most complete and detailed evidence for architectural and construction techniques at La Isabela. The remains of the structure—by then collapsed and buried—were first explored in 1966 by Carlos Dobal and his students (Dobal 1988) and partially excavated in 1985 and 1986 by the Museo del Hombre Dominicano (Guerrero 1984; Guerrero and Ortega 1983). Excavations under the direction of Cruxent fully exposed the structure and its surrounding wall in 1989 and 1990. Table 6.1 and figures 6.7 and 6.8 show the dimensions and floor plan of the Casa de Colón.
Footprint: Casa de Colón Much of the eastern facade of the Columbus house, which consisted of a tower and the principal entrance, was constructed of dressed stone. ’
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6.6. Joining nails from La Isabela. top, left to right, Short round-headed nail, length: 3.5 centimeters; estoperole tack, head diameter: 3.5 centimeters; center, left to right, clinched T-head nail, length: 4.5 centimeters, top to clinch; small chisel or headless nail, length: 5.2 centimeters; round-headed joining nail, head diameter: 2.4 centimeters; bottom, L-head nail, bent, 8 centimeters top to bend; headless nail, length: 9.6 centimeters.
Door lock Handle fragments Iron object Total
Hardware
Estoperole Iron tack Brass tack
1,781
6 6 1
1 1,768
1 336 859 12 563
1,163
2
1,161
131 945 85 2 1
Alhóndiga
413
12
73
73
5 1
3
401
1 66
Plaza/Iglesia
153 245
Elite Res.
1,034
1 1
2
1,030
294 694 6 36
Casa Colón
190
1
1 4 2
2 182
59 91 9 21
Laguna
109
3 3
25 71 1 4 1 1 103
Pob. Este
1 1 32
1 2
27
2
3 22
Pob. Cent.
9
1
1 8
1 6
Pob. Sur
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Tacks
Copper nail Corroded nail Wrought nail Corroded spike Wrought spike Staple Bolt Subtotal
Construction Fasteners
Playa
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Town Zone:
6.4 Nonmasonry Architectural Items at La Isabela
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0.010 0.054 0.026 0.885
0.005 0.020
0.52 0.48
82 76 158
5 6 26 44
1
6
0.114 0.136 0.591
0.023
0.136
1 8 11
2
0.09 0.73
0.18
49 57
3
4
0.86
0.053
0.07
0
1 4 21 33 61
2
0.016 0.066 0.344 0.541
0.033 2 1 2 1 3 12 50 72
0.028 0.014 0.028 0.014 0.042 0.167 0.694
1 0.014
6 0.1579 4 0.1053 24 0.6316 38
2 0.0526 1 0.0263 1 0.0263
3 7
2
2
12 1 0.29 13 9 3 6 0.29 126 54 0.43 615 839
Pob. % Sur Zone 10 Total
0.014 0.001 0.015 0.011 0.004 0.007 0.150 0.064 0.733
% All
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Based on whole and/or headed varieties.
Estoperole tack Eye hook Faceted head 2 Bolt head 8 Anvil head Cube head 4 Headless 21 Square head 10 Round head 346 TOTAL 391
% Alhón- % Elite % Plaza/ % Casa % % Pob. % Pob. % Playa Zone 1 diga Zone 2 Resi. Zone 3 Church Zone 4 Colón Zone 5 Laguna Zone 6 Cent. Zone 8 Este Zone 9
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Fastener Variety
Town Zone:
6.5 Fastener Varieties at La Isabela
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6.7. Columbus house, archaeological plan view.
6.8. Columbus house remains. Rocks along top of walls were placed there to protect the tapia remnants.
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6.9. Stone threshold at the main entrance of the Columbus house after restoration. Inside structure at threshold, facing east (outside). A corner of the in-situ original plaster floor is seen at the right.
6.10. Dimensions and placement of the stone threshold at the main entrance of the Columbus house.
The stone door threshold (umbral) is the only above-grade stone construction remaining in situ in any building at the site. It is 1.7 meters wide, and no evidence for a subgrade foundation was recovered below it. The threshold was instead set into a thin layer of lime mortar that was placed directly on the compacted-earth surface at ground level (figures 6.9 and 6.10). Narrower doorways (.95 and 1.2 meters wide, re ’
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6.11. Ceramic goznes (door-post pivots) in situ at the opening in the wall surrounding the Columbus house.
6.12. Tapia and stone base of tower at the northeast corner of the Columbus house, before consolidation.
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spectively) were also present in the north and south walls, with no trace of the thresholds surviving. A fourth doorway is suggested by a ceramic door pivot (gozne) in the southwest corner of the building at the point where the south wall erodes into the sea. Three of these ceramic goznes have been recorded in situ within the Columbus house, and they are essentially ladrillos (fourteen centimeters square and four centimeters thick) made and fired with a flat-based circular depression into which a door pintle fitted. The depression, reflecting the size of the pintel, is 6.5 centimeters in diameter and 1.5 centimeters deep (figure 6.11). A perpendicular wall segment extended southward from the south wall of the Casa de Colón, at an angle slightly off 90º, and appeared to have connected the principal structure to the surrounding defense wall. There is some suggestion that another room may have been present west of the extension wall and south of the main hall, as the ceramic gozne mentioned above represents the vestiges of another doorway providing access between the west half of the main structure and the area—possibly a room—to the south (figure 6.7). No unequivocal archaeological evidence for either a floor or the south wall of such a room had been recovered, however, and the west wall has fallen into the sea. A stone-rubble and tapia foundation for a tower was located at the northeast corner of the house (figures 6.10 and 6.12), and its small dimensions (2.9 meters by 1.25 meters) suggest that it was a solid structure of tapia with the top serving as a watchtower platform, rather than a tower with interior rooms. There was no archaeological evidence for steps or stairs encountered near the tower, implying that the top was reached by means of a ladder or by wooden steps.
Materials and Methods: Casa de Colón The walls of the house were constructed on a foundation of rough stones, loosely dry-laid into a shallow footing trench. The trench was sixty centimeters wide and averaged about twenty centimeters to twenty-five centimeters in depth (figures 6.13 and 6.14). The stone footing extended from ten centimeters to twelve centimeters above the Spanish ground surface to provide an above-grade base for the house’s walls. The walls of the Casa de Colón average sixty-five centimeters in width and, using the width-to-height ratio for tapia walls of 1:8 to 1:12 provided by Norton (1997:47), the walls are likely to have been between ’
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6.13. Stratigraphic cross section of Columbus house.
6.14. Columbus house walls, showing position of tapia over stone foundations. The base of the plaster marks the top of the stone foundation.
5.2 meters (seventeen feet) and 8.4 meters (25.5 feet) high. The tower’s 1.25-meter-thick foundation could have supported a structure of up to fifteen meters (forty-nine feet) tall. Both the interior and exterior walls of the house were coated with at least two layers of lime mortar and plaster (figure 6.15). A coarse, sandy ’
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6.15. Detail of plaster coating on Columbus house wall. The circular cracks are postdepositional alteration.
layer of plaster some five centimeters thick was first applied directly to the earth wall. This was covered by a much finer layer of finish plaster averaging about two centimeters in thickness. The floor of the principal room was apparently also surfaced with a layer of lime mortar aggregate, and a very small remnant of interior flooring is preserved in the southeastern corner of the main room (figure 6.9). Although some fragments of flat ladrillo bricks were found at the Casa de Colón, they were quire uncommon and were apparently used for trimwork rather than as flooring or structural material. The roof of the Casa de Colón was made of teja. Thousands of teja fragments were recovered from the debris covering the structure’s foundations, and the overall density of roof tiles was higher here than at any other part of the site except the alhóndiga (appendix 2).
The Casa de Colón’s Defensive Wall No above-grade remnants of the circular wall surrounding the Casa de Colón have survived. Its stone-rubble foundation, like that of the Columbus house walls, is about sixty centimeters wide but is shallower than the foundations for the house walls, eight centimeters to ten centimeters deep (figure 6.16). A series of closely spaced post molds paral ’
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6.16. Rubble footing of the circular wall surrounding the Columbus house.
leled both sides of the wall footing (figure 6.7), which may indicate either that a palisadelike construction could have been associated with the wall or that scaffolding was used in its construction. Entrance through the wall was gained, as we mentioned, by a gate opposite the east facade of the Columbus house, evidenced both by the absence of a foundation and the presence of two ceramic goznes (shown in figure 6.11).
The Iglesia The church of La Isabela was quite small even by frontier standards, with about ninety square meters of interior space (figures 6.17 and 6.18). The church at the isolated cattle-ranching town of Puerto Real (ca. 1504), for example, had 140 square meters of interior space (Willis 1995:158–59), and the churches in the frontier missions of La Florida averaged two hundred square meters of interior space (Jones and Shapiro 1990; Saunders 1990). The church was the only masonry building at La Isabela that did not have a tile roof, possibly because it was built before the tile kilns at Las Coles were in operation. The Patronato Inter-American pro Restauración de la Isabela excavated near the church structure in 1945 but restricted its efforts to a ’
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6.17. Foundations of the church of La Isabela. The tree is at the east end.
trench extending along the outside of the eastern wall (Caro 1973; Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5). The church was subsequently disturbed quite severely during the tractor-grading episodes of the 1950s, which removed all standing wall remnants and much of the floor (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5). Much of the foundation, however, was still visible above ground in 1968, when Carlos Dobal made a plan of the remains (Dobal 1988). The church structure presents a stratigraphic situation somewhat different from that of other masonry buildings at the site, in that it was built partially over and adjacent to the pre-Columbian Taíno midden and cemetery. This is the only part of the Solar that had a deep soil deposit (seventy centimeters to one meter) above the bedrock, and the soil undoubtedly provoked some of the differences in construction techniques between the church and other masonry structures in the town.
Footprint: Iglesia The church itself measures approximately fifteen meters by 5.5 meters, although the lengths of parallel walls vary slightly (table 6.1) and the building’s corners are not precisely at right angles (figure 6.18). It conformed to a simple, single-nave monastic layout, with the altar at the ’
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6.18. Archaeological basemap of the church.
east end of the building and the principal entry on the west. The interior was floored with lime mortar, which survived only in badly broken fragments. No fragments, however, were found in the eastern three meters of the structure, suggesting that this may have been the area of the altar and sacristy (figure 6.19). The sacristy, in keeping with liturgical tradition, may have been raised and floored with some other material that has not survived, such as ladrillo, wood, or stone. ’
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6.19. Stratigraphic section of church excavation.
The stone foundation for what is believed to have been a bell tower (campanario) was located near the center of the north wall (figures 6.18 and 6.20). Its small footprint and traces of tapia among the stones of the foundation indicate that this, like the Columbus-house tower, was a solid tapia structure. Secondary doorways are thought to have been located in the positions shown in figure 6.18. Although no walls or floors survived to suggest where openings were placed, the doorways of the church were indicated by three pieces of evidence: (1) the levelling of the stone footing in these sections; (2) the presence of major support posts in the foundation on either side of the leveling; and (3) the presence of ladrillo bricks placed upon the stone foundation. Ladrillos were found only in these positions and are thought to have served as the door thresholds.
Materials and Methods: Iglesia The church walls were built of a combination of dressed stone and tapia, indicated by two distinct foundation treatments. The stone footings on the east and west facades are considerably more compact, level, and deep than those of the lateral walls (figure 6.20). They extend to a depth of some eighty centimeters below the fifteenth-century grade, as compared to a depth of twenty-five centimeters on average for the ’
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6.20. Regular rubble foundation of the church. The campanario (bell tower) is at center of north foundation wall, near center of photo.
north and south walls (both kinds of footing, however, were about sixty centimeters wide). The treatment of the east and west walls extends around the corners of the structure to incorporate irregular segments of the north and south lateral walls, and it probably reflects the position of cut-stone construction. The remainder of the church was almost certainly of tapia. Like the Casa de Colón walls, the tapia walls of the iglesia were reinforced with posts that extended into the footings. Unlike the Casa de Colón, however, the church wall footings are paralleled by smaller post molds on both the exterior and interior, perhaps suggesting scaffolding (figure 6.18). Both the walls and the floors of the church were surfaced with lime mortar aggregate. The greatest concentrations of mortar and plaster at La Isabela came from the iglesia, more than double those from the Casa de Colón (appendix 3B). The fragments were sandy, heavy, and thick (four centimeters to five centimeters) and made in two layers: a thick, coarse layer with a cap of finer lime mortar over it. Much of the mortar, although fragmentary, was concentrated at the level thought to have been the fifteenth-century grade and probably represents the broken interior floor of the church. Cruxent has offered the ’
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alternative hypothesis that the large quantity of plaster at the grade level may represent the remnants of a collapsed ceiling. Because no portions of the above-grade walls have survived, we can only hypothesize that the walls were plastered like those of the Casa de Colón. Very few fragments of teja were recovered from the vicinity of the church, in sharp contrast to the thousands of fragments from the other masonry structures. As we noted earlier, the church roof was not of tile, possibly because it was constructed before the teja kilns were in full operation. It was instead made of thatch or wood, or perhaps, as Cruxent suggests, of plaster. Flat roofs of lime mortar and plaster are known in both Spain and the Spanish Americas, and such a roof could have been made for the church, helping to account for the large amounts of plaster and mortar found inside the structure. More substantial construction and adornment may have been planned, but the circumstances that developed at La Isabela no doubt dampened any enthusiasm for improvement or embellishment of the town’s buildings (see chapter 1 and Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 4).
Church Adornment Surprisingly few elements that can be attributed to church adornment have been recovered at La Isabela, probably because liturgical items and ornaments were removed when the town was abandoned. Subsequent disturbance of the church site undoubtedly also destroyed evidence for ornamentation in the above-grade fabric of the church. A single remnant of carved and painted plaster was excavated from the site of the church, and it was the only ornamental plaster found at the town site (figure 6.21). This very small fragment (eleven millimeters thick) bore an impressed design of alternating bands of short-line hatchure and dots, filled in with green and blue paint. This may reflect interior wall decoration in the church. None of the cut stones from the church’s east and west facades has survived in situ, although a stone taken from the iglesia by Bartolomé de las Casas in 1526 is preserved in Puerto Plata (Puig Ortíz 1973:36). The original provenience of the other stones from La Isabela documented by Puig Ortíz (including a slender column base and the keystone of an arch) is not known, but they represent elements that could have been incorporated into the church (Puig Ortíz 1973:21, 29, 45). A crudely anthropomorphic limestone figure, eroded but clearly sculptural, was recovered in the vicinity of the iglesia and tentatively ’
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6.21. Incised and painted plaster from the church. Paint is in blue and green; 4.7 centimeters by 2.5 centimeters; thickness: 11 millimeters.
identified by Cruxent as a gargoyle. The figure is quite similar to a gargoyle recovered at the sixteenth-century site of Nueva Cádiz in Venezuela (Rouse and Cruxent 1963:figure 54A). Local tradition asserts that the bell from the church at La Isabela— a gift to the town from Queen Isabela brought to the colony by Columbus—was taken to Concepción de la Vega when La Isabela was abandoned. It hung there in the cathedral tower until Concepción was destroyed by an earthquake in 1562, and the bell remained encased in the ruins until the nineteenth century. It was brought to light again (miraculously, in local opinion) by the growth of a tree, “which had entered the belfry, and emerged with the long-hidden bell in its ligneous arms, bringing it to the light of day after a lapse of at least three centuries” (Ober 1893:326). The bell was taken to Santo Domingo, where it was eventually loaned to the United States Columbian World Exposition in 1891 (Ober 1893:325–29). It returned to the Dominican Republic after the exposition and resides today in the modern cathedral of La Vega.
The Alhóndiga Alhóndiga is a medieval term used to describe a combination warehouse, grain exchange, and customhouse, and in fifteenth-century Spain the al ’
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hóndiga also sometimes served as a meeting place, a market, and a place for the control of weights and measures (Carlé et al. 1984:45–46). La Isabela’s alhóndiga commanded the beach and dock area at the north end of the town, and it was the largest and probably most impressive building at La Isabela. It served as the storage place for “all of the merchandise of Their Highnesses, including the merchandise to be sent from here [Spain], and that to be collected for return shipment” (Catholic Kings to Columbus, 1493, in Parry and Keith 1984:74). As such, it was the economic center of the La Isabela factoría. It was also the symbol of royal presence and authority at La Isabela and was apparently fortified. Las Casas wrote that Columbus “hastened to proceed to the building of a fort to guard their provisions and ammunition” (I,LXXXVIII; 1985, vol. 1:363), and Guillermo Coma observed that “high up on the shore stands a mighty fortress with lofty battlements” (Syllacio 1494, translation Morison 1963:243). The map of La Isabela made by Lt. Colvocorresses in 1891 depicts a curious configuration of earthen towers and walls in the vicinity of the alhóndiga (chapter 5, figure 5.1). His image of the rectangular building with three rooms corresponds quite closely to the archaeological remains of the alhóndiga. The tower marked “A” may also have been identified archaeologically, and we discuss it below. No direct evidence was found for the towers marked “B”and “C” or the wall connecting them (reported by Colvocorresses to have been about a foot high). The polvorín (powder house) building located by Cruxent and the associated course of compact stone rubble he interpreted to have been a walkway (calzado) between the fort and powder house may be remains of the same features mapped by Colvocorresses. These are also discussed below. Remnants of pillars or columns inside the alhóndiga were still in evidence at the end of the nineteenth century, but all above-ground traces were gone by the 1930s (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5). For many years the alhóndiga remains were identified as those of the church, both because of the columns and the assumption that the largest and most impressive structure would naturally be that dedicated to God. It was with this assumption that the Junta para la Celebración del Centenario del Descubrimiento sponsored excavations at the alhóndiga in 1892 (Puig Ortíz 1973:60–62). The Junta recorded that the walls were of mud some two meters thick (undoubtedly slumped and widened) and half a foot high. There was a doorway in the west wall, and opposite the doorway the group found four column bases in a square plan, four meters from ’
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6.22. The alhóndiga foundations after conservation. The squares in the center are modern protection for the remnants of the interior support pillars.
one another. They also made note of a semi-subterranean structure that they took to be the polvorín. In 1932 the Sociedad de Amantes de la Luz of Santiago placed a commemorative stone monument in the alhóndiga’s west wall in an opening that is thought to have been the principal entrance noted in 1892 (Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 5, figure 1.3). The monument remained there until 1995, providing evidence for the depth of the post-1940 leveling and grading of the site. The surviving remains of the alhóndiga walls and pillars were conserved and stabilized in 1992 by the Agencia Española de Cooperación International in conjunction with the Dirección Nacional de Parques (figure 6.22). No traces of the above-grade alhóndiga walls have survived, and the foundation itself has been disturbed and partially graded by the activities outlined in chapter 5 of Columbus’s Outpost. Nor have any remnants of the interior floor of the building been preserved, and nearly all of the stone from the alhóndiga had been removed before 1988. Because of these circumstances, the stratigraphy of this structure and the relationship of the surviving remnants to the Spanish surface are less clearly understood than in the other buildings at the site. ’
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Footprint: Alhóndiga Like the Casa de Colón and the iglesia, the alhóndiga is slightly irregular in its dimensions. The long walls (east and west) are somewhat more than forty-eight meters long, and the short north and south walls somewhat more than thirteen meters (table 6.1, figure 6.23). Excavations uncovered the bases for sixteen stone pillars or columns dug slightly into the underlying bedrock and measuring some seventy centimeters square (figure 6.24). They extended in two rows four meters apart along the north-south length of the alhóndiga. The rows were also four meters from the east and west walls of the structure, respectively, dividing the interior space into three north-to-south “corridors” each four meters wide. The pillars along the north-south rows were placed somewhat less regularly, at intervals ranging from 3.7 meters to 4.2 meters. In general, however, the configuration of walls and pillars potentially divided the interior of the alhóndiga into twenty-four units of four meters square each. Many of the pillar bases contained lime mortar coating the interior, and the best preserved of these bore impressions of stones of various dimensions. One of the pilasters showed the impression of two ladrillo bricks (measuring approximately twelve centimeters by twenty-nine centimeters), which were probably used to level the pillar bases. We believe that the pillars were made of stone rather than of ladrillo, as relatively few ladrillos have been recovered from the alhóndiga, and none of these shows evidence of mortar adhesion. Archaeological evidence was recovered for an entrance into the alhóndiga through the west wall, beneath the portion of the foundation used by the Sociedad de Amantes de la Luz to construct its monument in 1932 (figure 6.23). Cruxent also encountered large post molds set three meters apart into the wall footing at either side of the opening over which the monument was placed. Understanding the floorplan of the alhóndiga is complicated by the disturbed state of the northern and southern walls of the building. There is no evidence for a stone footing (or any other kind of foundation) on the north end of the structure, although the two northernmost pillars of the alhóndiga may provide a clue to the configuration of the north facade of the building. These pillars are located along the eastwest line that would have been the north wall had the foundation ex ’
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6.23. Archaeological basemap of the alhóndiga.
isted, and they are nine meters north of the next pillar to the south, rather than the usual four meters between each of the other pillars. One of the bases of these northernmost pillars is considerably larger than the other alhóndiga pillars and measures nearly a meter square. The lime mortar in the base bears the impression of a large curved stone measuring some seventy centimeters in diameter (figure 6.24). These anomalies suggest that the pillars may have been elements of the alhóndiga’s north wall, possibly supporting a large portal (or three large arches) to permit the entry of bulk supplies. No cut stones that could indicate the presence of arched entries have been documented from the alhóndiga, but at least one cut arch keystone for an arch that is now in Puerto Plata is strongly suspected to have come from La Isabela (Puig Ortíz 1973:29). It is perhaps significant that the underlying limestone bedrock is considerably higher at the north end of this structure ’
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6.24. Pillar bases inside the alhóndiga (including the north end). Top, pillar base with ladrillo and post-mold impressions. Bottom, largest pillar base, at the northern end of the alhóndiga.
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than it is in other parts of the site; the builders might possibly have taken advantage of the solid bedrock and the strength of arches to bear the alhóndiga’s north wall and roof supports without a subterranean footing. A series of features interpreted to have been a metal foundry were located immediately to the north of the alhóndiga’s presumed north wall (figure 6.23). These consisted of post molds and large pits excavated into the bedrock in a configuration suggesting a forge (discussed and illustrated in chapter 10). The singular wall treatment on the north side of the alhóndiga may have been related to these activities. The south wall of the alhóndiga, which also lacks a stone footing, is somewhat more problematic, in that short segments of a stone footing extend around the southeast and southwest corners of the building from the east and west walls, respectively. The opening in the wall footing of some 11.6 meters is far too wide to have been a doorway. The extent to which the tractor grading and the excavations of 1982 and 1971 disturbed this end of the alhóndiga is unclear and cannot be satisfactorily resolved at this time.
Methods and Materials: Alhóndiga The footing trenches for the alhóndiga’s east and west walls were excavated to a depth of between .8 meter and one meter below what is thought to have been the fifteenth-century surface (figures 6.25-6.26). Today this is about thirty centimeters below ground surface, which, in the area of the alhóndiga, is presumed to be about fifty centimeters lower than the 1493 ground surface, owing to the disturbance factors documented in chapter 5 of Columbus’s Outpost. The footings of stone rubble mixed with teja fragments ranged in width from fifty-eight centimeters to sixty-five centimeters and probably supported the sixtycentimeter-wide tapia walls that seem to have been standard at La Isabela. The deep disturbances to the alhóndiga structure left no remnants of either floor or wall fabric, and we can therefore only speculate that the same lime-mortar surfacing found in the other masonry structures was used here as well. It is also possible that the alhóndiga had a wooden floor, suggested by the fact that 65 percent of all the headless nails from the site (that is, those most likely to have been used in flooring) came from the alhóndiga. These also represented 52 percent of all the nails ’
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6.25. Stone foundations, alhóndiga east wall. Large rocks are in situ, smaller rocks placed as protective covering.
6.26. Alhóndiga footing with post-mold support.
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in the alhóndiga, which is a dramatically higher proportion than anywhere else on the site (table 6.5; see also chapter 10). The densest concentration of tejas at La Isabela occurred in the vicinity of the alhóndiga, and there is no doubt that it was roofed with these tiles (see appendix 2). Dense concentrations of tejas were located adjacent to several areas on the exterior of the alhóndiga’s east wall, apparently deposited by the collapse of the structure and its roof. The interior pillars no doubt functioned to help support the roof, which covered more than 650 square meters (650 square meters would be the area of the roof if it were flat, which it undoubtedly was not, as tejas are used almost exclusively on sloped roofs). Given the mean dimensions of the tejas from La Isabela (table 6.2) and the flat-roof dimensions of the alhóndiga (table 6.1), we estimate that somewhat more than fifteen thousand tejas were required to cover the structure. At a mean of 2.38 kilograms per tile, the roof must have weighed considerably more than thirty-five thousand kilograms.
The Polvorín-Calzado-Drenaje Complex The stone foundation of a small structure (roughly five meters by seven meters) is thought to be that of the polvorín, or powder house (figures 6.27 and 6.28), located about twenty-four meters south of the alhóndiga. It is connected to the alhóndiga by a delimited concentration of small uncut rocks describing the base of a curving pathway or wall (figures 5.1 and 6.27), which was interpreted by Cruxent during his excavation to have been a calzado, or raised walkway, that could have provided a welldrained connection between the two buildings. To the west of the calzado, between the polvorín and alhóndiga, a large pit was excavated into the bedrock (figures 6.27, 6.29, and 6.30). The pit measures some four meters in diameter and is three meters deep. It appears to have been a rustic cistern or water-storage feature, capturing runoff water from the area to the east of the calzado and south of the alhóndiga (whose pitched roof would have generated a tremendous amount of runoff during the rainy seasons). It is likely that the polvorín structure may have been the mound shown to the south of the alhóndiga on the Colvocoresses map as “C” and described as “of reddish earth scattered with small unhewn stones, many pieces of roofing tile and a few fragments of brick; the mounds are about three feet high and twenty feet in diameter” (chapter 1, figure ’
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6.27. Archaeological basemap of polvorín-calzado-drenaje complex.
6.28. In situ foundation of the polvorín.
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6.29. Rustic cistern.
6.30. Rustic cistern, plan view and section.
1.2). The mound marked “C” was connected to the alhóndiga by a tapia wall: “The wall is about a foot high and runs S.S.W. from the northern to the middle bastion for about one hundred feet [this undoubtedly refers to the west wall of the alhóndiga]; it there curves to the southward for about eighty feet and joins the third mound, or bastion,” marked “C” (Colvocoresses in Thatcher 1903:284). ’
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The polvorín foundations are twenty-four meters (79.4 feet) south of the alhóndiga, corresponding very closely to the size, distance, and position described by Colvocoresses for the tower marked “C.” This poses the possibility that the footing stones interpreted as a calzado may have alternatively supported a tapia wall connecting the alhóndiga to the polvorín.
Footprint: Polvorín and Calzado Nothing survives of the walls, flooring, or fifteenth-century ground surface at the polvorín or calzado. The polvorín footings, however, differ from those of the other structures at the site in both size and construction method. Instead of the standard sixty-centimeter footing width found in the other masonry structures at the site, the footing of the polvorín measured eighty centimeters in width. No in-situ remnants of the walls themselves remain, and they could have been either of stone or of tapia. The structure consisted of a single room with a doorway on the north wall opening to the calzado. The calzado extended between the polvorín and the alhóndiga in a curved path. It was indicated by linear concentrations of uncut stone that were some ten centimeters to fifteen centimeters higher than the surrounding terrain (figure 6.27). These concentrations ranged in width from three meters at the polvorín to 1.3 meters at the alhóndiga’s south wall. In several places a higher and narrower line of stones suggested a walkway or the base for a wall. The fragmentary and disturbed condition of the calzado makes interpreting its structural and functional relationships to the alhóndiga and polvorín tentative at best. As we have already mentioned, a dry walkway or defensive walls are potential interpretations, and the presence of the large water-storage pit in this area may indicate that the calzado functioned to channel, or protect the ground from, water drainage. A shallow channel cut into the bedrock extended from the western edge of the calzado to the eastern edge of the presumed cistern, providing ground-level access to the pit.
The Torre The northwestern corner of the site, overlooking the Playa, was guarded by a stone watchtower. Its stone base is located slightly northwest of the alhóndiga, and it is probably the tower shown in that posi ’
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6.31. Torre foundation.
6.32. Torre, plan view.
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tion on the Colvocoresses map (figures 6.31 and 6.32, also chapter 1, figure 1.2). The tower was described by William Gibbs when he visited the site in 1846 as “a small tower with battlements” (Puig Ortíz 1973:58–59). Stanley Heneken added the following year that “the small fortress [the alhóndiga] is also a prominent ruin, and a little north of it is a circular pillar about ten feet high and as much in diameter, of solid masonry nearly entire; which appears to have had a wooden gallery of battlement around the top for convenience of a room” (Palm 1945:299). We believe that this may have been the only structure at La Isabela constructed entirely of stone masonry, and it was undoubtedly a key element in the town’s defenses.
The Residential Bohíos Excavations in the Poblado area to the east of the modern roadway, where twentieth-century grading activities were less destructive, uncovered clusters of post molds that are thought to date to the Isabela occupation (chapter 5, figure 5.1). These are the only remains of the two hundred thatched bohíos described in 1493 by Michel de Cuneo as “small, like the cabins [cabañas] we use for hunting, and they are covered with grass” (in Gil and Varela 1984:243). Only a few of the post mold clusters, however, provided enough information to extrapolate the size and layout of La Isabela’s common houses. The posts themselves were most typically from twelve to fifteen centimeters in diameter, although occasionally posts of up to thirty centimeters were found. They extended in general some fifteen centimeters to twenty centimeters below their point of initiation within (or below) Zone 2. Figures 6.33 and 6.34 show representative posts, their cross sections, and their placement techniques. What we believe to have been a Spanish post structure was excavated in the southeastern part of the Poblado, E16LñS /964N1120E (figure 6.35). Although the northern end of the Spanish structure had been obscured by modern construction, the post mold remains of two parallel wall lines suggested a roughly rectangular single-room hut measuring some eight meters by about five meters (forty or more square meters of floor space). The alignment of the structure appears to have been about 25º west of north. Its southern limit is indicated by a hearth and a trash pit containing burned materials. Another relatively visible structure or structural complex was located ’
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6.33. Spanish post molds in unit . Top, intruding into soil and surrounded by small rocks. Bottom, cut into underlying bedrock.
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6.34. Cross sections of post molds in the La Isabela Poblado.
near the center of the Poblado, E24LHN-E8LHN (figure 6.36). This was within the area of heaviest artifact concentration in the Poblado, which is also the only part of the Poblado with a dense concentration of tejas. It may thus represent a building of different function or status from the post hut at the site’s periphery. The structure in the center was delineated both by post molds and by linear arrangements of rocks at the same elevation (figures 6.35 and 6.36). Although excavation ’
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6.35. Post structure features in ñ.
did not reveal its full size or complete configuration, the arrangements of posts and rocks suggests a rectangular structure oriented from southeast to northwest at approximately 20º west of north, measuring at least some six meters by ten meters (sixty or more square meters). To the south of the post structure there is a rectangular configuration of rocks and trash pits with approximately the same orientation. We believe this southern area was outside of the structure itself, both because of the refuse distribution and the relative absence of post molds. Between the structure and the refuse area to its south was the large, stone-lined hearth or fire pit (feature 1) discussed and illustrated in chapter 4. As we indicated, many household activities took place outside the bohíos, where hearths and trash deposits have been located.
’
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6.36. Post structure features in .
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Discussion: The Architecture of La Isabela The buildings at La Isabela were characteristic of the architectural traditions found in the Mediterranean region during late medieval times. The materials used in them were both typical of Andalusia, with its Moorish heritage, and appropriate to the resources available at La Isabela. Although simple in their footprints, the principal masonry buildings appear to share a certain standardization of construction suggested by the wall materials, footing widths, post-mold diameters, and rooftile dimensions. An emphasis on solidity and substance seems to have been intended from the beginning in these public structures, suggested not only by their size but also by the immediate establishment of production centers for ceramic architectural items. The construction of common residential structures, in contrast to the more formal traditions employed in public buildings, was apparently haphazard, casual, and of minimal investment. This is not surprising, given Las Casas’s comment that as soon as the town was founded, “everyone was told to start building his own house” (I,LXXXVIII in Collard 1971:47). The houses, however, seem to have been consistent—in size, shape, and materials—with contemporary rural houses throughout southern Iberia, with the exception that the hearths appear to have been outside rather than inside the structures (a logical response to the tropics). Illustrations of some habitations that may have been like those of La Isabela appear in chapter 6 of Columbus’s Outpost, and the material evidence for life in the town’s bohíos is presented in the following chapters.
’
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The land is very rich for all purposes. —Dr. Chanca, 1494, in Parry and Keith 1984:86–87
7 Starvation in Paradise Food and Subsistence at La Isabela The eyewitnesses at La Isabela were lavish in their praise of the local foods they found in Hispaniola, and equally generous when describing the fertility of the land for both farm plants and livestock. Cuneo, Chanca, Coma, and Columbus himself appear to have been both well informed about and delighted by the abundant seafood (including manatees and turtles), wild fruits, and cultivated manioc and potatoes. They make the retrospective comments of such later chroniclers as Las Casas and Oviedo, who recorded ceaseless hunger and fatal starvation, somewhat curious (both sets of accounts are considered in detail in chapter 7 of Columbus’s Outpost). The question of food has been one of the most puzzling aspects of the Isabeline project, particularly in view of the evident bounty of resources that had sustained the region’s much larger Taíno population for centuries. Even today, after five centuries of increasingly intensive use, the area is known for its agricultural fertility and rich marine life. The supplies brought with the colonists from Spain were intended to
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7.1 Food Sources at La Isabela Documented in Spanish Accounts Spanish Crops and Animals Brought to La Isabela
Locally Available Foods Eaten at La Isabela
Barley Chickpeas Cucumbers Garbanzo beans Garlic Grapes Haba beans Lentils Lettuce Onions Parsley Radishes Scallions Spring melons Squashes Sugar cane Wheat Cattle Fowl Pigs
Bird eggs Birds Iguanas Codfish Dolphins Grouper Tuna Sharks “Other fish” Guavas Mameys Papayas Passion fruit Pineapples Plums Wild grapes
Sources: Ferdinand Colón in Keen (1959:130 –31); Michel de Cuneo in Parry and Keith (1984:90 – 91); and Royal Instructions to Fonseca in Parry and Keith (1984:185–88).
sustain them until the first crops could be planted and harvested, but shortages and spoilage took their toll, and administrative attention turned to military construction and the search for gold rather than to establishing a stable subsistence base. Even with attention thus diverted, however, it is difficult to understand an apparent preference for starvation over a shift in food resources from Spanish staples to locally available crops and seafood. This chapter presents and considers the archaeological evidence for foodways at La Isabela in light of these documentary accounts. Although the supply lists for the expedition itself have not been found, Las Casas notes that it was outfitted with biscuit, wine, wheat, flour oil, vinegar, cheeses, all kinds of seeds, tools, mares, several stallions, fowl, and “many other things that could reproduce in the Indies
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and be of benefit to those who were there” (Las Casas I,LXXXII; 1985, vol. 1:346–47). Much of this did not survive the voyage, however, and Columbus requested more supplies within a month. The request for supplies that Columbus sent to the Crown with Antonio de Torres in 1494 not only provides insight into the Spanish items that were brought to La Isabela (appendix 1) but also reveals the vast differences between the diet of Columbus’s household and that of the rest of the expedition members. While the staples of the men were biscuit, wine, beans, bacon or cheese, salted fish, and salted beef, supplemented with small amounts of oil, garlic, and onions, those of Columbus included such delicacies as candied citron, “all types” of conserves, dates, olives, white and rosecolored sugar, saffron, rice, ham, fresh pig’s lard, scented waters, “good” honey, and “fine” oil (appendix 1). In response to complaints of short rations by those returning to Spain from La Isabela, the Crown reiterated the minimum monthly rations for each man at La Isabela in 1495. These included: 10 celemines of wheat (equal to ten fanegas, 15 bushels, or 480 pounds per year, or 1.3 pounds per day) 1 arroba of full-strength wine (1 pint per day) 8 pounds of bacon or two pounds of cheese (4.1 oz. or 1 oz. per day) 1 azumbre of vinegar (2 liters, or 4.2 pints, per month, or 2.2 oz. per day) 1 pint oil (.5 oz. per day) 2 pints of beans (.13 cup per day) 3 pounds of dried fish (from Spain) for fish days (1.6 oz. per day) ½ quintal of biscuit (1.6 pounds per day) (Crown to Aguado, 1495, in Parry and Keith 1984:206) The emphasis on wheat and wheat products in this list of rations is consistent with lower-class European diets of the period, which typically included up to two hundred kilograms of bread per day (see Braudel 1974:130–33). Although heavily weighted toward carbohydrates, the rations theoretically allotted to the settlers at La Isabela potentially provided some 4,200 calories per day (table 7.2), which is more than sufficient to maintain the weight of a 175-pound man between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years while doing strenuous activity (Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, National Re
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7.2 Approximate Daily Dietary Values of the La Isabela Sueldo (Official Food Ration) Food Item Wheat Wine Bacon Cheese Vinegar Oil Beans Fish Biscuit Total
Quantity 1.3 lbs./20.8 oz. 16 oz. 4.1 oz. 1 oz. 2.2 oz .5oz./1 TBS .13 c./1.04 oz. 1.6 oz 1.6 lb./25.6 oz.
Calories/Unit 100/oz. 25/oz. 80/oz. 100/oz. 8/oz 125/TBS 25/oz. 25/oz. 60/oz.
Calories 2008 400 328 100 18 125 26 40 1,536 4,581
Calories and food values are taken from (1950) figures, based on food types most closely resembling those used in rural Spain. Quantities are approximate.
search Council 1980). Table 7.2 shows the estimated dietary values of the Isabela sueldo, or food ration, calculated using the methods and caveats offered by historian Carla Rahn Phillips in her study of seventeenthcentury shipboard life (Phillips, C. 1986:166–75; 241–42, table 14). By today’s recommended daily requirements, the diet was high in calories, carbohydrates, protein, and salt but low in ascorbic acid and retinol. In this it was highly consistent with Spanish sailors’ rations for the ensuing two hundred years, which differed little from those allocated at La Isabela (see also Hamilton 1929; López Rios Fernández 1990). It appears from documentary accounts, however, that these rations were not in fact provided to the colonists at La Isabela. Las Casas recorded that the rations consisted instead of “one escudilla of wheat [about a cup], that they had to grind in a hand mill [atahona a mano] (and many ate it cooked) and one chunk of rancid bacon or of rotten cheese [queso podrido] and I don’t know how few haba or garbanzo beans; of wine, it was as though there was none in the world” (I,CVIII; 1985, vol. 1:425). Complaints of illness and starvation were constant and vociferous, and from documentary accounts alone it would appear that it did not occur to the settlers to supplement the inadequate sueldo with fish, manatees, turtles, fruits, cassava, and other crops of the region.
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The Archaeological Record Animal bones and plant remains from archaeological sites usually provide the most unequivocal evidence for past diets. Disappointingly, the archaeological evidence for the Spanish diet at La Isabela is severely compromised by the disturbances to the site detailed in chapter 5 of Columbus’s Outpost. The evidence is essentially negative. This is in part because of the nature of the official food ration, of which only the wheat and beans (and then only if carbonized), and possibly the bones in salted meat, would have survived archaeologically. Even more damaging to the archaeological reconstruction of subsistence at La Isabela is the virtual absence of intact, undisturbed fifteenth-century proveniences at the site (discussed above in chapter 4). Most of the food animals (both imported and locally available) eaten in Columbus’s town are still being eaten in twentieth-century La Isabela. This renders the assessment of local contributions to the diet difficult and unreliable, as (unlike artifacts) the bones of fifteenth-century fish, cows, or pigs cannot be distinguished morphologically from those of the twentieth century in disturbed contexts (which constitute the great majority of all proveniences at La Isabela). During the initial excavations in the Poblado area, where we hoped to locate undisturbed deposits, we collected a half-liter soil sample from each five-centimeter level in each zone, resulting in approximately 160 liters of soil for each unit of eight meters by eight meters (see chapter 4). Fifty percent of these samples (that is, those taken from Zone 2 or from features) were subjected to soil-flotation separation in order to recover floral and faunal remains. All other excavated soil was screened through .55-centimeter mesh. The results of soil flotation and screening are among the most puzzling aspects of La Isabela’s archaeological record, in that very few faunal remains were recovered from either screening or water flotation of soil. Table 7.3 shows the weight of faunal bone recovered through screening and flotation from proveniences excavated during the 1990 and 1991 seasons (approximately 212 litres of soil from 192 square meters of excavation area). A total of 1,205 grams of bone was recovered, but only 26.2 grams of this came from proveniences initiating below Zone 2, Level 1 (a criterion for identification as a colonial deposit). Because in no case was a sample large enough for subsistence analysis recovered
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from a context that could confidently be assigned to the Spanish occupation, the time-consuming flotation and hand separation of these samples was suspended after 1991. The scarcity of bone is characteristic of the site as a whole. Appendix 3B shows the distribution of faunal bone across the site from the .55 centimeter screened samples. This is expressed as grams of bone per square excavated meter. Clearly the greatest bone density (2.89 grams per meter) is in the lagoon to the north of the town that is still used today for trash disposal. Zone 5, which includes the Casa de Colón and the area between it and the church, also had a high density (1.45 grams per meter), but this zone also corresponds to the location of the relatively bone-rich pre-Columbian Taíno midden (see chapter 2). The lowest incidence of bone is in the alhóndiga zone (.07 grams per meter). Regardless of the site area, the greatest quantity of what little bone was found came from Zone 1 and thus cannot be attributed to fifteenthcentury occupation or deposit. The meager faunal remains from La Isabela are brought into sharper relief when we compare them with those from early sixteenth-century Spanish and Taíno sites elsewhere in Hispaniola. The deposits at Puerto Real (1503–1578), for example, have a bone density in various occupation areas ranging from 138 grams to 1,180 grams per square meter (Deagan 1995:447). Excavations at Concepción de la Vega (1502–1562) yielded bone densities ranging from twenty to eight hundred grams of bone per square excavated meter. The longer period of occupation and the prevalence of domestic animals at these sites obviously skew the comparison, but it nevertheless provides a dramatic illustration of the unprecedented paucity of faunal remains at La Isabela. The faunal remains from the very few contexts thought to represent relatively undisturbed fifteenth-century contexts were studied and identified by Elizabeth Reitz, who concluded that no reliable interpretations of the Spanish diet at La Isabela could be derived from the archaeological faunal assemblage (tables 7.3 and 7.4). Macrobotanical remains are even more poorly represented at La Isabela. Flotation samples from six of the most intact contexts at the site, including the hearth we discussed in chapter 6, two trash deposits, the soil filling two intact vessels in a trash pit, and a deep refuse scatter (table 7.5). These were studied by Lee Ann Newsom at the Florida Museum of Natural History (Newsom 1993:303– 07). The exercise recovered a total of ten seeds, only three of which were identified as defini
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7.3 La Isabela Faunal Species List
Species UID mammal Rodentia Rattus sp. (Old World rat) Homo sapiens Trichechus manatus (manatee) Sus scrofa (pig) Bos taurus (cow) UID bird Gallus gallus (chicken) Bufo marinus (giant toad) Dasyatidae (stingray) UID fish Serranidae (sea bass) Micropogonius undulatus (Atlantic croaker) Vertebrate Total Chiton sp. Gastropoda UID Decapoda Echinoidea Invertebrate Total
NISP 26 5 4 2 1 5 3 3 21 15 1 4 4
MNI #
MNI %
2 1 1 2 1
16.7 8.33 8.33 16.67 8.33
1 1
8.33 8.33 8.33
Weight Biomass Biomass (in grams) Kg % 25.23 0.68 0.05 30.35 12.37 7.52 10.77 0.17 2.63 0.76 1.33 1.42 2.31
.48 0.02 trace
32.43 1.35 trace
.25 0.16 0.22 trace 0.05
16.89 10.81 14.86 trace 3.38
0.16 0.04 0.05
10.81 2.70 3.38
0.05 1.48
3.33
1
8.33
1 65
1 12
8.33
1.40 98.66
4 1 30 1 36
1 1 1 1 4
25.00 25.00 25.00 25.00
1.96 1.04 17.82 0.27 21.09
Based on proveniences listed in appendix 4. Source: Elizabeth Reitz, 19 July 1998.
tively archaeological in origin (that is, carbonized). Newsom also identified a small sample of seeds recovered from a Spanish burial by Fernando Luna Calderón during the 1986 excavations at the site. These were all Mastichodendron foetidissimum (mastic-bully, or tortugo amarillo). The absence of faunal bone and archaeological plant remains at La Isabela is mysterious. The site soils are quite basic (pH of between 8.5 and 8.7) and should not contribute to deterioration of bone from acidity. Human bone, furthermore, is quite well preserved in the cemetery section of the Solar, and animal bone is abundant and well preserved in the Taíno midden underlying the church and cemetery area. The short occupation of the site and the subsequent disturbances to it are certainly factors in the paucity of subsistence remains, but they do not
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7.4 Distribution of Analyzed Fauna through Residential Areas
Species
Casa de Colón (6 Proveniences)
Poblado (13 Proviniences)
Elite Resident (3 Proveniences)
European Bos taurus Sus scrofa Gallus gallus Subtotal European Native Mammal Manatee Unidentified mammal Subtotal mammal
3 3
2
3
1 4
2
1 24 28
2 6
2
Birds Unidentified bird
3
Fish Micropogonius Serranidae Dasyatidae Unidentified fish Subtotal fish
1
1 3 1
4 5
4
1
1 4 5 2 12 25
1 1 4
Other Rodentia Rattus sp. Bufo marinus Unidentified bone Subtotal other Total
4
5 9 42
Based on proveniences listed in appendix 4.
adequately explain it, particularly given the great abundance of fifteenthcentury artifact remains at La Isabela. It is more likely that cultural or behavioral factors played a major role in this radical departure from the subsistence patterns found at other Spanish colonial sites in Hispaniola. Such behavioral factors might include rigorous disposal of organic refuse in the sea, which is a seemingly sensible practice for people with a seafood diet in the tropics. Certainly the greatest density of faunal bone was in the ravine used for trash disposal, but this was still in relatively small amounts that included modern as well as fifteenth-century bone refuse.
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7.5 Archaeobotanical Samples from Undisturbed Spanish Proveniences at La Isabela
Unit E8LHN E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN Sum
Provenience FS5416 FS 5375 FS5304 FS 5382 FS5384
Context Trash pit Mortero fill Escudilla fill Trash pit Trash pit
Sample Wood Wood (Liters) (Grams) ID 2 1.10 0.60 5.0 8.60 11.3
0 .48 .11 .79 1.41 2.0
0 0 0 0 0 0
Arch. Seed
Total Seeds
0 0 2?* 1 0 1+2?*
1 5 10 5 0 21
* Possible archaeological seeds, lightly although not thoroughly carbonized. All are either unidentified or Chenopodiaceae.
Plant Identifications Taxon Archaeological Chenopodiaceae Unidentified seed frag. Unidentified hardwood Modern Argemone mexicana Asteraceae cf. Asteraceae cf. Caryophyllaceae Malvaceae cf. Sida sp. Portulaca sp. Solanaceae cf. Physalis
Common Name
Plant Part
Goosefoot family
Seed Seed Wood
Mexican poppy (cardo santo) Sunflower family Sunflower family Chickweed family Mallow family Purslane (verdolaga) Ground cherry (alquequente)
Seed Seed Seed Seed Seed Seed Seed
Source: Lee Ann Newsom, Florida Museum of Natural History, 1993.
This pattern of refuse disposal, however, apparently did not include the disposal of invertebrate shellfish remains, which are potentially as noxious as decomposing fish. Marine clams, conchs, snails, and crabs were present in all units. But it was often unclear whether these remains were associated with Spanish, Indian, or modern occupation of the area, because of the stratigraphic problems we outlined in chapter 4. It is significant that the horizontal distribution of shellfish remains at the site conforms very closely to that of aboriginal remains, and both of these are quite distinct from the distribution of European artifacts (ap
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pendix 2). This suggests that the invertebrate remains may have been associated primarily with an aboriginal occupation. Composting of organic remains for use in gardens and fledgling agricultural fields might be another possible factor in the scarcity of remains, or there might have been systematic disposal of refuse in an as yet undiscovered location. The simplest explanation, however, is that the residents at La Isabela were telling the truth—they had nothing to eat, or perceived that there was nothing available to eat. If indeed they depended entirely upon the provisions brought from Spain, it was inevitable that hunger would be the consequence. A diet of manioc bread would leave few archaeological traces (particularly if it was already prepared when acquired), and it may not have been psychologically satisfying. It is difficult to imagine that hungry Spaniards would not have taken advantage of the abundant seafood immediately at hand (which they recognized as good food), but both documentary and archaeological records suggest that this may in fact have been the case.
Food Technology The material technology of food preparation and consumption at La Isabela provide us with the best information about the colonists’ foodways. Food technology in the colony clearly replicated the contemporary kitchen assemblages of fifteenth-century Spain and indicates that there was an overwhelmingly European approach to eating. Food-procurement items at La Isabela were scarce and exclusively related to fishing. A fishhook fragment came from the vicinity of the Casa de Colón, and the tip of a fish spear or harpoon was found in the trash deposits of the ravine (figure 7.1). Harpoons and fishing nets were among the supplies sent to La Isabela in 1494. Although no lead net weights were found at the site, 179 Indian stone net weights were recovered. By far the greatest number of these stone weights occurred in the vicinity of the Taíno midden, and even though their adoption by the Spaniards cannot be ruled out, it appears more likely that they resulted from the Taíno occupation rather than the subsequent Spanish occupation. As at most archaeological sites, the vast majority of material items related to food are ceramic vessels. Fragments of at least 2,651 European pottery vessels were recorded during analysis, and they included both pottery produced at La Isabela and pottery imported from Spain. These
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7.1. Harpoon/fish gig. Length: 23.8 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
vessels were organized for analysis (and for the discussion in this chapter) into ware categories and functional forms (table 7.6). In the analysis and classification of the ceramics from La Isabela we have followed published descriptions for recognizable wares and types of pottery when they exist, and we offer attribute descriptions when they do not. Six general European-ware categories are present at La Isabela, including unglazed coarse earthenware, which we refer to as loza común (following Elpidio Ortega’s 1980 definition), unglazed bizcocho, or fine white earthenware; tin-enameled majolica, the lead- and tin-glazed pottery known as melado, lead-glazed coarse earthenware (vitreo), and sgraffito slip-decorated wares. The statistical and spatial distributions of these wares are detailed in tables 7.6 to 7.10 and in appendix 3B.
13 0.546 0.005 0.093 7 0.809 164
39
16 3
0.002 0.005 0.019 0.005 0.005 0.035
3
4
0.175 0.016 0.116 0.386
1
0.228 0.031 0.102
0.118 0.092 0.037 0.002
0.213 0.038 0.750 0.007
0.028 0.012 0.151 0.222 0.010 0.032
7.6 La Isabela Vessel Forms In Ware Groups (Continued)
0.127 0.500 0.450 0.111
0.500 0.005
1 106 1 18 157
0.088 0.149
29
Forms 1 0.013 0.005 1 0.250 0.005
1 2 8 2 2 15
0.003
0.004
0.003
1
0.75
0.250
4 49
10 2 1 9 21
0.040 0.008 0.004 0.036 0.084
0.614 0.743 0.500 0.275 0.736
0.005 0.521
0.017 0.310
1.000 0.022 0.761 0.125 0.889 0.012
45 251 24
0.074 0.187
0.001 0.017 0.079 0.014
0.747 0.028
1.000 0.944 0.981 0.528 0.111 0.710 0.791
56
3 34 159 28 1 149 374
35 621 1 0.100 0.016 11 0.035 0.197 1,044
0.030 0.074 0.500 0.158 0.025
0.027 0.008
0.281 0.237 0.154 0.293
59 73
2
0.028 0.004 0.006 0.004 0.226 0.048
1 1 12
75 4 45 330 27 2 57 836 2 40 1,418
3 36 162 53 9 210 473
0.026 0.001 0.016 0.115 0.009 0.001 0.020 0.291 0.001 0.014 0.493
0.001 0.013 0.056 0.018 0.003 0.073 0.164
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Consumption Bowl Bowl/plato Fuente Escudilla Escud/plato Goblet Jarrito Plato Porringer Taza Subtotal
Food Preparation Forms Anafe Cazuela Mortero Olla 5 0.094 0.026 Ollita 6 0.667 0.031 Puchero Subtotal 11 0.023 0.057
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Majolica/Bizcocho Melado Slipped Vitreo Loza común Total # % Form %Ware # % Form % Ware # % Form % Ware # % Form % Ware # % Form % Ware # % of All (Row %) (Col. %) (Row %)(Col. %) (Row %) (Col. %) (Row %) (Col. %) (Row %) (Col. %) Ceramics
7.6 La Isabela Vessel Forms In Ware Groups
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Total No form
194 3,203
Nonkitchen Domestic Forms Albarelo 19 Bacín Lámpara Lebrillo Subtotal 19
0.015 0.005 0.010 0.005
3 23 68 18
1.000
0.575 0.216 0.408 0.313
92 0.058 0.098 133 1 425 5,701
0.450 0.085 0.071 0.012
36 5
0.238 0.098
0.007 0.054 0.160 0.042
0.171 0.266
0.019 0.184 0.366 0.198
0.020 0.002
4 43
1.000
249 4,068
30 56
22 4
3 61 16 38 118
34 469
30 10 150 76 114 55
1 2,005 68,562
0.188 0.120 0.172 0.225
0.275 0.088 0.057 0.016
0.081 0.012 0.108 0.285
3 71
0.072 0.012 0.020 0.092 0.012 0.064
0.367 0.231 0.032 0.184 0.016 0.176
18 3 5 23 3 16
0.015 0.005 0.075 0.038 0.057 0.027
0.038 0.871 1.000 0.238 0.362
80 70 16 160 326
49 13 158 125 186 91 1 37 660
1 2,877 81,577
0.001 0.030 0.008 0.019 0.059
0.919 0.017 0.711 0.234
0.612 0.769 0.949 0.608 0.613 0.604
1.000
0.028 0.024 0.006 0.056 0.113
0.013 0.229
0.017 0.003 0.055 0.043 0.065 0.032
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0.011 0.036 113
0.024 0.005 0.022 1.000
1
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Liquid Serving/ Storage Forms Botijita Cántaro Jar/cántaro Jarro 3 Jar/pich. 1 Pichel 2 Spout 1 Tinaja Subtotal 7
Majolica/Bizcocho Melado Slipped Vitreo Loza común Total # % Form %Ware # % Form % Ware # % Form % Ware # % Form % Ware # % Form % Ware # % of All (Row %) (Col. %) (Row %)(Col. %) (Row %) (Col. %) (Row %) (Col. %) (Row %) (Col. %) Ceramics
7.6 La Isabela Vessel Forms In Ware Groups (Continued)
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Formal classification for storage and preparation vessels has followed the terminologies offered by Amores and Chisvert (1993), based on archaeological assemblages in the fill of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century bodegas (cellars) in Seville. Additional form designations—particularly for tableware and special-function vessels—have been adopted from the work of Lister and Lister (1989). Vessel forms related to nonkitchen domestic functions (such as washbasins, drug jars, and chamber pots) are discussed in chapter 8. The following discussion will first address the ware-type varieties of pottery at La Isabela and then consider functional categories in foodways behavior (that is, prepraration, storage, and consumption).
Majolica This category of tin-enameled, temperless earthenware accounts for approximately 5 percent of the European pottery at La Isabela. It is distributed relatively evenly across all sectors of the site (the highest proportion was found in the Laguna refuse disposal area; see appendix 3B). Most archaeologically based typologies of Spanish majolica have been derived from sites in the Americas (including La Isabela) and emphasize post-1500 majolicas (see, for example, Deagan 1987a; Goggin 1968; Lister and Lister 1989; an exception is Boone 1984). When such published types are recognizable in the majolica assemblage of La Isabela, we have followed them with the appropriate citations. We have also drawn extensively on the large body of literature devoted to Spanish majolica from art-historical and museographical perspectives. Although these studies do not organize the ceramics into types comparable to those developed by archaeologists, they do identify regional and temporal traditions that have been useful in assessing the majolica assemblage from La Isabela (Ainaude de Lasarte 1952; Gestoso Pérez 1995; Sánchez Pacheco, ed. 1981; Llubiá Munné 1967; Martinez Caviró 1968). Many of the majolica vessels brought with the Columbian expedition conform more closely to examples of late medieval wares known from research in Spain than they do to previously published types. Table 7.7 shows the varieties and formal distributions of majolica identified at La Isabela. More than 60 percent of the majolica from La Isabela falls into the Mudejar, or Morisco, pottery tradition associated with Christianized Muslims in Andalusian Spain (see Lister and Lister 1989 for an in
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7.2. Columbia Plain majolica plato, dipped in green glaze. (Photo: James Quine.)
depth discussion of this tradition). These include the types defined as Columbia Plain, Isabela Polychrome, Yayal Blue on White, and Caparra Blue (for technological attributes and type descriptions see Deagan 1987a:56–59; Fairbanks 1972; Lister and Lister 1974, 1989; Goggin 1968: 27–28, 120–22). Notably absent or underrepresented are the Moorishtradition luxury wares of lusterware (reflejo metálico) and cuerda seca majolica. These are found widely, although in small amounts, in both late medieval Spain and the early sixteenth-century West Indies but apparently were not among the important supplies for Columbus’s first colonial expedition. Four types (based on decorative elements) account for 87 percent of the majolica assemblage at La Isabela (table 7.8). These include Columbia Plain, 57 percent (figure 7.2), Isabela Polychrome, 8 percent (figure 7.3); Unidentified Blue and White Majolica, 11 percent (figure 7.4), and Unidentified Morisco Majolica, 10 percent. Another 11 percent of the majolica assemblage was Unidentified Majolica, which includes sherds too small or eroded even to identify by general ware or decorative categories. The Unidentified Blue and White Majolica is a particularly interesting category, in that it is “unidentifiable” as an archaeological type only
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7.3. Isabela Polychrome designs. (Photo: James Quine.)
7.4. Unnamed Blue-on-White majolica examples. Large rim sherd at top: 12 centimeters across top of rim.
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because it seems to have been dropped from the repertoire of Spanish ceramics exported to America by the early sixteenth century (and, as we mentioned, nearly all archaeological majolica typologies have been developed from sites in the Americas). Although the sherds are in general very fragmentary, they resemble the fifteenth-century blue and white majolicas produced in Valencia in their motifs, faded cobalt color, and off-white, matte background enamel. Motifs are either geometric lines or stylized lobe and floral elements (see Coll Conesa 1995; González Martí 1944, vol. 1). Most of the majolica vessels from the site were either platos (concave plates) or escudillas (carinated bowls), which together accounted for 73 percent of all majolica forms. The great majority of platos and nearly half of the escudillas were made of Columbia Plain or one of its variants. Tazas (small, handleless cups) and albarelos (medicine jars) were the next most common forms, each representing about 10 percent of the majolica vessels. Tazas were most often found in Isabela Polychrome or Unidentified Blue and White Majolica, and 58 percent of the majolica albarelos were in Caparra Blue (however, all but one Caparra Blue sherd came from albarelos). In general the majolica assemblage from La Isabela was fairly restricted both in decorative variety and vessel form. Tablewares (platos, escudillas, and tazas) were prominent, and most of the pieces came from the late medieval Morisco Andalusian ceramic tradition.
Bizcocho Bizcocho is a thin, cream-colored unglazed ware with a paste very similar to that of majolica. It is discussed here with majolica because many of the small bizcocho sherds from the site are thought to have been fragments of majolica with the enamel worn away. Only seven of the 502 bizcocho sherds from the site showed evidence of form, and all but one were from small, thin-walled jars (ollitas). One large sherd of bizcocho was impressed with roulette designs and a geometric cartouche (figure 7.5). This may have been from a very small cantimplora, or water bottle, although the sherd is not large enough to permit confident identification of the form. Geometric molded and impressed designs are quite common on unglazed medieval Islamic pottery (see, for example, Aguado Villalba 1983:plates 30–31; Benco 1979:69, 91; Redman 1986:117–18).
Bizcocho Majolica Caparra Blue Columbia Plain (CP) CP with blue CP with green CP with aqua CP gunmetal Cuerda Seca Isabela Polychrome Yayal Blue/White Unidentified aqua Unidentified blue Unident. blue/white Unidentified green Unident. green/white Unidentified majolica Unident. Morisco maj. Unident. polychrome Unidentified white 1
Bwl.
2 8
3
1
1
14
Esc.
1
Gob.
1
2
Jar
1
1
2
Olla 7
Olta.
1
1
1
Ptch.
1
1
1 4 2
8 1
1 3
Taza
4
1
Spout.
9
19 1
1 1 6
62
Plat.
2
1 8 11
18
31 2
12 87 1 6 1 6
7
0.010
0.005 0.041 0.057
0.093
0.160 0.010
0.062 0.448 0.005 0.031 0.005 0.031
0.0361
0.006
20 1 192 21 5 24 313 19 6 317 124 23 22
0.060 0.006 0.002 0.007 0.098 0.006 0.003 0.099 0.039 0.007 0.007
0.019
0.027 0.461
0.154
60
88 1476
494
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1
11 3 1 3
Alba.
% of Total % of With No Total Total Form Form No Form
2/22/02
Form:
7.7 Varieties and Forms of Majolica and Bizcocho at La Isabela
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19 0.102
1 0.005
Bwl. 29 0.156
Esc. 1 0.005
Gob. 3 0.016
Jar 4 0.022
Olla
Olta. 3 0.016
Ptch. 107 0.575
Plat. 1 0.005
Spout. 18 193 0.097
Taza
3205
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Key to Table 7.7: Alba. = Albarelo; Bwl. = Bowl; Esc. = Escudilla; Gob. = Goblet; Olla. = Olla; Olta. = Ollita; Ptch. = Pitcher or Cántaro; Plat. = Plato; Spout. = Spouted vessel; Taza = Taza
Total % of maj. with form
Alba.
% of Total % of With No Total Total Form Form No Form
2/22/02
Form:
7.7 Varieties and Forms of Majolica and Bizcocho at La Isabela (Continued )
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87
Total of type
Total for type, all forms1
0.034 0.161 0.713 0.034 0.943
0.158 0.483 0.579 0.167
% Form
31
1 19 8 28
ISA. 0.032 0.613 0.258 0.903
% Type 0.034 0.178 0.444
% Form
17
1 3 8 4 16
B/W 0.059 0.176 0.471 0.235 0.941
% Type 0.053 0.103 0.075 0.222
% Form
0.909
10 11
0.800 0.200
% Type
8 2
Moris.
0.276 0.019
186
19 29 107 18 173
0.102 0.156 0.575 0.097 0.930
% Total of % of All Form Form Forms
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Note: These figures do not include sherd fragments with no evidence for form. CP = Columbia Plain; Isa. = Isabela Polychrome; B/W = Blue and white majolica; Moris. = Unidentified Morisco tradition majolica 1Including all forms in addition to dominant forms
3 14 62 3 82
Albarelo Escudilla Plato Taza
% Type
2/22/02
CP
7.8 Summary of Majolica Vessel Forms at La Isabela
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7.5. Decorated bizcocho sherds. (Photo: James Quine.)
Sgraffito Slipware Forty-seven sherds of sgraffito-decorated slipware (.05 percent of European ceramics) were recovered from the site. More than half of them came from the elite residential sector of La Isabela. These ceramics have a terra-cotta paste, covered on both sides by light-colored slip into which linear geometric designs are incised, allowing the red paste to show through. The slip is splashed with green and amber in a seemingly random pattern, and both sides are lead-glazed over the slip (figure 7.6). This ware is almost certainly of Islamic origin, and is in the tradition of the sgraffito slipware known as al-Mina produced in Syria during the Middle Ages (Frierman 1975:53–54). Lister and Lister (1987:65) note that “sgraffito splashed with green and amber under lead glaze” is one of the pre-reconquista Moorish ceramic techniques that did not find favor in Andalusian Spain and were abandoned after the reconquista. Four of the sgraffito sherds showed evidence of form; three were from platos and one was from an escudilla (table 7.6), although none was large enough to enable us to reconstruct its form.
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7.6. Sgraffito slipware. (Photo: James Quine.)
Melados and Vitreos Lead-glazed earthenwares are the second most common European ware at La Isabela, accounting for 11 percent of the European ceramics. Leadglazed wares included melado (figure 7.7), the distinctive earthenware covered with an opaque, honey-brown lead-tin glaze (Lister and Lister 1987; Deagan 1987a:48; Goggin 1968:227), as well as a large group of ceramics collectively referred to as vitreos, lead-glazed coarse earthenwares with transparent glazes in a variety of colors. Both the vitreo and melado ceramics were part of a long Hispano-Moorish tradition, and virtually identical examples have been described from Spanish contexts as early as the tenth century (Aguado Villalaba 1983). The examples from La Isabela are presumed to have been produced in Spain, based on preliminary trace-element analysis of melado glaze samples (Emlen Myers to Deagan, February 1992; appendix 5). The large number of lead-glazed earthenware sherds from La Isabela revealed their considerable variety, and the inadequacy of existing analytical categories (such as melado and vitreo). For analysis and recording purposes, a preliminary classification of each of these categories was developed on the basis of two hundred randomly selected sherds each of melado and vitreo, using paste color, temper, glaze color, and vessel form as primary attributes.
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7.7. Melado plate. (Photo: James Quine.)
Four subcategories of melado and eleven subcategories of vitreo were recognized in the assemblage and are described in table 7.9. Vitreo F is the most common variety of vitreo and melado A overwhelmingly the most common melado variety at the site. There is a striking difference between the general vessel forms of
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7.9 Categories of Lead-Glazed Earthenwares at La Isabela 1.
Melado A (classic Melado) Paste: cream, chalky Glaze: honey or golden brown; interior and exterior glaze can have brown manganese slip Form: tablewares — platos, escudillas, flat-based bowls, small handles
2.
Melado B Paste: cream to light gray, chalky Glaze: greenish honey color (almost olive green), interior and exterior glazed, thicker than Melado A Form: amphoroid handles, pichel handles, ridged body vessels, tinaja rims, escudillas; larger vessels than Melado A
3.
Melado C Paste: salmon with sand temper Glaze: greenish honey color (between A and B colors) Form: small handles, platos, cups, escudillas
4.
Melado D Paste: orange salmon, gritty with large visible grit Glaze: ginger brown, brown manganese slip usually only on one side Form: large platos, lebrillo, bacín, amphora
5.
Vitreo A Paste: cream, chalky texture Glaze: dark-green exterior lead glaze (same as “Green Bacín,” Deagan 1987:48–49); aqua interior tin enamel Form: unidentified small vessels, albarelo, tinaja
6.
Vitreo B Paste: cream, chalky texture Glaze: dark-green interior and exterior (same green as A) Form: small amphoras, pichel
7.
Vitreo C Paste: orange, gritty, sand temper Glaze: dark emerald-green interior glaze; no exterior glaze Form: lebrillo, jar
8.
Vitreo D (defined elsewhere as “Green Lebrillo,” Deagan 1987:48–49) Paste: cream, chalky texture Glaze: same as Vitreo C Form: lebrillos, sometimes large bowls and bacines.
9.
Vitreo E Paste: orange, sandy temper Glaze: clear orange interior lead glaze; green exterior glaze Form: small, straight amphora rims with two incised lines below lip, pitcher
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7.9 Categories of Lead-Glazed Earthenwares at La Isabela (Continued ) 10. Vitreo F Paste: orange, sandy temper Glaze: clear lead glaze interior and exterior Form: small, straight amphora rims with two incised lines below lip, pichel 11. Vitreo G Paste: salmon, sandy temper Glaze: thin-olive green interior lead glaze; allows sand in paste to show through; no exterior glaze Form: amphora, flat-based bowl, escudilla, plato, jarros 12. Vitreo H Paste: orange, sandy temper Glaze: dark-green interior and exterior lead glaze Form: pichel handles, escudillas, small everted rims, small, straight rims, amphora rims with two incised lines below rim 13. Vitreo I Paste: tan-cream, sandy temper (similar to Olive Jar paste) Glaze: apple green Form: ridged, flat-based jar/pitcher, large escudilla 14. Vitreo I-2 (same as I except for orange paste) Paste: orange sand temper Glaze: apple green Form: ridged, flat-based jar/pitcher, large escudilla 15. Vitreo J Paste: thin, hard tan to gray Glaze: thin, transparent olive green Form: bowls, escudillas, jarros, bacín
melados and vitreos (see table 7.6). While 82 percent of the melado vessels showing form occur in food-consumption tableware forms (most typically platos), only 48 percent of the vitreos are tablewares. The most common vitreo form is the pichél (pitcher) or cántaro (jug). The vitreo category has the highest proportion of utilitarian forms of any European ceramic-ware group, including the unglazed coarse earthenware loza común. There are also more specific correlations between vessel forms and subvarieties of melado, as shown in table 7.10. Seventy-six percent of all escudillas, 55 percent of all bowls, and 40 percent of all platos are found
Food Preparation Forms
Cantaro Jarro Orza Pichel Pichel or jarro Subtotal
Storage/Serving Forms
Bowl or plato Bowl Escudilla Escud. or plato Fuente Jarrito Plato Taza Subtotal
Food Consumption Forms
16 22 1 10 4 53
1 119 1 1 22 241 6 391
1 1 1 3
0.033 0.045 0.002 0.021 0.008 0.110
0.002 0.246 0.002 0.002 0.045 0.498 0.012 0.808
0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002
% Type
0.116
0.011 0.168
1 16
0.253 0.011 0.011 0.053 0.295
4 11
62
24 1 1 5 28
0.032
0.011
1 3
0.011
% Type
1
#
0.059
0.010
1 6
0.030 0.020
0.020 0.267 0.010 0.020 0.040 0.436 0.010 0.802
0.010
0.0101
% Type
3 2
2 27 1 2 4 44 1 81
1
1
#
Melado C
1
0.005
0.005
0.101 0.005 0.124
22 1 27 1
0.014 0.005
0.009
0.009
% Type
3 1
2
2
#
Melado D
60 65
4 1
31
29
2
1
1
#
0.6061 0.6566
0.0404 0.0101
0.3131
0.2929
0.0202
0.0101
% Type
UID Melado
28 36 1 11 65 141
3 3 175 4 4 31 364 8 592
1 6 1 8
#
0.028 0.036 0.001 0.011 0.065 0.142
0.003 0.003 0.176 0.004 0.004 0.031 0.365 0.008 0.594
0.001 0.005 0.001 0.008
% of all
Total
12:31 PM
Cazuela (?) Olla Ollita Subtotal
#
Melado B
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Melado A
7.10 Melado Vessel Forms and Varieties at La Isabela
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0.547
0.486 1,030
16 95
16
0.2024
0.0954
0.168
0.168
% Type
482
13 101
13
#
0.0947
0.1014
0.129
0.129
% Type
Melado C
630
8 179 187 217
#
0.1238
0.2179
0.037 0.825 0.862
% Type
Melado D
166
2 2 99
#
0.0326
0.0994
0.0202 0.0202
% Type
UID Melado
5,090
65 8 182 255 996
#
0.065 0.008 0.183 0.256 1.000
% of all
Total
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0.002 0.076
0.074
Albarelo 36 Bacín Lebrillo 1 Subtotal 37 Total of type 484 % of type w. form No form 2,782 % of type w/out form
#
Melado B
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Nonkitchen Domestic Forms
% Type
#
Melado A
7.10 Melado Vessel Forms and Varieties at La Isabela (Continued)
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in Melado A, and the second highest ware type for each of these forms is Melado B. The large, utilitarian bacines (chamber pots) and lebrillos (basins) occur most commonly in Melado D (75 and 57 percent, respectively). No tinajas, or large storage jars, were glazed with melado.
Loza Común Eighty-four percent of the European ceramics from La Isabela are locally produced, wheel-thrown, unglazed coarse earthenware vessels, referred to as loza común. These were produced in a variety of European forms, undoubtedly at the kiln sites of Las Coles. Archaeometric analyses by Emlen Myers and Jacqueline Olin of the National Conservation and Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution have demonstrated that these were indeed produced from local clays (Myers and Olin 1992; Myers, Deagan, Cruxent, and Olin 1992; see appendix 5). The production of familiar Spanish kitchen ceramics was obviously considered essential by the first European colonists in the Americas. The locally made loza común makes up by far the highest proportion (more than 70 percent) of all the foodways-related ceramics but only 37 percent of vessels used for storage or non-food-related domestic use. As products of the first European craft production in the Americas, temporally restricted to the transitional years between medieval and Renaissance styles, these pots are of considerable importance for studies of stylistic and technological evolution in Euro-American ceramic traditions. Although Spanish-American ceramic-production centers had developed in many parts of the Americas by the mid-sixteenth century, they concentrated for the most part on the production of glazed ceramics and tablewares in a Renaissance style. The ceramics made locally at La Isabela were unglazed vessels in a medieval Morisco style, and they have no known parallel in post-Columbian America. They were made to meet the needs of the kitchen, table, bath, and household and include a wide range of domestic forms that are rare elsewhere in America (see table 7.6 and appendix 3). The paste color of loza común ceramics is most commonly reddishyellow or light terra cotta, and all varieties have sand or gritty mineral inclusions. Most examples also contain minute inclusions of a black mineral substance identified as magnetite (George Avery, personal communication to Deagan, Gainesville, June 1992). Sixty percent of the sur
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faces are smoothed, and 40 percent of the sherds exhibit a thin surface wash (papilla) of white or brown. All examples were wheel-thrown. Fifty-four percent of the Loza común vessels at La Isabela occur in food-consumption or tableware forms (table 7.6). Of these, platos and cántaros are the most common, followed by escudillas and simple bowls. Except for the cántaros, these are all food-consumption forms. Four of the nine food-preparation and storage vessel forms occurring in the assemblage, however—anafes (hibachi-like braziers), cántaros, morteros (mortars), and ollas (cooking pots) —occur overwhelmingly in loza común (that is, more than 95 percent of these examples are of loza). These are illustrated in figures 7.8–7.10, and information about vessel form size can be found in table 7.11.
Cooking The documentary and paleobiological evidence from La Isabela reviewed above suggested a diet of European staples, with a primary dependence on imported supplies. Neither the food-consumption artifacts nor the technologies for food preparation offer any evidence to refute this. Only 16 percent of the ceramic vessels from La Isabela were forms used traditionally for food preparation, as opposed to those used for food consumption (table 7.6). Of these, 37 percent were the morteros used for grinding grain and spices (figure 7.8) and 61 percent were the ollas and pucheros (a collared variety of olla) used as cooking pots (figures 7.9 and 7.10). Although the Columbus household repertoire included frying pans and cauldrons (presumably of metal), only a few fragments of what may have been iron vessels were found at the site (in the ravine dump). Wheat grain, as we noted, was a staple of the diet when it was available. Each person had laboriously (and apparently reluctantly) to grind his ration of wheat in hand mortars (atahona a mano), very likely in the ceramic examples documented here. Occasionally the grain was simply cooked like gruel and eaten (Las Casas I, CVIII; 1985, vol. 1:425). The mortars at La Isabela are quite regular in size, about twelve centimeters tall with a capacity of about twenty-eight ounces (840 ml) of grain. They are much more common at La Isabela than they are at the Spanish sites reported by McEwan (1988; see also chapter 11, table 11.2), pos
Botija Bowl Fuente Cantaro/jarro Cantimplora Escudilla Escud./pto. Jarrito Jarro Mortero Olla Ollita Pichel Plato Puchero Taza Tinaja Non–food related Albarelo Anafre Bacín Lampara Lebrillo 13 14.2 10 8.5 9 10.4
8.4 12.7 11.8 6
8.7 26 18 48
4.6 7.5 6 7.5 10.7
5.5 6 10.6 5
6.80 11 5 20
9.3
7 6 20 8
16.7 10.3 27.8
6.7 8.4 11.4 5.5
72
26 34
23 14 9.4 32 15 8 18
11.5 5.5 8.3 10 13 6 14
12 13.5 32
10 11
6 6
8
9 17.6
5 12.8
(spout: 3.5) 9 32 14 30
Min.
30 7 51.7
9.6
16.5 8 8.5 20.9 13.07 7.3 16.7
7.5 9.5
7.2 13.3
18.1 17.8
x
15 18
12 13 11
12.5
14.7
12.4
10
22 9.3
26
Shoulder Min. Max.
11
16.3
13
12.4
11.9
26
x
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10.3 8.8 7.1 8.3
7 8.1 20 9.4
x
Rim Max.
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Min.
Base Max.
7.11 La Isabela Vessel Forms: Size Ranges, in Centimeters
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7.8. Loza común mortero. Height: 13.4 centimeters. (Photo: George Avery.)
sibly because the residents of sixteenth-century Seville had access to already ground wheat. Two hundred and forty strainers, sieves, and sifters were requested for the town in 1494 (appendix 1), and these were probably used to bolt, or sieve, the ground grain, a necessary task to produce flour of various consistencies. Metal mortars for grinding spices and pharmaceutical ingredients were undoubtedly also used at La Isabela, but only a single fragment of what was probably a brass pestle and a fragment of what may have been a brass mortar were recovered. Both came from the refuse dump in the northern ravine (table 7.12). Other nonceramic food-preparation items were equally scarce, with the exception of metal colander or strainer fragments with square perforations of 1.5 millimeters to two millimeters. None of these very small, perforated copper-alloy fragments revealed any evidence for vessel form, and they might have been used for making lead shot. No lead shot of this very tiny size, however, has been recovered from any area of the site. Several fragments of what appear to have been metal pots were found in the ravine dump, but these, like the colander fragments, were too small to provide an indication of vessel forms. The pucheros and ollas used most commonly at La Isabela for cook
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7.9. Food-preparation forms at La Isabela. A, maceta-type mortero; B, mortero; C, puchero; D, olla. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
ing are still in use today all over Spain. Used over an open flame from a stove or anafe, they were ideal for the preparation of the liquid-based stews, pottages, or porridges that dominated late medieval Spanish cuisine (Martínez Llopis 1995:169–71; McEwan 1988:63–64). These potajes, guisados, and gachas typically consisted of combinations of vegetables, beans, grains, meat or fish, and seasonings, much like the paellas and asopaos found throughout the Spanish-speaking world today. These, together with bread, formed the diet for most of non-elite Spain (Martínez Llopis 1995:168), and the evidence from La Isabela suggests that the same was probably true for the Spaniards who lived there. The extent to which the Spaniards at La Isabela adapted to making cassava bread remains unresolved. Ferdinand Colón’s accounts of Colum
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7.10. Puchero sherds. (Photo: James Quine.)
bus’s return voyage to Spain in 1496 make it clear that the fleet members were familiar with the process of preparing cassava bread and in fact took cassava “dough” from the Indians of Guadalupe to make twenty days worth of bread before continuing the voyage (in Keen 1959:179– 81). This may also have been the norm at La Isabela, although it is known that already prepared cassava was accepted as tribute and was brought fairly regularly to the town (see appendix 1B and also Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 4). The principal material correlate for the baking of cassava bread is the Taíno burén, or griddle, which is usually of ceramic and occasionally of stone (figure 7.11). Interpretation of the burén remains at La Isabela is considerably complicated by the disturbance factors we discussed in chapter 4, but it is worth noting that the burén fragments are not distributed across the town in the same proportions or densities as are other kinds of Indian ceramics (table 7.13). The densest concentration of Indian remains, for example, is in the section of the Spanish town occupied by the plaza, iglesia, and Casa de Colón, where the preColumbian Taíno midden is located. This area, however, also has one of the lowest proportions of burén. In contrast, the densest concentration of burén fragments is in the area thought to have been the elite resi
Colander Copper cup Fork Mortar Pestle Metal pot Spoon Table knife Strike-o-lite Total % Household 8 0.118
8
Elite Res.
1 1 0.015
1
1 5 0.074
1
3
Igles./Plaz. Casa Colón
23 23 0.338
1 1 2 1
18
Laguna
1 1 14 0.21
1
1
8 8 0.118
1 1
5
Pob. Este
11
Pob. Cent.
1 0.015
1
Pob. Sur
53 1 2 1 1 4 3 1 42 68
Total
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8 8 0.118
7 1
Alhóndiga
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Playa
7.12 Distribution of Nonceramic Food-Technology Items at La Isabela
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7.11. Burén (griddle) fragment. (Photo: James Quine.)
dential zone, which also contains one of the lowest overall concentrations of Indian remains at the site (table 7.13). It is possible, therefore, that ceramic burenes were in fact used by the Spaniards in their households. The second highest concentration of burén fragments occurred in the playa zone, which was the inundated beach area thought to have been used as a ship-building and careening zone. This curious distribution may imply the shipboard use of burenes for cooking or cargo.
Taíno Pottery Use by the Spaniards Traditional Spanish cooking pots comprised a higher proportion of the European ceramic forms at La Isabela than they did even at roughly contemporary sites in Spain. This tends to suggest that Indian cooking pots were not an important element of La Isabela’s Spanish kitchen technology. The proposition is more difficult to assess stratigraphically and contextually, however, because of the severe disturbances to the site. Taíno ceramics are spatially concentrated in the southwestern part of the site (church, plaza, cemetery, Casa de Colón), where the precontact Taíno midden is located. Indian ceramics are distributed fairly evenly
4,299 3,729 8,511 23,812 10,781 7,442 9,401 4,054 2,506
Town Zone
Playa Alhóndiga Elite Res. Plaza Casa Colón Laguna Norte Pob Cent. Pob. Este Pob. Sur
47 9 137 44 43 8 18 11 16
Total Burén 0.011 0.002 0.016 0.002 0.004 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.006
% of Indian Comprised by Burén 0.337 0.429 0.342 0.896 0.78 0.265 0.302 0.256 0.534
% of Total Comprised by Indian Items 2 6 1 6 4 7 6 5 3
Rank by Burén
6 4 5 1 2 8 7 9 3
Rank by Indian Items
2/22/02
Total Indian Items
7.13 Burén Distribution at La Isabela
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7.14 Vertical Distribution of Indian Ceramics in Poblado Residential Areas, Expressed as Percentage of Total Material in the Provenience ( Zones excavated in fivecentimeter increments) Poblado Central Z1L1 Z1l2 Z1L3 Z1L4 Z2L1 Z2L2 Z2L3 Z2L4
14 5 1 3 1.6 45 N/A N/A
Poblado East 46 55 31 0 67 64 32 34
Poblado Central: E16LIN, E16LHN, E8LHN Poblado East: E16LñS
across the rest of the site (table 7.13), although in no area are they as densely concentrated as they are in the Spanish church, cemetery, and plaza areas. If the Indian remains were contemporary with, or were used by, the Spaniards at La Isabela, we would expect them to be concentrated not in the cemetery and plaza but rather, like the burén, in refuse and living areas. As we pointed out in chapters 2 and 4, the stratigraphic associations of Taíno ceramics at the site are not particularly helpful in interpreting and assessing the extent to which the Spanish occupants of La Isabela used Taíno ceramics in food preparation. Table 7.14 shows the percentage of cultural material comprised by Indian artifacts in representative units of the major Poblado residential zones. The general stratigraphic trend for Indian items is to increase with depth, which would be consistent with an earlier period of deposit. The distribution, however, is bimodal, with the highest peaks in Zone 1 (latest) levels and in Zone 2, Levels 1 and 2. Taíno ceramics were also present in the few unequivocally Spanish trash-disposal features in the Poblado residential area (no intact trash deposits survived in the elite residential zone). Feature 1 contained 224 aboriginal sherds, which made up 40 percent of the feature’s contents. They occurred, however, in decreasing proportions from the top down; that is, the highest number of Taíno sherds occurred in the top level of the feature, and the lowest number occurred at the bottom (see chap
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ter 4, table 4.3). The lowest three levels did not contain any Taíno materials at all. This pattern would normally suggest either the incorporation of Indian materials through disturbance and mixing of earlier deposits when filling in the pit, or Indian activity at the site subsequent to its abandonment by the Spaniards. The deposits at La Isabela, however, lack the integrity to allow a firm determination of use period for the Taíno ceramics. On balance, the horizontal distributions and statistical associations of Taíno wares at La Isabela, along with the large number of locally made Spanish food-preparation vessels in the residential areas, tend to discount the hypothesis that the Isabela residents adopted Indian ceramics as kitchenware. Although some pots were undoubtedly brought into houses and may have been used for cooking or storage, the largescale replacement of European cooking technology by Indian cooking technology that is seen at later Spanish sites throughout the Americas is not evident at La Isabela (discussed in chapter 11 and also in Columbus’s Outpost, chapters 10 and 11).
Eating Whatever the food at La Isabela—potajes, biscuit, fish, or manioc—it was eaten and served from traditional hollowware in Spanish-Morisco shapes. Escudillas and platos in a wide range of sizes are the most common tableware vessels at La Isabela (figures 7.12 to 7.16). Platos accounted for 57 percent of the tableware vessels, and escudillas for 30 percent. Conical bowls or plates of Islamic inspiration known as fuentes (Amores and Chisvert 1993:290) were also used at the tables of La Isabela (figure 7.12). All of these forms, including the deep, saucerlike platos, were appropriate for the serving and eating of liquid-based dishes. Liquids were dispensed from cántaros, pichels or jarros (large, narrow-mouthed jugs), shown in figure 7.14, and drunk from small, handleless cups (tazas) and jarritas (small, narrow-mouthed jugs), shown in figures 7.15 and 7.16. Three fragments of stemmed ceramic drinking vessels (goblets) were also found. Glazing, which is particularly useful for liquid-containing vessels, occurred most commonly on tazas (74 percent), pitchers and jarros (48 percent) and jarritas (43 percent), and all the goblet fragments were glazed. In contrast, only 24 percent of the escudillas and 26 percent of the platos were glazed.
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7.12. Food-consumption forms at La Isabela. A–D, escudillas; E–F, conical bowls, or fuentes; G, bevelled-rim plato; H–I, platos. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
Food- and water-storage forms included tinajas, often with lids (seen in figure 8.12), and cantimploras, fifteenth-century versions of canteens (figures 7.14 and 7.17). Cantimploras, which could easily be suspended by their handles and carried next to the body because of their flattened sides, were mobile water containers, although probably also used at the table. They are distinctive in their production method, which involved throwing two equal-sized bowllike halves and assembling them verti
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7.13. Loza común plato. Diameter: 21 centimeters. (Photo: James Quine.)
cally along the vessel sides. This produced a characteristic dimple or nipple at the center of the vessel body and throw marks encircling the body vertically instead of horizontally. The cantimplora is the prototype of the “early-style olive jar” defined by John Goggin (1960). Several fragments of cutlery were recovered, of which the best preserved were fragments of copper-alloy spoons (figure 7.18). These wide, shallow spoons with pear-shaped bowls and long, slender handles are typical of the spoons used throughout Europe at the end of the fifteenth century (see, for example, those in Ruempol and van Dongen 1991:145–46; Museum of London 1993:128–31). Two badly corroded fragments of two-tined iron forks were found in the Poblado. Forks were rarely used at the table during this period (Tannahill 1973:226–27), and these were probably kitchen forks rather than tableware items. A similar fork was found at fifteenth-century Portuguese Qsar es-Seghir (Redman and Boone 1979:figure 22J). Knives were obviously also used in food consumption, but the knife examples from La Isabela are so deteriorated and fragmentary that weapons and personal knives cannot be
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7.14. Liquid storage and serving vessels. A, cántaro; B, pichel; C, cantimplora; D, neck to a jarro. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
distinguished with confidence; they were in any case probably multipurpose items. Large quantities of glass fragments were excavated at La Isabela, although very few of these provided evidence for form. Except for the possible presence of a mug-shaped vessel, the glass from the site seems to have come from storage containers, medicine vials, decorative items, and other non-food-related forms. The glassware assemblage is therefore discussed in the following chapter, which deals with household life and domesticity. The food-consumption technology at La Isabela parallels the array of items used in Spain at the time (although it consists of fewer ele
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7.15. Loza común jarrito. Maximum body diameter, 10 centimeters. (Photo: James Quine.)
7.16. Jarrito forms at La Isabela. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
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7.17. Loza común cantimplora necks. (Photo: James Quine.)
7.18. Copper-alloy spoon. Length: 8.2 cm.; maximum width of bowl: 4.2 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
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ments). It shows little indication of change in traditional Spanish consumption patterns in response to American foods and foodways, other than the possible adoption of manioc bread.
Spanish Subsistence at La Isabela The various sources of evidence bearing upon the Spanish diet at La Isabela—documentary accounts, plant and animal remains, and material culture—are unsatisfyingly inconsistent and often contradictory. They leave two of the most interesting questions about Spanish subsistence largely unanswered: what did the colonists eat, and to what extent did they come to incorporate native foods and food technology into their daily lives? Historical accounts began with delighted descriptions of the succulent fish, abundant fruits, and nourishing Taíno bread and potatoes at La Isabela but quickly turned to desperate complaints that there was no food and the colonists were starving (these are detailed in Columbus’s Outpost). And if the accounts are to be accepted, many people did indeed die from hunger. The provisions from Spain were apparently not able to sustain the colony for very long, and the documents suggest that rather than turning to local resources, the Spaniards chose to starve. It is also possible that they did in fact turn to local resources but perceived themselves to be starving for want of familiar foods (for a similar archaeologically identified Spanish colonial example of this phenomenon see Reitz and Scarry 1985). The typically most important direct evidence for subsistence—the remains of plants and animals that were eaten—was peculiarly absent at La Isabela. Taphonomic factors as well as past behavioral factors have been invoked here as the primary reasons for the very low incidence of archaeobiological remains at the site. We cannot reject the possibility, however, that the colonists simply did not have foods that were potentially preservable in the archaeological record, supporting their contention that they were in fact starving. The technology of food preparation and consumption, on the other hand, does not support the contention that the settlers of La Isabela had nothing to eat. In both their local production and their importation of pottery, the Spaniards at La Isabela clearly perceived that their greatest need was for vessels used to serve and eat food. Much of this pottery was
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locally produced in the kilns of Las Coles, presumably in response to local need and demand. Based on the material culture of food alone, one could easily interpret the Spanish occupation as having been intensely dedicated to cooking and eating in a very Spanish tradition. There was also an emphasis on individual vessels for individual use. Fifty-eight percent of all the Spanish ceramics at La Isabela were tableware forms used for serving and eating, while only 15 percent of the ceramics were from vessels used in food preparation, with the balance comprised of storage and transport containers (15 percent) and nonfood-related domestic pottery (12 percent) (table 7.6). Although the proportion of tableware consumption vessels at La Isabela appears high in relation to other functional categories, it is actually low compared to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sites in Seville (table 7.15). Between 70 and 85 percent of the ceramic assemblages from these Iberian sites consisted of consumption vessels, and only 11 to 13 percent of the assemblages were preparation vessels. In both Seville and La Isabela cooking was in a sense a communal undertaking, with a single vessel serving a number of individuals, whereas eating was done from individual vessels. It is also possible that much of the food preparation did not involve ceramic vessels, particularly if metal pots were used. We cannot ignore the alternate possibility that the Spaniards at La Isabela used Indian vessels for cooking, but the high proportion of Spanish cooking vessels at La Isabela as compared to sites in Spain makes this hypothesis weaker than the alternatives. Neither the proportions nor the forms and functions of the vessels used at La Isabela differ from those of ceramics used in Seville and other Iberian colonies at the end of the fifteenth century. The assemblage is remarkably similar to assemblages documented in Seville and throughout Andalusia (Amores and Chisvert 1993; Coll Conesa and Más Belén 1998; Lister and Lister 1987:93–114; McEwan 1988, 1992) and at Qsar esSeghir in Morocco (Myers 1989; Redman 1986:190–200). At all these sites and at La Isabela, the pottery vessels included a mixture of Islamic and Christian ceramic forms (see particularly Lister and Lister 1987). The two most apparent differences between the pottery assemblage at La Isabela and the assemblages at these contemporary Spanish sites are a much lower proportion of glazed pottery at La Isabela and the absence at La Isabela of such large, technologically challenging vessels as huge jarróns, tinajones, and dolias (all forms of very large jars of more than a
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7.15 Vessel Forms from Sixteenth-Century Sites in Andalusia Bañosa
Casa Andalusí Ab
#
%
#
%
43 19 14
0.092 0.041 0.030
2 2
0.02 0.02 0.01
La Isabela #
%
160 70
0.1
Household/Domestic Lebrillo Bacín Lebrillo/bacín Oil lamps Maceta Albarelo Subtotal
16 1 100 346
0 0.12
263 162 3 36 464
0.1 0.1
0.16
119
0
0.29
0.474
836 2 379
0.15 0.857
68 1,404
76
0.163
5
0.038
57 4 3
0.122 0.009 0.006
4 1
0.03
64
0.137
9 14
0.07 0.12
23 35 11 243
0.049 0.075 0.024 0.521
3
0.02
24
0.18
14
0.030
63
326
0.700
20 114
Food Preparation Olla/pucheros Morteros Anafe Cazuela Subtotal
Food Consumption Tazas/bowls Catavinos/saleros Pocillos Platos Goblet Escudillas/cuencos Ollita/jarrito/ cantarilla Subtotal
0.13
0.49
Liquid Serving and/or Storage Cántaro Botella Pichel/jarra Tinaja Subtotal Total a Baños: This
1 1 2
466
4 133
0.02 0.03
171 49 402 37 659 2,873
0.1 0.14 0.23
was an Augustinian convent and home for repentant prostitutes in Seville during the second half of the sixteenth century (McEwen 1992; 1989). b Casa Andalusí A: This was the home of a merchant in Murcia during the second half of the sixteenth century (Coll Conesa and Más Belén 1998).
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meter in diameter) used for storage and transport, brocales (well curbs), and baptismal fonts. Neither of these differences is remarkable, given the necessity of selective technology transfer to La Isabela. The stratigraphic and taphonomic circumstances at La Isabela have made the assessment of Taíno contributions to the Spanish diet tentative at best. Nevertheless, both documentary accounts and the horizontal distribution of Taíno ceramic griddle remains suggest that the Spaniards both ate and prepared cassava bread during their occupation of La Isabela. Apart from the ceramic griddles used to cook cassava bread, there is no concrete material or documentary evidence that other kinds of Taíno food technology (such as pottery or fishing equipment) were adopted at La Isabela. The most puzzling question of Spanish subsistence at La Isabela is why the Spaniards did not make greater use of local plants and animals, particularly fish and fruits. While sometimes unfamiliar foods, they were clearly considered both edible and nourishing by the Spaniards, and fish in particular are abundant and available in the immediate vicinity of the town. The faunal record is unfortunately too compromised to address this question reliably, and it remains possible that the colonists did in fact eat local resources and that their starvation was as much perceived as real.
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8 Living in Bohíos Domestic Life at La Isabela La Isabela was dramatically different from other late fifteenth-century European towns in many ways. Its population was virtually all male, and the settlement was located in an utterly isolated and essentially alien place at the edge of the Spaniards’ known world. It nevertheless contained a community of people who faced most of the concerns common to households and communities everywhere: household organization, health and sanitation, religious life, personal appearance, social hierarchy, leisure activities, and personal economy. What little we know of how the people at La Isabela resolved these issues comes from the archaeological record, and this chapter summarizes the materiality of la vida cotidiana (daily life) in the town. While the absence of women undoubtedly shaped domestic life in a dramatic way, the men who formed the households of the town still had to provide for food, clothing, lighting, sanitation, and other domestic necessities. Social class predicted the ways in which these needs were met, and there was apparently a marked difference between the
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households of the elite and the non-elite in La Isabela. This is brought into sharp focus when we compare the needs of Columbus’s household with those of “the people,” as reflected in the requests for supplies (table 8.1).
Clothing After food and shelter, clothing was of greatest concern to the people who lived at La Isabela. This was not only because of the need for body cover and protection but also because of the immense social importance of clothing and personal adornment in late fifteenth-century Spain for those who were, or wished to be, hidalgos (see, for example, Anderson 1979:140). Spanish-style clothing, footwear, and fabric could only be acquired from Europe, and the items initially brought with the expedition were soon depleted. Given the infrequency of supply ships, the Spaniards in Hispaniola were soon reduced to rags, and clothing became a valuable commodity. By 1502, when the contingent of 2,500 new Spaniards arrived, even the wealthiest of the original colonists in terms of land and slaves were “going around desnudos” and barefoot (Las Casas II, VI; 1985, vol. 2:226). The newcomers who came with clothing were able to sustain themselves by selling it to the people already in Hispaniola. Clothing reflected the sharp distinctions that were made along lines of social class in the life of La Isabela. The contrast can be seen between the clothing requested for “the people” (sandals, shoes, coarse cloth, and “other articles of clothing”) with that requested for Columbus’s household, which included silk fabric, silk thread, green and brownish cloth, shirts, leggings, jackets, and shoes (table 8.1). As at most archaeological sites, very few material remnants of either elite or common clothing were recovered at La Isabela, and nearly all of these were fragments of metal clothing fasteners, including buckles, strap tips, grommets, pins, hook eyes, and lace tips (aglets, or agujetas); see table 8.2 and figures 8.1 to 8.4). Laces were the most common method of fastening clothing in the Spanish colonies until the second half of the seventeenth century. Very few buttons are found at Spanish colonial sites before that time (none at La Isabela), but small rolled-copper or copper-alloy cylinders or tubes known in English as aglets, lace chapes, or tags and in Spanish as agujetas are quite common. Aglets were used to enclose and reinforce
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8.1 Domestic Items Requested for La Isabela, 1493 “For the maintenance of people”
“For the Admiral’s household”
Medicines (60,000 maravedis worth) Shoes and sandals Other items of clothing and footwear Glass lamps, 3 dozen Chamber pots in 6 straw boxes, 5 dozen Coarse cloth [ jerga], 1,000 yards Coarse canvas, 1,000 yards Measures for bread, wine and oil, plus other glasses Lenteduas (?), 5 dozen Tallow, 59 quintals Soap, 10 quintals Wax, 2 quintals
Clothing and footwear for himself A bed made of 6 mattresses of fine Brittany linen Pillows of cambric, 4 Bedsheets of half cambric, 3 pairs A light quilt Green and brownish serge silk cloth A cushion (alhambra) Cloth tapestries depicting trees Door hangings of the same, 2 Coverings with his coat of arms, 4 Decorated coffers, a couple Perfumes Paper, 10 quires Ordinary mattresses, 12 Thick bedsheets, 12 pairs Ordinary blankets, 12 Green and brownish cloth, 80 yards Shirts, 80 Leggings and jackets, 4 Vitre (coarse canvas), 100 yards Ordinary shoes, 120 pairs Black thread, 6 pounds Black twisted silk, 3 ounces.
1 quintal= 100 pounds, or 46 kg
the tips of fabric or leather laces that served to fasten clothing— breeches and doublet closures, attachments of hose to doublets, fastening hose, and the like (Anderson 1979:89–92). Aglets from La Isabela range in length from 1.5 centimeters to 2.5 centimeters, although they appear to have been made in at least two standard lengths: 1.5 centimeters and two centimeters (figure 8.2). Laces were drawn through holes that were sometimes finished with thread and occasionally with smooth or toothed metal grommets, particularly on leather garments (Egan and Pritchard 1991:227–28); see figure 8.1. Straight pins were used during the fifteenth century both in sewing and as clothing fasteners. All the pins from La Isabela are of copper alloy, with ball-shaped heads made of wrapped wire (figure 8.1), and
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8.1. Clothing-related items from La Isabela. Straight pins, hook, buckle, grommet, “figure 8” clothing ornament, iron needle. Length of needle is 6 centimeters. (Photo: James Quine.)
8.2. Aglets retaining their laces. Length of center aglet: 1.8 centimeters. (Photo: James Quine.)
Agate bead Bracelet Brooch Copper strip Earring Filigree Finger ring Pendant Adornment total 3
3 2 8
1 5
2
2 13
3 5 1 1 1
1
2
1
1 3 8
1 2 1
1
3
2 4 12
3
2 1
Elite Res.
2
2
9
1
1 1
6
Plaza/ Iglesia
6
3
1 1 1
1 1 6
4
Casa Colón
3
3
1 3 21
1 2
3 11
Laguna
5
1 1
3
1 1 1 2 1 20
5 9
Pob. Cent
4
3
1
4
1
3
Pob. Este
2
1
1
2
1
1
Pob. Sur
0 2 11 1 3 3 1 14 3 38
24 32 2 2 8 2 1 10 14 95
Total
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Adornment
Aglet Buckle Clasp Eye Fastener Grommet Needle Pin Strap end Clothing total
Alhóndiga
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Clothing
Playa
8.2 Domestic Personal Items at La Isabela
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Gaming disc Seal Hawk’s bell Book clasp Leisure total Total 14
1
1 1
6
20
Elite Res.
1 11
1
3
Plaza/ Iglesia
12
Casa Colón
1 4 27
2 1
1 1
Laguna
4 26
3
1
2
1 1
Pob. Cent
1 7
1
Pob. Este
0
Pob. Sur
0 4 1 4 1 10 123
1 1 1 4 1 4
Total
12:35 PM
Leisure
Crucifix Cross Reliquary Jet fragment Shrine Religion total
Religion
Alhóndiga
2/22/02
Playa
8.2 Domestic Personal Items at La Isabela (Continued )
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8.3. Copper-alloy buckles from La Isabela. (Photo: James Quine.)
they range in size from 2.7 centimeters to 6.5 centimeters. The larger examples were probably fasteners rather than tailoring items. It is somewhat unusual that no thimbles were recovered from the site, as these are quite common sewing accessories in other early Spanish colonial sites. Coupled with the small number of pins, the lack of thimbles suggests that tailoring, sewing, and mending were not prominent activities in the life of the predominantly (if not exclusively) male community at La Isabela. Buckles and strap tips were the most common apparel-related items at La Isabela. Many of these were probably used with brigantine plate armor, which is widespread at the site (as we discuss in chapter 9), and the strap tips and buckles from La Isabela could have functioned either as armor or as clothing fasteners. The typical buckle was small and oval (two to 2.8 centimeters in length), made of copper alloy, and generally undecorated (figure 8.3). Several retain a mordant (a separately added metal plate attached to the straight part of the frame to receive a strap). The simple oval frame buckles from La Isabela are of a very ancient design, resembling those found at Roman sites (Lester and Oerke 1940:281, figure 356). The copper-alloy strap tips from La Isabela (figure 8.4) are typically
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8.4. Copper-alloy strap tips. Length of upper left strap tip: 2.3 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
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medieval in their form and similar to strap tips excavated in medieval London contexts (see Egan and Pritchard 1991:124–25). The tips could have been used to reinforce straps used as belts or armor fastenings or with horse harnesses. Both strap ends and buckles were concentrated in the refuse deposits in the north ravine but were otherwise distributed fairly evenly across the site.
Personal Adornment Jewelry, like clothing, carried great weight as a social signifier in late fifteenth-century Spain (see Muller 1970:7–26). Much of the precious and popular jewelry used in Spain and the Spanish colonies was designed with religious symbols and motifs. Because these designs and the inextricably pervasive nature of religious belief in all aspects of late medieval Spanish society, it is both impossible and inappropriate to segregate “religious” and “ornamental” functions in many of these pieces. In addition to jewelry with Christian religious motifs, many items of adornment during the reign of the Catholic Kings retained Moorish design elements, such as scrolls, loops, filigree, interlocking geometric patterns, and Arabic letters and numbers (Muller 1970:21–24). Jewelry was worn by both men and women during the late fifteenth century and, in its popular forms, by nearly all social classes. Certain items of jewelry were associated exclusively with feminine use, such as hair ornaments, pendant earrings, and bracelets. Other pieces, such as chains, necklaces, ring-type earrings, most rings, and religious-motif pendants, cannot confidently be assigned a particular gender. Elite classes during the late fifteenth century wore wide, elaborate collars of enameled and bejeweled sculpted links, square-cut stones set in elaborate foliagelike settings, and a variety of precious religious jewels. Some of the gifts Columbus gave to Taíno leaders hint at the nature of elite jewelry at La Isabela. During the first voyage, for example, he gave a young Taíno cacique “some very nice pieces of amber I was wearing around my neck.” Later he took from his own neck and gave to Guacanagarí “a collar of good bloodstones [alaqueques] and very beautiful beads of very pretty colors.” Columbus also gave a large silver finger ring to Guacanagarí, who had seen a sailor wearing such a ring and desired it greatly (Las Casas in Parry and Keith 1984:50). The two stone beads excavated at La Isabela may have been part of necklaces like those worn by Columbus. Both examples were made of
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pale orange carnelian (agate), shown in figure 8.7. The intact bead is lozenge-shaped, with four facets on the long sides, and is similar in size, shape, and color to an example recovered from Puerto Real, Haiti (Ewen 1991:88–89). These beads may have been part of personal jewelry or used for trade with the Taínos. Curiously, given the importance of glass beads as trade items, not one was found at La Isabela. Items of fine jewelry were no doubt carefully guarded possessions of the hidalgos who came to La Isabela, and only remnants of humbler forms of adornment have been recovered archaeologically. Most of the pieces from the site could have been used by either men or women, and all were made from nonprecious substances. It is quite possible that some of these items could have been intended as trade items with the Taínos, rather than as personal adornment for Spaniards. Columbus himself listed many of the European trade items found to be popular on the first voyage, which included glass beads, brass rings, hawk’s bells, lace ends, broken glass and crockery, strap ends, and broken barrel hoops; above all, “they wish for nothing so much as for hawk’s bells . . . for they almost go crazy for them” (quoted by Las Casas in Parry and Keith 1984:43, 44, 60, 47). The single most frequently occurring kind of jewelry at La Isabela is the finger ring (table 8.2). Fourteen rings have been found, shown in figures 8.5 and 8.6. Three of these are simple copper-alloy bands, and two others are signet rings (one with a crowned letter “R,” the other with an image of the Virgin and Christ child). The most ornate ring was cast of copper alloy and gilded and has a setting for a stone. This ring also bears an inscription on the interior, shown in figure 8.6. Two examples of the “stirrup rings” that were popular throughout the Middle Ages were found (see Egan and Pritchard 1991:326). These are copper-alloy bands rising to a domed, incised bezel bearing a small turquoise stone. Identical examples with turquoise stones are reported from a late fifteenth-century cache of Spanish and Taíno artifacts from a rock-shelter site at Sabana Yegua, in the San Juan de la Maguana region of the Dominican Republic (Vega 1979). Three of the six rings included in that collection are the same as the stirrup rings from La Isabela, and they may have been brought to La Isabela in quantity as trade goods. The most common variety of finger ring found at La Isabela was a copper-alloy band with flat, widened bezels bearing a raised Maltesecross emblem (figure 8.6). Although just two rings of this kind were re
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8.5. Finger rings from La Isabela. A, engraved copper-alloy ring. B, copper-alloy thumb ring. C, copper-alloy stirrup ring set with a blue stone. D, copper-alloy ring with raised Maltese cross on bezel. E, copper-alloy signet ring with image of the Virgin Mary and Christ child. Interior diameter of B is 2.3 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
8.6. Finger rings. Photo, left to right, simple copper-alloy band; grooved copperalloy band; ornate gilded ring with missing stone; signet ring with crowned F; ring with Maltese cross in bezel; stirrup ring with blue stone. Details, left, gilded ring and interior inscription (drawing: Patricia Farrior); right, signet of a crowned Gothic F.
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covered from excavations at the site, a cache of six others was discovered by local workmen building a wall to the north of the national park, where a helicopter pad is located today. These rings are similar in concept and execution to the base-metal rings known to have been brought by Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries to the North American missions (see, for example, Stone 1974:126–32). We might speculate that the practice of bringing rings with Christian symbols as gifts for newly converted souls began in the Americas at La Isabela. Several other ornamental items from La Isabela are Islamic in style or origin. These include a fragment of a copper-alloy earring wire, identical to one recovered from an Islamic context at Qsar es-Seghir (figure 8.7; see also Redman 1986:fig. 4.11-C), and a small copper-alloy brooch or pin in the shape of a figure 8, with an attached pin to fasten it to cloth (shown in figure 8.1). These pins are well documented as clothing decorations or fasteners from medieval sites in Europe, and figure-8 pins or decorative mounts have been recovered from early fifteenth-century contexts in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991:204). This particular form may also be Moorish in origin, as Queen Isabela is known to have ordered quantities of brooches called cifras morescas (“Moorish numbers”) and also Moorish “letter” pins with which to decorate collars, belts, and mantle borders (Muller 1976:23). Small, flat brooches such as these were used by both men and women as clothing ornamentation during the fifteenth century. Moorish-inspired filigree work was also popular in late fifteenthcentury Spain (Muller 1976:21–23). A filigree-work, copper-alloy cap from La Isabela (figure 8.7) may have been part of a cassolet, a hollow, tubular necklace element such as those shown by Muller (1976:22–23). Other pendants found at the site are shown in figure 8.7, including the back half of a locket or reliquary with ornamented silver sides and a copper-alloy back. An ornately cast, gilded copper-alloy pendant in a triangular form has three loops for pendant elements and may have been a joining element on a necklace or a rosary. Among the most unusual items of jewelry for an American site are fragments of thin, ring-shaped glass bracelets of a variety long known in the Muslim world (figure 8.8). Although these bracelets are rarely encountered on American sites, at least eleven are represented at La Isabela. Glass bangle bracelets have been used since the medieval era in the Islamic world and in India, where they are still made and used today (Spaer 1994). They have been found archaeologically in a burial at Qsar
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8.7. Personal ornaments from La Isabela. A, carnelian bead, 1 centimeter by 1.4 centimeters; B, gilded copper-alloy joining element for a necklace or rosary, length: 2.25 centimeters; C, earring fragment; D, half of a reliquary locket, height: 1.8 centimeters; E, filigree cap, possibly to a cassolet, diameter: 2 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
8.8. Glass bracelet fragments. Black, green, blue glass with white spirals. Fragment at left, length: 3.25 centimeters; diameter: .4 centimeters. (Photo: James Quine; drawing: Merald Clark.)
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es-Seghir on the wrists of an adolescent Christian female (Redman 1986:204, Boone 1980:148–49). They are also common in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century contexts at Ft. Jesus in Kenya, where they are attributed to East Indian origin (Kirkman 1974:158, 317), as well as in numerous medieval and postmedieval sites in the Near East (Spaer 1994). Several glass bracelets were also recovered during the excavation of a merchant’s house in Murcia (Andalusia), dating to the second half of the sixteenth century (Coll Conesa and Más Belén 1998:150). These were quite similar to the bracelets from La Isabela, made of clear, green, blue, and black glass and decorated variously with applied spiral stripes and twisting. There is some indication that this kind of bracelet may have been associated with young or adolescent girls, as they were found in this context in the burials at Qsar es-Seghir, and bracelets (manillas) of glass are also known to have been ordered by Queen Isabela for her daughter, the infanta (Muller 1972:25). Such bracelets are one of the few categories of material culture associated with women at La Isabela, although they may also have been brought to America as trade items. The bracelets from La Isabela included fragments of opaque black glass with white spiral appliqué stripes and very dark green glass with white spiral appliqué stripes; one bracelet was of pale-green glass with lattice-pattern (latticinio) appliqué white stripes. Other bracelets were of plain glass in light colors (pale green, translucent yellow, clear, and aquamarine), and one was constructed of twisted glass. The measurable examples range from 5.3 centimeters to 6.5 centimeters in diameter. The glass bracelet fragments from both La Isabela and Qsar es Seghir have been analyzed by Robert Brill of the Corning Museum of Glass (Brill 1992; 1999:185, 422; appendix 6), who notes that the glass is soda-lime glass, with a higher soda (NA2O) content than most Near Eastern Islamic glass he had characterized. The samples from La Isabela seem, upon preliminary analysis, to be quite similar to samples from medieval Benialí in eastern Spain (Butzer and Butzer 1989). Perhaps more significantly, the composition of the Isabela glass samples appears closest to that of a fragment excavated at the site of En Bas Saline in Haiti, which is believed to have been associated with Columbus’s failed 1492 settlement of La Navidad (Deagan 1987b). If such compositional similarity is confirmed, it could indicate a Columbian origin and a similar source for glass from both sites, either as a consequence of visits by
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8.9. Copper alloy cascabeles (hawk’s bells). Left, diameter: 1.3 centimeters; right, diameter: 3.7 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
Columbus’s expeditions or of trade with the Taíno people of the Marién region after the establishment of La Isabela.
Bells Given the widely acknowledged importance of beads and bells in the Spaniards’ trade with the Taínos, it is curious that so few of these items were recovered from excavations at La Isabela. As we noted earlier, no glass beads were recovered from the site. Only four crushed fragments of copper-alloy rumbler bells of the type generally referred to as a hawk’s bell, or cascabela, were found (table 8.2 and figure 8.9). Hawk’s bells are well known in the chronicles of the Columbus expeditions as trade goods, because the Taíno Indians were entranced by them and willing to exchange gold for them (for a summary of Columbus-era comments about cascabeles see Vega 1979:42–45). The bell fragments from La Isabela appear identical to examples recovered in the artifact cache at Sabana Yegua. These bells are similar to, although slightly smaller than, the sixteenth-century brass hawk’s bells known as Clarksdale bells in the Southeastern United States (see Brown 1979; Mitchem and McEwan 1988). The measurable bell fragments from La Isabela average one centimeter in diameter at the top and 1.5 centimeters in diameter at the center, compared to the diameter range of 1.6 centimeters to 2.1 centimeters for those reported from early contexts in Florida.
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Bohío Domesticity Documentary sources provide virtually no information about the organization and furnishings of La Isabela’s bohío households, and the archaeological data are almost as mute. The meager collection of nonfood-related domestic items from La Isabela suggests a spartan domesticity (table 8.3). We should note, however, that few furnishings and a spare domestic space were also typical of late fifteenth-century Spanish households at all social levels (documented and discussed in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 7). Most of the bohío households at La Isabela were probably furnished at least with chests and tables. Copper tacks that may have been used to attach fabric or leather to trunks (or chairs) and a single ornamental furniture clavo (nail) are among the few surviving remnants of such furniture (figure 8.10). Trunk hardware includes several fragments of flat, shaped copper-alloy metal that may have been used as inlay or decoration, and some of the smaller keys recovered from the site may have been furniture related. The cotter-type hinge shown in chapter 10, figure 10.2, may also have fastened a chest or cupboard door. Other domestic furnishings were related to lighting, hygiene, and health, and most of these were ceramic (table 8.4). La Isabela’s settlers solved the need for lighting in several ways. Tallow and wax were brought with the supplies, at least some of which was undoubtedly used to make candles. No metal candleholders have been found at La Isabela, but several tube-shaped ceramic fragments may have been parts of ceramic candleholders (candiles). More common even that candleholders are ceramic lamp fragments, probably used to burn oil or tallow (figure 8.11). These lamps were commonly produced by medieval Muslim potters in Seville, who continued the Roman tradition of ceramic oil-lamp production and use. In Spain, however, they seem to have been gradually replaced by candleholders as lighting equipment by the end of the fifteenth century (see Lister and Lister 1987:25–26, 110).
Health and Sanitation Hygiene in general was not a major preoccupation of fifteenth-century Europeans. As Fernand Braudel observed, “Bodily cleanliness left much to be desired at all periods and for everyone” (1979:328). But it has been suggested that personal hygiene in southern Spain and Portugal may
3 2 3 7 3 23 0.069
1 2 7 5 15
% of all domestic 0.045
Candíl Lámpara Bacín Lebrillo Albarelo Glass vial Total
1
1 1 2
0.087
29
2 15 11 1
Elite Res.
0.012
4
0 2 1 0
1
Plaza/ Iglesia
0.009
3
1 1 1 0
Casa Colón
0.346
1 10 54 45 2 117
2
1 2
Laguna
0.316
108
1 4 68 27
1 2
2
1
Pob. Cent
0.084
3 1 1 5 18 1 42
1 2 1 2 1 1 5
Pob. Este
5 5
1
1
Pob. Sur
6 10 38 154 99 8 346
2 4 7 4 1 3 10
Total
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Household
Clavo Copper tack Inlay/decor Finial Handle Lock Key
Alhóndiga
2/22/02
Furniture
Playa
8.3 Furniture and Household Items at La Isabela
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8.10. Furniture-related items from La Isabela. Copper-alloy tacks, iron and copper-alloy decorative clavo; fragments of copper-alloy inlay or ornamental items for furniture or saddles. Length of ornamental clavo: 3.3 centimeters; diameter of clavo top: 1.3 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
have been somewhat better than in the rest of Europe because of the Muslim influence in those areas (see, for example, Oliveira Marques 1971:136–39). In fact, the supplies requested by Columbus and shipped to the colony in the first year included one thousand pounds of soap (roughly the equivalent of 3,200 five-ounce, bath-size bars). This quantity of soap, coupled with the relative frequency and wide distribution of lebrillos, may suggest that the colony’s organizers were more attentive (at least initially) to cleanliness than were many of their European contemporaries. Such concern with cleanliness, however, would have been complicated by the difficulties of obtaining fresh water at the El Castillo site.
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8.11. Ceramic oil lamps. (Photo: James Quine.)
Columbus noted plans to bring water into the town via canals, but there is no direct archaeological evidence that a canal system was ever achieved at the walled town (although one may have been built at the settlement of Las Coles). Nor was any evidence recovered for water wells within the town, other than the brackish well near the edge of the lagoon at the base of the ravine. The only documentable water-capture system was the rustic cistern discussed in chapter 6. Household sanitation needs were met in large measure by ceramic bacines (chamber pots) and lebrillos (large basins). Of the seventy-one fragmentary bacines found at the site, only nine were glazed (table 8.4), and they were brought with the expedition supplies (appendix 1); the rest were probably made locally. Bacines at La Isabela were typically tall, cylindrical vessels with everted rims, although some shorter cylindrical versions were also recovered (figure 8.12). The bacin form is of SpanishMuslim origin, and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries bacines were often very large and elaborate, apparently intended for communal use (Lister and Lister 1983:172–74). The bacines from La Isabela, however, ranged from twenty-six centimeters to thirty-two centimeters in rim diameter and were intended for individual use. Compared to vessels for food preparation and consumption, chamber pots were relatively uncommon at La Isabela and appear to have been an elite accessory. As table 8.4 shows, they are five times more plentiful in the elite residen
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8.12. Domestic ceramic forms at La Isabela. A, lebrillo; B, tinaja; C–D, bacines. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
tial areas than in all of the Poblado areas combined. Common settlers undoubtedly took advantage of vegetation and the sea in the absence of chamber pots and privies. The lebrillo was the quintessential Andalusian washbasin, for clothing as well as for the person (see Amores and Chisvert 1993:288). It is a large shallow basin form with a flat bottom and outward-sloping sides ending in a characteristic folded rim (figure 8.12). They are the largest vessels in the ceramic assemblage, measuring up to seventy-two centimeters in diameter at the rim (the rim of the smallest example from the site was thirty-four centimeters in diameter). Lebrillos are both more numerous and more often glazed than bacines at La Isabela, and their distribution in the town is the opposite of that for bacines. Lebrillos are some seven times more frequent in the Poblado settlement area than they are in the elite residential zone, and they are clearly domestic in function and non-elite in status. It is possible that hidalgos and elite residents of La Isabela did not perform many of the domestic chores requiring lebrillos themselves but rather had them done by subalterns in other parts of the town.
0.038 1.000 0.871 1.000 1.000 0.238
3 3 61 1 15 38 121
Unglazed # % Form
1.000
1 0.575
0.071
5
92 133
0.450
36
Melado # % Form
30 56
4
22
0.188
0.057
0.275
Vitreo # % Form 80 3 70 1 1 15 160 330
Total #
0.242 0.009 0.212 0.003 0.003 0.045 0.485 1
% of All
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20
0.238
19
Majolica # % Form
2/22/02
Albarelo Anafe Bacín Bacineta Candíl Lámpara Lebrillo Subtotal
Ware Type: Form
8.4 Ware Types of Domestic Utilitarian Pottery at La Isabela
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Medicine and Health Sickness was second only to starvation in the litany of complaints from La Isabela’s settlers. According to Columbus, most of the men fell sick within a few days of their arrival. Although many died, he pointed out that “the country tries them for some space of time and after that they recover,” and that “the cause of the illness, so general among all, is the change of water and air, for we see that it spreads to all one after another, and few are in danger” (in Parry and Keith 1984:180-81). Sickness nevertheless continued to plague the settlers at La Isabela throughout the town’s existence, and the nature of their illness (as attributed by both sixteenth- and twentieth-century scholars) is discussed in chapter 4 of Columbus’s Outpost. The medicines brought to La Isabela (which were quickly depleted and in great demand) were packaged both in the ceramic jars known as albarelos and, less frequently, in glass vials. The albarelo form (figure 8.13) derives from the early Spanish-Muslim pharmaceutical ceramics of the ninth and tenth centuries, and is thought to have been modeled on the bamboo-tube sections in which Asian medicines were shipped to the Arab world (Lister and Lister 1987:30–31, 78). Fragments of one hundred albarelos were found at La Isabela and, unlike most other ceramic forms, almost all of them were glazed. Nearly half bore the opaque, honey-colored glaze known as melado, and the remainder were either lead-glazed or tin-enameled majolica (see chapter 7 for descriptions of ceramic-ware types). They were apparently not produced locally, in keeping with their function as containers for specialized medical items coming from Spain. Forty-five percent of the albarelos at La Isabela were found in the trash dump in the north ravine, but another 46 percent were concentrated in the Poblado residential zone. Only a single fragment was present in the elite residential area. This distinctly nonrandom distribution suggests either that the medical facilities were located in the Poblado residential area (away from the public and elite spaces) or that medicine was distributed among the settlers and administered in households rather than in a central location. The suggestion that the medical facilities were located in the Poblado area of the town is reinforced by the distribution of glass pharmaceutical vials at the site (figure 8.14, table 8.5). Six of the eight vials found were, like the majority of albarelos, recovered in the south and
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8.13. Albarelos. Left, melado albarelo rim, rim diameter: 6.5 centimeters; right, Caparra Blue majolica, majolica form, rim diameter: 7.5 centimeters; projected height: 14.5 centimeters.
8.14. Glass vials. Left, rim and base of light-green glass, rim diameter: 2.1 centimeters, body diameter: 2.3 centimeters; center, dark-green twisted neck, rim diameter: 2 centimeters; right, black glass base, height: 7.3 centimeters, top diameter: 2.2 centimeters, base diameter: 1 centimeter.
2,086 196 3 9 157 562 7 305 4 1 3,331
Bot.
Glass Colors and Forms Color Frag.
UID patinated Aqua Black Blue Brown Clear Dark green Green Decorated Olive green Total
32 39
1
1
Rod
2 39
1
Mug
1
1 1
1
1
1
Jar
1
1
Rod
3
1 9 13
11
2
1
Mug
8
1 1
1 5
Vial
1 5 8
2
Vial
2,087 207 4 15 166 575 8 310 4 5 3,381
Total
814 305 902 768 237 128 88 62 77 3,381
Total 0.241 0.090 0.267 0.227 0.070 0.038 0.026 0.018 0.023
% All Glass 8,452 4,947 16,395 2,768 3,043 20,697 21,082 11,762 1,788 90,934
Tot. Euro. in Zone
0.009 0.003 0.010 0.008 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.037
% of Euro. Items in Zone
12:35 PM
2
1
Jar
2/22/02
2
812 305 900 767 235 126 86 61 39 3,331
Playa Alhóndiga Elite resi. Plaza/Iglesia Casa Colón Laguna Norte Pob. Central Pob. Este Pob. Sur Total
Bot.
Frag.
Town Zone
8.5 Distribution of Glass Vessel Forms at La Isabela
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east Poblado, with the other two found in the ravine trash deposit. These vials are of a type known from other early sixteenth-century Spanish-Caribbean contexts, although they have not been reported frequently (Deagan 1987a:136–38; Keith 1987:256). Their narrow cylindrical bodies with flared mouths are most similar to the alabastron or ungentaria of the classical world, and they may be of Roman-influenced Morisco or Muslim origin (see, for example, Auth 1976:114, 210–11, 228). Five were dark-blue cobalt-colored glass, one was black glass, and the others were green.
Religious Life As we saw in table 8.2, very few items identifiable as having a religious function have been excavated at La Isabela. This scarcity of religious material items obviously does not reflect the fervent Catholicism and religiosity of late fifteenth-century Spaniards. One cannot overemphasize the profound influence of the Catholic Church in shaping both daily life and public policy in both Spain and Spanish America. Church, state, and people were inextricably interconnected through the close connection between the pope and the monarchs of Spain (this relationship, through the Patronato Real, and its implications for governance of Spanish America are explored in chapter 8 of Columbus’s Outpost). Nearly all of La Isabela’s chroniclers made note of the first Mass in America, but little is said about subsequent religious observances in the town. Presumably the weekly and annual rounds of Catholic Mass, communion, confession, and prayers were maintained, at least initially. The original expedition to La Isabela boasted a sizable contingent of religious members (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 9), but it is unclear how many remained to perform the necessary religious offices after 1495, or to what extent the round of religious observances continued in La Isabela as circumstances deteriorated. Many of the elite participants in the expedition to La Isabela were members of religious brotherhoods, such as Mosen Pedro Margarit, who wore the habit of the order of Santiago (Columbus to the Sovereigns, 1494, in Jane 1988:96), and the contingent of the Lanzas de Jinetas, who were members of the Santa Hermandád brotherhood (Ramos 1982). Much has been written about the deep religiosity of Columbus himself, who must have emphasized the role of religious activity at La Isabela.
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Church furnishings were no doubt removed to Santo Domingo or Concepción de la Vega when La Isabela was abandoned, and personal possessions with religious significance were probably more carefully guarded than other more mundane goods. Such items as the various finger rings bearing religious motifs we discussed earlier undoubtedly carried multiple meanings associated with economics, personal adornment, and social identity as well as with religion. The same is true of beads that might have been used in either rosaries or jewelry, although no beads attributable to rosaries were found. If rosary or devotional beads were lost at the site, they were probably of wood or bone and did not survive. The portion of the small locket pendant shown in figure 8.7 may have functioned as a reliquary pendant. Personal reliquary containers have included great works of jewelry as well as very humble devices since the third century (for examples of precious personal Spanish reliquaries, see Cruz Valdovinos and Escalera Ureña 1993:236–38; Evans 1989:74–75, plates 12, 37; Muller 1972:63, 70–72). Only one artifact from La Isabela served an unequivocally religious purpose. This was a crucifix with a corpus excavated in the Poblado area (figure 8.15). The piece is 4.5 centimeters high and made of three elements. The cross itself is of a badly corroded copper alloy and has notches on either side just below the top end. Over this is imposed a smaller flat cross of an as yet unidentified white-metal alloy, onto which a corpus is fastened with three copper nails. The corpus itself is of cast copper alloy and is 2.75 centimeters high. The figure of Christ is bearded, with the head to one side, and is minimally clothed. The feet are depicted as nailed together with a single nail, and a scroll—too badly corroded to determine if it bears a legend—is above the corpus head. A fourth copper nail fastens the scroll to the base cross. The crucifix is similar in size and form to that shown by the Flemish painter Quentin Massys (1465–1530) in his Portrait of a Man (Friedsam collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, #32.100.49, New York). Both the Massys crucifix and the one from La Isabela are of complex construction, showing Christ in a loincloth with bent head, surmounted by a scroll. A crudely shaped and badly deteriorated cross of iron recovered from the Poblado area may have served a religious function as well, although its condition does not permit a confident attribution. It is known that veneras (small devotional images) depicting the Virgin Mary came to the Americas on Columbus’s first voyage, and prob
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8.15. Crucifix from La Isabela. Copper alloy and white metal. (Photo: James Quine.)
ably with the second expedition as well, although no examples have been excavated from La Isabela. Las Casas recounts that Columbus obliged a member of the Santa Maria’s crew to wear a silver image of the Virgin Mary around his neck because the sailor had said “some mischievous and derogatory things against our Holy Faith” (Las Casas I, LXXXVI; 1985, vol. 1:358). Upon his return to La Navidad in 1493, Columbus also convinced the Taíno cacique Guacanagarí to wear a silver image of Mary around his neck (Ferdinand Colón in Keen 1959:121). Many of the conquistadors were devotees of Mary and carried images of her constantly, attributing many of their victories—over the Taíno forces in the Cibao in 1495—to her intervention (see, for example, Didiez-Burgos 1971:29).
Death and Burial Apart from the church building itself and the few personal items with religious motifs discussed above, the only other material manifestation
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of religion at La Isabela is the cemetery. During the course of excavations by the University of Florence and the Museo del Hombre Dominicano prior to 1988, some twenty-five human burials were encountered in the vicinity of, but outside, the church (Chiarelli and Luna Calderón 1987; Guerrero and Ortega 1983; Luna Calderón 1986); see chapter 5, figure 5.1, for locations. The human remains are currently being studied at the Museo del Hombre Dominicano. In 1990, Erica Pia of the University of Florence uncovered the remains of at least forty additional individuals, of which some twenty-five were excavated. These were assessed by Rita Vargiu of the University of Rome (Vargiu 1990) and have been removed to the Museo del Hombre Dominicano where analysis is under way. Neither the archaeological nor the bioanthropological analyses of these remains have been completed or reported, and so the demographic characterization of the burial population—gender, race, age, and pathology—is not yet known. Chiarelli and Luna Calderón (1987: 206–09) report that among the burials excavated in 1983 was a Taíno woman with a newborn. They also identified a European buried facedown, suspected to have been one of the mutineers hanged by Columbus. In a group of four skeletons buried in the Christian fashion, a male and a female skeleton were thought to have been buried together in the same grave. Some general observations can be made about mortuary behavior at La Isabela. The extended burials are densely concentrated to the east of the church in an area of about forty meters by twenty meters (see chapter 5, figure 5.1). Within this area, there were at least eighty-five Christian burials (or portions of burials), shown in figure 8.16. Cruxent located at least fifteen additional burials on the south side of the church, but these were deeper, disarticulated, in the Taíno midden, and of uncertain origin. They were left unexcavated. Additional burials, as yet unreported, were located by the Spanish conservation team during its stabilization of the Columbus house. The Christian burials are extended and oriented facing east (that is, heads at the west end and feet at the east end), with their arms crossed on their chests. None was in a coffin and none was found in the church. They appear to have been buried unclothed or wrapped in shrouds. The graves are very shallow, initiating between twelve centimeters and thirty centimeters below the present ground surface (which could have been as much as eighty centimeters to one meter below the original ground surface). Although information about burial stratigraphy, sequences, cloth
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8.16. Excavation of extended burials in the La Isabela cemetery, 1990. (Photo: J. M. Cruxent.)
ing, and accompaniments awaits the report on the skeletal excavation and analysis, it appears from these preliminary observations that mortuary practice at La Isabela did not diverge from traditional, late medieval Catholic precepts (see, for example, Aries 1975). Death and burial were probably all too familiar to the residents of La Isabela and the members of its religious community. It is perhaps surprising, then, that fewer than one hundred burials were located, given the apparent high mortality from illness over the town’s four years of occupation. Nearly all of the area encompassed by the town walls has now been excavated, with no evidence for any other cemetery. After 1494, however, many deaths and burials probably occurred away from La Isabela.
Money and Commerce The majority of the settlers at La Isabela were on the royal payroll and were forbidden to engage in private commerce in America (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 2, for a discussion of the colony’s economic strictures and Columbus’s efforts to mitigate them). Columbus apparently had a supply of coins at La Isabela with which to pay salaries, although
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not all of the expedition members were paid in the Americas (Stahl 1995:90–92; Torres memorandum, 1494, in Parry and Keith 1984). Coins are among the most frequently found artifacts at La Isabela, despite the apparent absence of European commodities. One hundred and twelve fifteenth-century coins have been recovered from the site, many of them in a very fragmentary and eroded state. Most of them, however, are sufficiently intact to identify and have been catalogued by Alan Stahl of the American Numismatic Society (Stahl 1992, 1995). They are listed in table 8.6. Only five of the coins were of silver, and only one of these (a half real piece) is of Ferdinand and Isabela issue. Three other silver coins were issued during the reign of Henry IV of Castile (1454–1474), including two half reales and a one real piece (figures 8.17). A silver denaro from Sicily was also identified (figure 8.17). The remainder of the coins from the site are of billón (also known as vellón), an alloy of copper and a small amount of silver (Stahl 1995:196). Most of these were small denomination issues known as blancas, issued by Henry IV of Castile. These coins bear castles on one side and a lion rampant on the other, symbolizing the joined kingdoms of Castile and León (figure 8.17). The blancas from La Isabela came from many mints throughout Spain, but those of Avila and Seville dominate the assemblage (table 8.6). Stahl notes that “in the early years of Henry’s reign, a wide range of billón coins had been minted of widely varying weights and produced at poorly-regulated mints. Finally, in 1471, he introduced this relatively well-controlled issue, which appears to have driven all of the earlier billón coins out of circulation. This issue was so successful that Ferdinand and Isabela issued no billón coins in their own names for the first two decades of their reign; the only low-denomination coins circulating in Spain at the time of Columbus’s departures in 1492 and 1493 would have been these old issues of Henry IV . . . the predominance of coins of Henry IV confirms the early habitation of this site, and the lack of billón of Ferdinand and Isabela demonstrates its abandonment soon after 1497” (1992:4–5). The second most frequently occurring billón coin at La Isabela was the Portuguese ceutil, which bears the shield of the reigning monarch of Portugal on one side and a three-turreted castle on the other. After 1497, Spanish mints produced series of low-denomination billón coins bearing on one side the initials of Ferdinand and Isabela, along with
Ferdinand and Isabela Enrique IV Enrique IV Juan d’Aragon Enrique IV
½ real 1 real ½ real Denaro Blanca
2 blanca Seisén Ceitil Ceitil ½ blanca Minuto Soldo
Silver Silver Silver Silver Billón
Billón Billón Billón Billón Billón Billón Billón Unidentified Total
Identified by Alan Stahl (1992, 1995).
1471–1497 late 13th c. 1432–1481 1481–1495 1484–1512 15th c. 1412–1437
1474–1497 1454–1474 1454–1474 1458–1479 1471–1497
Date 1 1 2 1 87 21 3 7 2 8 23 13 10 1 1 6 1 1 1 1 5 109
Frequency
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Louis of Teck
Toledo Castile Castile Sicily Castile-León Avila Burgos Cuenca Coruña Segovia Seville Toledo ? ? Castile Portugal Portugal Navarre Genoa Aquileia
Origin
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Enrique IV ? Afonso V John II Catherine I and John II d’Albret
Reign Issue
Denomination
Material
8.6 Fifteenth-Century Coins Identified at La Isabela
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8.17. Coins from La Isabela. A, ceitil, Alfonso V of Portugal, diameter: 1.7 centimeters; B, blanca, Enrique IV of Castile, diameter: 2.17 centimeters; C, half real (silver), Enrique IV of Castile, diameter: 2 centimeters; D, half blanca, Navarre, diameter: 1.5 centimeters; E, half real (silver), Enrique IV, diameter: 2 centimeters; F, denaro, Sicily, diameter: 1.3 centimeters; G, minuto, Genoa, diameter: 1.1 centimeters. For additional information, see table 8.3. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
their yoke-and-arrows symbol, and the arms of Spain on the other side; however, these were not present at La Isabela (Stahl 1992, 1995). Other coins identified by Stahl include those shown in table 8.6. A curious, coinlike lead token was found at the site, shown in figure 8.18. It appears to have a pattern of castles similar to that found on the blancas on one side and a crowned head with the partial inscription of on the other. Las Casas reports that lead tokens were issued to Indians who satisfied the tribute requirement after 1495, although no known examples of these have been documented to date. The commercial life of the town is also reflected by the counting to
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8.18. Numismatic elements. A, coin weight, diameter: 1.5 centimeters, weight: 4.5 grams; B, cup weight, top, bottom, and side views; top diameter: 2 centimeters, height: 1 centimeter, weight: 14.2 grams; C, lead token with design of low-denomination Enrique IV vellón coins, diameter: 2.5 centimeters; D, Nuremberg counting token, or jetton, diameter: 2.9 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
kens and merchant weights from the site. Two counting tokens, or jettons, were found at La Isabela (figure 8.18), both in the southeastern part of the Poblado residential area. Jettons are round, made of nonprecious metal, and struck with a wide variety of designs that might represent the jetton’s maker, its intended user, religious motifs, city coats or arms, rulers, or other themes (Van Beek 1986).
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Counting tokens were used with a board or cloth with lines designated for various values—for example, 5, 10, 50, 100. Counting was done by placing tokens on a line of particular value (for example, two tokens on the “50” line and two on the “10” line would equal 120). Most examples of jettons, including those from La Isabela, were produced in Nuremberg, which was the center for jetton ( Rechenpfennig ) production from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. The system of calculating with numismatic jettons had developed in Europe by the end of the twelfth century and was used until the early sixteenth century, by which time it had been largely superseded by arithmetic systems of numeric calculation (Van Beek 1986:204). Weights associated with money and commerce were also present at La Isabela (figure 8.18). Because the intrinsic value of a colonial-era coin was based on its weight, a means to verify that weight was essential. Coin weights served this purpose and have been used for as long as coins have been minted (Kisch 1965:129–34). Each coin weight was made to correspond to the weight of a specific coin and was impressed with a design that was easily recognizable as representing that coin (usually including part of the coin’s motif or inscription). Easy identification was particularly important during times of widespread illiteracy and equally widespread use of coin weights by merchants (Kisch 1965:132). The coin weight from La Isabela weighs 4.5 grams and bears a shield with what appear to be two lions rampant. From the fifteenth century to the present day, brass nested weights (also known as cup weights) were used widely in the Spanish colonies and throughout Europe for a variety of weighing tasks ranging from gold to grain. Nested weight sets were made up of a series of graduated, cup-shaped weights that fitted into one another. The largest (outer) cup usually had a hinged lid that enclosed the nested set into a compact unit (figure 8.18). They were made in a wide selection of sizes depending on their intended purpose, with sets ranging in weight from just a few ounces to sixty-four pounds or more (Kisch 1965:126). The single example from La Isabela, shown in figure 8.18, weighs 14.5 grams and is 2.4 centimeters across at its top. These two weights, along with the two jettons and the coins, support the contention that a certain amount of commercial activity did take place at La Isabela. Furthermore, the distribution of coins and commercial items indicates that commerce was not restricted to the elite areas of the community but occurred in discrete concentrations through
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8.19. Distribution of numismatic elements at La Isabela. (Dot = coin, circle = weight or token.)
out the site. Figure 8.19 shows the distribution of numismatic elements across La Isabela.
Pastimes Given the desolation with which life at La Isabela was portrayed by its chroniclers, it is hard to imagine that—apart from gambling—leisure, entertainment, or cultural pursuits were significant aspects of life in the town. Nevertheless, a number of the expedition members, including hidalgos and some of those in religious orders, were literate and probably not unfamiliar with such cultured pursuits as reading and music. There were undoubtedly some books at La Isabela, even though printing with movable type was still a relatively new phenomenon and books were not yet common before 1500. As we discuss in chapter 7 of Columbus’s Outpost, Columbus was a book collector, and Bibles and other the
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8.20. Possible copper-alloy book fastener. Once gilded and enameled, 4 centimeters by 2.5 centimeters.
ological works were probably part of the priests’ and possibly other hidalgos’ furnishings. Books of the late fifteenth century were carefully and sturdily bound in leather, often with ornate metal hardware used to close the book and decorate the cover (see, for example, Sarriá Rueda 1994; Carrión Guítez 1994). Some of the copper-alloy ornamental inlay fragments shown in figure 8.10 could have adorned books as well as furniture, and a single once gilded and enameled hinge thought to have been from a book was recovered from the ravine refuse dump (figure 8.20).
Conclusion The lives of the majority of La Isabela’s colonists, while dominated by problems of food, health, disillusionment, and scarcity of women, were not dramatically different in a material sense than those of their contemporaries in Spain. Clothing, household furnishings, and domestic organization were typical of late fifteenth-century Iberia. Some kind of internal economy, possibly connected to gambling, developed, and there is no indication that religious life was altered from Spanish custom in any significant way. This characterization, however, is undoubtedly most appropriate to the non-elite residents of the town, who outnumbered the elite. The conditions of life were dramatically different for the hidalgo group, who had enjoyed a degree of luxury and ease in Spain that was not pos
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sible in La Isabela. The distinctions in social class that governed much of the life of the town could apparently not be sustained in the material aspects of domestic life, as there appears to be little significant difference between the elite residential areas (near the plaza and the Casa de Colón) and the non-elite areas (the Poblado) in patterns of personal possessions or household elements. Possible exceptions are the inverse proportions of bacines and lebrillos between the two areas, discussed above, which suggest greater access to both personal sanitation equipment and to servants by those living in the elite area. In any case, the shock of the difficult conditions at La Isabela may have been more dramatic to the hidalgo group, who had larger expectations—and who were able to write chronicles. As we suggest in Columbus’s Outpost, the profound hardships of La Isabela may have been to some extent an elite misery.
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9 Soldiers and Horsemen at La Isabela Although La Isabela was an essentially economic venture, defense was a paramount concern, and the military flavor of the settlement was socially and materially pronounced. The heritage of the reconquista and the large number of hidalgos and soldiers of fortune accompanying the expedition made this inevitable. Most of the men bore arms. The community—at least after the earliest months—boasted the full range of military technology available at the end of the fifteenth century, including firearms, artillery, crossbows, edged weapons, armor, pole arms, and horses. Arms, armor, and horses were not only essential for defense and aggression but also imbued with important social meaning in fifteenthcentury Spain. While knives and pole arms, for example, were used by all social classes at the end of the fifteenth century, swords and horses were symbols of status and authority, as they had been throughout the medieval period (see, for example, LaRocca 1989). We discuss this topic more fully in chapter 8 of Columbus’s Outpost.
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9.1. Crossbow elements from La Isabela. Copper-alloy trigger fragments and iron bolt heads. (Photo: James Quine.)
La Isabela was established at a time of rapid change in weapons technology, and the weaponry items from the site provide an unparalleled material expression of late fifteenth-century defensive technology. Fifteenth-century developments in construction and ignition systems enhanced the use of firearms as personal weapons and permitted them to make inroads into the dominant role then held by crossbows (Brown 1980:35–36; Lavin 1965:41–43). Archaeological evidence for both crossbows and firearms has been recovered at La Isabela, the former represented by iron bolt heads (quarrels) and fragments of what may have been bronze crossbow triggers (figure 9.1). Two kinds of bolt head occurred at La Isabela: an elongated, triangular-sectioned point and a shorter, pyramidal-sectioned point. The smaller, pyramidal-sectioned examples accounted for 60 percent of the intact arrow tips, although both kinds of bolt head are types used with military crossbows (PayneGalloway 1990:18).
Firearms Material evidence for firearms is considerably more common than for crossbows. There is a great deal of confusion and considerable controversy about the meaning of fifteenth-century terminology used for hand-held firearms, which included hacabuches and espingardas. Many mili
Barrel frag. Breech plug Cannon frag.
Guns/Artillery
Lance tip Scabbard tip Sword blade Pommel Hilt fragment Pike 2 2 21
10
9 1
1 2 4
1 1
3 1
2 3 12
2 35 1 9
2,496
2 76 4 4
1,408
3
3 18 1 7
3,520
Elite Res.
1
1
1 1
9 2 8
1,856
Iglesia
1
5
11
1
1
1 1
320
1,344
Laguna
1 11
704
Casa Col.
1
1 2
4
1
3
4
1 106
3,648
Pob. Cen.
1
1
1
2
5
1 64
3,200
Pob. Este
1
18
1,216
Pob. Sur
5 2 21
3 15 16 2 1 22
10 5 3
10 657 8 53
19,392
Total
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Edged Weapons
Armor Buckle Brigandine plt. Brigandine rivet Chain mail Crossbow/Firearm Bolt head Trigger Inlay
Armor
Alhóndiga
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Area in m2:
Playa
9.1 Military Items and Horse Equipment at La Isabela
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Bit Harness buckle Tack Bit ring Horseshoe Horseshoe nail Spur rowel Spur holder Subtotal horse
Horse-Related Items
783
163
42
4
8
1
1 5
1
13,630 258
2 66 1 1 165
4
8
2 6
41
7 2
Elite Resi.
6
2 4
397 32
26
1
1
1
Iglesia
1 31
21
2 7
16 124
29
1 1 3
Casa Col.
13
10 1 1
1
45
330
1
Laguna
5
2 3
935
128
1 1
3
1
1
494 59
1 1 86
7 1 1
Pob. Cent. Pob. Este
1 1 5
1 1
1
86
19
Pob. Sur
1 3 8 4 45 11 3 2 77
16,434 473
26 5 5 112 4 2 987
Total
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Lead frags. (g) Lead sprue (g)
Lead ball Iron ball Lead/iron ball Iron dado Stone ball Shot mold Subtotal Military
Shot
Alhóndiga
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Playa
9.1 Military Items and Horse Equipment at La Isabela (Continued)
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9.2. Varieties of guns represented at La Isabela. Top and center, bombardeta-type cannon; bottom, verso swivel gun. (Museo de la Atarazana, Santo Domingo.)
tary historians believe that these early firearms were simple smoothbore, muzzle-loading guns, either small hand cannon without lock mechanisms (figure 9.2) or lighter, hand-held guns, sometimes with primitive matchlock mechanisms (see Brown 1980:35–36; Karcheski 1990:6; Lavin 1965:41–43). At least one military historian has asserted that the espingardas brought by Columbus to La Isabela were muzzle-loading guns lit by a match but without a matchlock mechanism (Brown 1980:35–36). The term arquebus is also sometimes used by weapons scholars, referring to a smaller, hand-held, muzzle-loading weapon that probably had a snap or matchlock. This term, however, appears not to have been in general use by the Spaniards themselves until after about 1513 (Brown 1980:36; Karcheski 1990:5). Only one remnant of a hand-held gun from La Isabela can be confidently identified. A fragment of the breech end of a small bronze octagonal hacabuche was collected at La Isabela by John Goggin (figure 9.3). It was identified by Walter Karcheski of the Higgins Armory Museum, who notes that it is “the breech end of the hand firearm, probably a hacabuche. The overall form, the positioning of the touch hole with the pan on the side of the barrel, and the presence of barrel lugs all support a date in the late fifteenth/early sixteenth century” (Karcheski to Deagan, 28 April 1992). Karcheski also notes the similarity of the strap-work design on the gun fragment to that found on HispanoFlemish armor of the late fifteenth century.
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9.3. Bronze barrel fragment from a hacabuche firearm. The touch hole can be seen at the lower left corner of the piece.
The piece was also studied by late Harold Peterson, military historian for the U.S. National Park Service, who suggested that it was “a breech of a matchlock dating to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century . . . such internal evidence as the absence of a breechplug and the small size of the pan would indicate that date no matter where it came from. The pan is so small, in fact, that there is some possibility that this piece was made before the “tricker” lock was widely used and that it was fired by a direct manual operation of the serpentine. The brass barrel is quite unusual for a gun of that period and the incised decoration indicates that it was a piece of high quality. Because of the small size of the caliber and the general shape of the breech, it is also probably that this was a rather short and light gun” (Peterson to Goggin, 24 November 1952, Washington, D.C.). The barrel of this piece has been badly distorted by fire and explosion, but it appears to have an interior diameter of approximately 12.1 millimeters. Several fragments of iron tubes found at the site may also have been part of guns, but none was sufficiently complete to identify.
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9.4. Fragment of breech chamber from a bombardeta or falconeta light artillery piece. Interior diameter. 55–60 millimeters.
Artillery Fragments of artillery weapons were notably more common at La Isabela than evidence for hand or shoulder weapons, and all came from the alhóndiga. Fourteen fragments of iron field guns were constructed of horizontal iron bars welded together along their length and encircled at intervals by wide iron rings (figure 9.4). All were in extremely poor condition, but two of the fragments retained a small portion of tube intact, and a single iron breech plug survived. The plug is sixty-four millimeters in diameter at its top and seventy-one millimeters at its base (figure 9.5). One of the gun sections has been tentatively identified as the breech end of a light field gun (figure 9.4), probably the form known as a falconeta, culverin, or, in German, Feldschlange (Karcheski to Deagan, 22 April 1992, Higgins Armory Museum). In size these guns are also similar to the small, late fifteenth-century guns known as cañones de bombardeta (figure 9.2). Examples of these guns in the Museo Arqueólogico Nacional in Madrid have bore diameters of sixty-five millimeters (Rosario
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9.5. Iron breech plug. Diameter: 70 millimeters.
1980:251, 254). All of the direct evidence for larger artillery suggests that guns of sixty millimeters to sixty-five millimeters in bore diameter were used, although the only ammunition of this size from La Isabela was a stone projectile. A fragment of a simple iron tube with an interior diameter of just under forty millimeters may also have been from a light-caliber field gun, such as a verso.
Ammunition Metal and stone ball shot provides additional indirect evidence for the guns used at La Isabela (figures 9.6 and 9.7, tables 9.1 and 9.2). Solidlead ball shot was the most common form of ammunition at the site and was used in guns of several sizes. More than half of the measurable lead shot was between ten millimeters and fifteen millimeters in diameter, the approximate size of the bore of a hacabuche or espingarda. Such guns must have been the standard issue at La Isabela. They are also consistent with the portable muzzle-loading firearms—the arquebus and hacabuches—identified at the Molasses Reef wreck site of ca. 1500 in the Bahamas, excavated by Texas A and M University (Keith 1987; Simmons 1987). The Molasses Reef firearms and shot had bore diameters of about fourteen millimeters for the haquebuts and seven millimeters for the arquebuces (Keith 1987:221). A smaller number of balls from La Isabela were between seventeen millimeters and twenty-three millimeters in diameter (.43–.58 caliber), and one of the shot molds from the site (discussed below) produced five balls each sixteen millimeters in diameter. These may have been
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9.6. Shot varieties from La Isabela. Top left, lead, 35 millimeters; top right, stone, 25 millimeters; bottom left, lead, 16 millimeters; bottom center, iron, 27 millimeters; bottom right, iron dado (composite shot core), 13 millimeters. (Photo: James Quine.)
used in lighter mounted artillery, such as the smaller versos, or mounted swivel guns used commonly on late fifteenth-century Spanish ships (see Smith 1993:154; Vigon 1947, vol. 1). Another cluster of balls were between thirty millimeters and thirtyseven millimeters in diameter, and these included both lead balls and lead balls made with an iron core (figures 9.6 and 9.7). The composite lead-and-iron balls were known as bodoques and were fired by a lightcaliber field gun, such as a verso or a cerbatana (Vigon 1947, vol. 1:45). The balls were formed by casting lead (Simmons 1987) or wrapping lead (Keith 1987:218–19) around a roughly cube-shaped piece of iron measuring about two centimeters to a side. The cubes were apparently cut from iron-bar stock, and they are also known as “dice” (Rule 1983:163) or dados (Smith 1993:153-54). Composite balls were quite common on the Molasses Reef wreck and have also been recovered from mid-sixteenth-century Spanish and English shipwrecks (Arnold and Weddle 1978:250-51; Rule 1983:166). The examples of composite shot from La Isabela are slightly smaller
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9.2 Shot Varieties and Sizes from La Isabela Diam. in mm
Lead Shot
? 10 11 12 15 17 23 31 32 34 37.5 45 51.8 62 Total
11 1 4 3 1 3 1
Composite 2
Iron Shot
Stone Ball
3
2
1 1
1 2 1 1
26
3
5
1 1 4
Based on whole shot.
than similar examples recovered from Molasses Reef, where the most frequent size for the iron and lead balls was forty millimeters in diameter (Simmons 1987:30), and they were thought to have been ammunition for versos (Keith 1987:221; Simmons 1987). Various suggestions about the functions of the iron cores have been offered, including attempts to conserve lead; a design to cause the ball to break into fairly large segments and produce more damage on contact; and efforts to cause minimal damage to the gun barrel (see Keith 1987:218–20). A large number of the iron cores or dice used in these examples of composite shot were recovered in the vicinity of the alhóndiga, and it is likely that many of them were intended for use in that form as antipersonnel hail shot. Cast-iron guns from the Mary Rose shipwreck (ca. 1545) were found loaded with these dice when excavated (Rule 1983:163). Only two solid iron balls have been recovered from La Isabela, both in the size range appropriate for mounted guns like versos or falconetas (twenty-five millimeters to forty-five millimeters in diameter). Both lead balls and composite lead-and-iron balls were produced at La Isabela. Two stone shot molds have been recovered, one for a single forty-five-millimeter ball and another that could produce at least five sixteen-millimeter balls (figures 9.8 and 9.9). Large quantities of crude
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9.7. Composite shot, showing iron centers (dados) and outer lead ball. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
9.8. Stone shot mold for a single 45-millimeter ball. (Photo: James Quine.)
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9.9. Stone shot mold for five 16-millimeter balls. Intact width: 5 centimeters.
lead and lead sprue also testify to ammunition production at La Isabela. The molds and lead debitage are overwhelmingly concentrated in the vicinity of the alhóndiga, although it is clear that some production of lead balls took place in both the elite and non-elite residential areas of La Isabela (table 9.1). Evidence for the production of composite shot, however (principally the iron dados), came exclusively from inside and immediately adjacent to the alhóndiga.
Edged Weapons Relatively little direct evidence for edged weapons has been recovered from La Isabela, owing at least in part to the poor preservation of iron in the very saline soil of the site. The most frequently occurring artifacts related to edged weaponry are fragments of sword blades. Like the firearms, these blade fragments came exclusively from the alhóndiga. The best preserved of these is 1.2 centimeters thick, diamond-shaped in section, and hollow (figure 9.10). Other sword-related artifacts include deteriorated iron sword pommels (figures 9.11) and a fragment of a hilt (figure 9.12). The hilt, possibly from a dagger, appears to have an eared pommel and curved quillons. Swords, rapiers, and daggers were normally kept in scabbards of leather or fabric, and these were tipped with metal sheaths that were both utilitarian (to prevent the sword piercing the scabbard) and ornamental (figure 9.13). The distribution of the fourteen copper-alloy scab
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9.10. Iron sword-blade fragment. (Photo: James Quine.)
9.11. Possible iron dagger pommels. (Photo: James Quine.)
9.12. Dagger-hilt fragment (iron). Iron, maximum length 11.6 centimeters.
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9.13. Copper-alloy scabbard tips from La Isabela. (Photo: James Quine.)
9.14. Pole-arm tips.
bard tips from the site suggest that knives, daggers, or swords were owned by men in all sectors of the town (table 9.1). Pole arms were apparently also standard weapons at La Isabela. Three fragments of flat, lanceolate blades thought to have been from lances were recovered, as well as twenty-two cone-shaped iron points that were probably parts of pikes, javelins, halberds, or bills (figure 9.14).
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9.3 La Isabela Horseshoe Measurements (in Centimeters)
FS#
Height
39 39 135 135 135 703 30 30 30
11.0 11.5 11.0 11.0 10.0 11.0
* Taken ** Taken
Top Width Shoe*
Base Width Shoe**
Top Width Branch
Base Width Branch
8.5 8.2 8.0 8.0 6.5 8.0 8.5 8.5 10.0
6.5 6.5 6.2 4.5 5.0 6.2 -
3.5 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.2 1.2
from outer branch margin to outer branch margin at the top of the branches. from outer branch margin to outer branch margin at base of branches.
The tubular haft of a heavy pole arm retained the internal pin that held in place the wooden shaft (5.5 centimeters in diameter). Like other categories of weapons, the pole arms are concentrated in the vicinity of the alhóndiga (table 9.1).
Horse Equipment At least twenty horses arrived at La Isabela on the ships of the second voyage, and others were subsequently imported. The role of horses and horsemen at La Isabela (both defensively and in creating difficulties for Columbus) is detailed in chapter 8 of Columbus’s Outpost. The material remains from the horses and their riders included horseshoes, stirrups, spurs, bits, and other harness elements. Thirty-one nearly complete horseshoes were recorded, consistent in size and shape (figures 9.15 and 9.16). They were all U-shaped, with straight rather than curved branches. The most common size was eleven centimeters high and 8.5 centimeters wide at the top of the branches, tapering to 6.5 centimeters wide at the base of the branches. The complete horseshoes each had between six and eight nail holes, all square in section. It is possible that the corrosion present on all examples has obscured this attribute. Horseshoes were attached with several varieties of nails, shown in figure 9.15. Most of these were between one centimeter and two centimeters in height. The longer nails were ap
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9.15. Horseshoe and horseshoe nails. Length of horseshoe: 11.3 centimeters; length of lower-right nail: 4 centimeters.
9.16. Shapes of horseshoes from La Isabela.
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9.17. Items of horse tack. A–C, iron harness or bit rings; D, iron harness buckle; E, copper-alloy harness strap end; F, copper-alloy spur buckle with heel-plate portion. (Drawing: Pauline Kulstad.)
parently unused, as once the nails are pounded through the shoe and hoof, any overlap is normally pounded over and is soon worn down. Other horse-related artifacts include a star-shaped spur rowel, a copperalloy bit mouthpiece, iron buckles, iron and copper-alloy rings possibly serving as bridle hardware, and a portion of a copper-alloy spur holder (figure 9.17). No evidence for horse armor has been recovered. The two most intact pieces of horse equipage believed to have been used at La Isabela were not excavated during the current project but are part of the private collection of Rafael Cantisano, at present on display at the La Isabela site museum. These include a box-style bronze stirrup (figure 9.18) and an iron, Arabic-style prick spur (figure 9.19). These were typical of the Arabic-inspired, jineta-style riding equipage used by the Lanzas de Jinetas, the mounted members of the Santa Hermandad sent to La Isabela by Queen Isabela. Star-shaped, eight-pointed iron spur rowels were also present at the site, but in general the horse equipage from La Isabela indicates that the jineta style of riding and tack used by the escuderos was considerably more common that the a la brida style more typically used by knights. The Lanzas and their influence in La Isabela are considered in more detail in chapter 8 of Columbus’s Outpost.
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9.18. Box stirrup of the type used by the Lanzas de Jinetas. (Courtesy of Rafael Cantisano; photo: James Quine.)
9.19. Spur elements. Top, Arabic-style jineta prick spur used by the Lanzas de Jinetas; bottom, eight-pointed iron spur rowel more typical of the knightly a la brida style of riding. The strap lead at the lower left may have also been used in a horse harness. (Courtesy of Rafael Cantisano; photo: James Quine.)
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Armor Horsemen, foot soldiers, and hidalgos all wore armor in late fifteenthcentury La Isabela. Both chain mail and brigandine plate armor are widespread throughout the site, but no evidence for full body armor has yet been encountered. This is undoubtedly owing to a combination of poor preservation conditions, site disturbance, and careful guarding of these valuable armor pieces by their owners. Columbus requested in his 1494 letter to Ferdinand and Isabela that more and better arms, including coracas (breastplates or cuirasses), be sent: “Inasmuch as yesterday, in the inspection which was held, the people were found to be very deficient in arms, . . . it seems that it would be well that 200 cuirasses [coracas] and a hundred espingardas and a hundred crossbows should be ordered to be sent, for it is material of which we have much need, and from all these arms, those who are unarmed could be supplied” (in Parry and Keith 1984:184; see also Gil and Varela 1984:160). Whether or not Columbus’s request was honored, it is probable that some cuirasses and helmets were present during the life of La Isabela. The brigandine plates recovered archaeologically were rectangles of iron with copper rivets through them. The most intact plates were 2.5 centimeters wide and about five centimeters long. These were riveted in an overlapping pattern to the inside of a cotton or leather jerkin and were probably worn in combination with the more flexible chain mail. A wide variety of rivet types and patterns occurred among the brigandine plates at La Isabela, and some of these are shown in figures 9.20 and 9.21). Chain mail was considerably less common than brigandine armor at La Isabela, and it was probably used to a much more limited extent, where flexibility was needed. There is also some indication that it was more frequently used by elite members of the community, as mail constituted 21 percent of the armor in the elite residential area, 80 percent in the Casa de Colón, and just 8 percent in the Poblado. The links are generally about six millimeters to eight millimeters in diameter and are most commonly made of copper alloy, although some iron examples were recovered. They were made in round, elliptical, and half-round sections and were either riveted, butted, or clamped together (figure 9.22).
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9.20. Brigandine armor plates. (Photo: James Quine.)
9.21. Brigandine plate varieties at La Isabela. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
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9.22. Chain-mail varieties at La Isabela. A, riveted; B, butted. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
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Armor Fastenings All of the major categories of armor at the end of the fifteenth century (that is, brigantine plate armor, chain mail, and, to a much lesser extent, body plate armor) used small buckles and straps to fasten sections of the armor together, employing from five to ten or more buckles per set of armor. These buckles, which may also have functioned as clothing fasteners unrelated to armor, were discussed as a group in the previous chapter. Certain buckle varieties, however, are very similar to examples excavated in association with armor fragments from other military sites, such as sixteenth-century Spanish Santa Elena (South, Skowronek, and Johnson 1988:109–33). The buckles are quite consistent in size, and the majority of them are between two centimeters and 2.8 centimeters wide at their widest point. The most common form at La Isabela is the sub-round simple frame or the sub-round simple frame with attached plate (after the typology used by Egan and Pritchard 1991:52). They are flat and undecorated on the inner side and convex on the exterior; most have a single notch in the center of the frame to receive a pin, as shown in chapter 8, figure 8.3. One such buckle also has a molded scalloped decoration on the frame, and several still retain their pins and associated plates (figure 8.3). The strap tips shown in figure 8.4 could also have functioned as part of armor fastenings. As relations between the Spaniards and the Indians of Hispaniola (and among the Spaniards themselves) deteriorated, arms and armor probably became ever more important to the colonists. It is likely, however, that large quantities were used or lost away from La Isabela, at the sites in the interior of the island where most of the military engagements took place. In the town itself, the tempo of life was probably more tangibly influenced by the quest for sustenance, and by the farmers, artisans, and craftsmen who met the colony’s day-to-day needs. The material evidence for their work in considered in the next chapter.
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10 Artisans and Craftsmen at La Isabela Representatives of all the essential trades accompanied the expedition to La Isabela, including stonemasons, lime and charcoal burners, carpenters, builders, blacksmiths, metallurgists, potters, and shipbuilders. The importance of artisans and craftsmen to the daily life and sustenance of La Isabela is considered in more detail in chapter 10 of Columbus’s Outpost. Their work was essential, yet very little was recorded about them apart from the material objects they used and produced (table 10.1). Metal tools used for the various trades practiced at La Isabela are rare, in part because of the extremely poor conditions for iron preservation at the site, which include the unstable moisture content and high salinity of the beachside soils. Most of the tools were found in the alhóndiga area or in the laguna refuse-disposal area to the north of the site.
1,408
Area in m 2 :
18,486 3,805.3 13,630 204 67,535 64 37.7 584 12
2 14 104,374
18,796 43.2 93
3.8
70,454
41,083 9,652 783
2,496
Alhóndiga
6,254
71.3
78.2 3
7.2
5,547 126.3 421
3,520
Elite Resid.
10,006
58.5
50 8.3 6,114 171
5 3,528
54 16
1,856
Plaza/ Iglesia
1,601.2
29.3
7 21
248.01 1.3
1,211.7 37.9 45
704
Casa Colón
7,653.6
11
14.7
321.2
5
5,155.7 7 2,139
1,344
Laguna
3,740.4
24.3
1.8 455 344
18.1
495
2,402.2
3,648
Pob. Cent.
10 6,346
42 319 5,259
96
619.8
3,200
Pob. Este
623.9 787.8 13,408.6 223.8 60
80,371.9 13,682.5 17,732.6 204 86,584.01 138.8
236.1 24 24 3,650.1 214,078.01
2.5 1,107.3 30
107.6
2,338.7
Total
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Iron frag. Slag Lead a Mercury Galena Copper frag. Stone Chert Debitage Granite Quartz Slate Pigment Hematite Resin Total
Materials by Weight (in Grams) Metals and Metallurgy
Playa
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Town Zone:
10.1 Craft and Industrial-Activity Items at La Isabela
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Ax head Chisel Hammer Wedge Knife Hone Machete Harpoon Scale Chain link Copper loop Copper tube Strap loop Iron rod Iron strap Iron ring 1
2 1
14
1 1
9
1
2
1
Alhóndiga
1
1 1
1
4
Elite Resid.
1 1
1
Plaza/ Iglesia
1
12 1
Casa Colón
1
1
1
1
4
Laguna
2 1
1
19 2
Pob. Cent.
1 1
9
Pob. Este Total
2
1 1
1 1
9 4
2 2 1 1 1 15 1 1 2 1 16 2
3 2 2
58 8 2
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Tools/Implements
Crucible Copper sheet Iron sheet
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Materials by Count Metallurgy
Town Zone:
10.1 Craft and Industrial-Activity Items at La Isabela (Continued)
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119
66
leadsprue or lead ammunition.
1 110 1
5 33 2
Alhóndiga
78
15 50 5
Elite Resid.
7
4
Plaza/ Iglesia
40
3 21 2
Casa Colón 2 19 43 6 1 79
Laguna
113
8 77 3
Pob. Cent.
37
3 21 2
Pob. Este
2 1 8
30
Total 4 55 367 21 1 569
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a Excluding
UID Tool Copper object Iron object Lead object Carved stone emblem (?) Total
Unidentified Implement-Related Objects
Playa
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Town Zone:
10.1 Craft and Industrial-Activity Items at La Isabela (Continued)
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10.1 . Chest or cupboard cotter-pin hinge, possibly produced at La Isabela.
Blacksmithing Blacksmiths were essential to the isolated colony, producing and repairing needed tools, fasteners, and implements. Fragments of wroughtiron bars have been found in the vicinity of the alhóndiga, but iron slag or bloom fragments are noticeably absent. This suggests that the wrought iron and steel brought from Spain was the primary raw material used by the blacksmiths at La Isabela (appendix 1). No forges (which are essentially above-ground features) have been found archaeologically, no doubt because of the massive post-1500 disturbances to the alhóndiga, where most of the metallurgy-related activity took place (discussed in chapter 5 of Columbus’s Outpost). Smiths produced and repaired a variety of iron items needed for building construction, ship repair, furniture building, horse maintenance (for example, the hinge shown in figure 10.1). The most common products of the blacksmiths at La Isabela, however, were metal fasteners (tables 10.2 and 10.3; see also chapter 6, table 6.5). Using data derived from Eugene Lyon’s preliminary study of Spanish colonial nails (Lyon 1979), South, Skowronek, and Johnson have proposed a model for Spanish colonial nail typology based on the nail assemblage from Santa Elena, South Carolina (South, Skowronek, and Johnson 1988:33–47). Although Santa Elena is nearly a century later than La Isabela, the classification used there is useful as an organizing tool for the sizes of nails from La Isabela. A sixteenth-century engraving that illustrates some of those varieties is reproduced in figure 10.2.
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10.2. Spanish nail varieties of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. First six nails, “clavos para Carpinteros de blanca” (carpenter’s). Left to right, escora; media escora; alfaxía; barrote; media barrote; quarto de barrote. Second five nails, “clavos para carpinteros de ribera” (shipbuilder’s). Left to right, escoria; media escora; alfaxía; barrote; media barrote. (From Lyon 1979. Archivo General de Indias, Seville. Mapas y planos, ingenios y muestras, p. 34. Courtesy of the St. Augustine Foundation, Inc.)
The smallest nail type, the estoperole, is actually a tack with a very broad, flat head. These are thought to have been used originally to fasten grass matting to the inside of ship hulls (Lyon 1979). The largest spikes, the cintas and costadas, were used to join the major ship or building timbers. It has been suggested that nails less than twelve centimeters in length (that is, the alfaxía type or smaller) served as framing and finishing nails, as opposed to fasteners for major structural elements (Willis 1984:99–102). The largest spikes recorded at La Isabela fall into the costada or media-costada class. They were recovered in the playa zone and were probably used in ship construction or repair (see below). The specific functions of nails are thought to be reflected in part by the shape of their heads. At least seven head treatments are represented among the nails
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10.2 Sixteenth-Century Spanish Fastener Varieties and Sizes (in Centimeters) Fastener Variety
Joiner’s Nails
Estoperole (broad-headed tack) Media tillado Tillado (or quarto de barrote) Media barrote Barrote Alfaxía Media escora Escora Escora mayor Medio costado Costado Costado mayor Media cinta Cinta mayor Encolamiento Encolamiento mayor
1.5–3.5 2.0–3.0 3.0–4.0 4.0–5.0 5.0–6.3 6.3–9.0 9.0–13.5 13.5–18.5 18.5–23.0 23.0–28.0 28.0–33.0 33.0–38.0 38.0–43.0 43.0–48.0 53.0–61.0 > 61.0
Ship’s Carpenter Nails
5.7–7.3 7.3–9.0 9.0–12.5 12.5–16.8 16.8–20.4 20.4–25.5 25.5–30.5 30.5–35.5 35.5–40.5 40.5–45.5 45.5–50.5 50.5–55.5 > 61.0
After South, Skowronek, and Johnson 1988:37, based on Lyon 1979.
from La Isabela, shown in figure 10.3 (their distributions through the town are shown in chapter 6, table 6.5). The most common nail variety at La Isabela was the T-head shape (77.3 percent), with flat, roughly circular or squarish heads extending equally around the shank (forming a T in cross section). These are typically used for joining. Headless nails were the second most common variety. These are used most often for casing, trimming, and sometimes flooring, where it is undesirable to have the nail head protruding from whatever surface is being worked. Nails with L-shaped heads were also used in flooring, and the majority of both types were concentrated in the alhóndiga, suggesting that this structure may have had a wooden floor (see chapter 6). Other fastener-head varieties were much less common and probably had specialized functions. The faceted heads were apparently intended to be visible. About half of them came from the Casa de Colón and iglesia areas, suggesting that they may have served a decorative role on elite doors or gates. The bolt-head nails and the cube-head nails are thought to have been associated with ship construction and repair.
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10.3. Varieties of nails at La Isabela. A, headless nail; B–D, T-headed nails; E–F, cube-headed nails, probably used in shipbuilding; G, split cube-headed nail; H, headless nail with faceted end; I–J, nails with two-tiered heads; K, facetedhead nail; L, estoperole (broad-headed tack); M, anvil-head horseshoe nails; N–O, small estoperole; P, carpenter’s T-headed nail; Q, small cube-headed nail; R, L-headed nail; S, headless finishing nail. (Drawing: Peter Pilot.)
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10.4. Iron ax head.
Four of the nails in the sample are bent, but none has the right-angle bend usually associated with clinching. Bending of nails is most common when they are hammered through boards, with the protruding part of the nail at the back of the board hammered over so that it is flush with the board. The distance from the nail head to the start of the bend (taken on the inside of the bend) provides a rough assessment of the thickness of the board through which the nail was hammered (see South, Skowronek, and Johnson 1988:41–42; Simmons and Turley 1980: 150–51). The low incidence of bent nails suggests that boards were not used widely at La Isabela, and that the nails were used most commonly for joining frame elements. All four of the bent nails in the sample were bent at 1.5 centimeters below the nail head.
Woodworking Carpentry and shipbuilding (discussed below) were both essential to the colony. Unfortunately, few tools related to these crafts have survived. Tools associated with woodworking include the head of an iron ax (figure 10.4), fragments of a chisel or router, a hammer, and a measuring-scale fragment (table 10.1, figures 10.5 and 10.6). Other items, such as fragments of knife blades, iron straps, and chain links, may also have been used by carpenters and woodworkers.
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10.5. Iron tools and implements from La Isabela. Top, wedge fragment, possible tool haft fragment; second row, possible caulking tool, iron staple; third row, slide bolt or bar, router, unidentified implement; bottom, chisel. (Photo: James Quine.)
10.6. Iron router and iron punch or sail needle. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
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Shipbuilding Ships were the only lifeline between La Isabela and the rest of the world, and keeping them in good order was of utmost concern. Columbus’s first request for supplies included materials needed for ship maintenance, including tar, pintels and gudgeons for rudders, compasses, mariner’s glasses, rigging of all kinds, sails, anchors, oakum, and alcohol for varnish (appendix 1). Even the most meticulous attention, however, could not prevent hurricane damage. The hurricane of June 1495 sank three of the four ships at anchor in front of La Isabela—probably the San Juan, Cardera, and Gallega (Morison 1942:490–91).The shipwrights set about constructing two caravels modeled after the single surviving ship (the Niña), using the salvaged remains of those that sank. The first ship ever built in the Americas was named the Santa Cruz but was generally called the India by her seamen (Las Casas I, CIII; 1985, vol. 1:409; Martyr in Parry and Keith 1984:211). Shipbuilding and repairs at La Isabela were done at the asilledero (shipyard), which was almost certainly located in the playa area of the site (Town Zone 1), immediately to the northwest of the alhóndiga. Although filled with sand today as a result of building the Carretera 19 de Junio, this area was an estuarine lagoon when La Isabela was occupied by the Spaniards. Excavations in the playa area produced the greatest density of metal items, nails, and tools found at La Isabela, and many of these were undoubtedly used in ship construction and repair. Shipbuilding is an extremely complex and highly specialized process, and the techniques used in late fifteenth-century Spain have been discussed by a number of scholars; they have been usefully synthesized in English by Roger Smith (1993:50–93). The processes of laying the foundation, framing, reinforcing, planking, and sealing the hull all required special kinds of woodworking tools and fasteners (see Smith 1993:79). The materials recovered from the nearly contemporary Molasses Reef wreck (Keith 1987) and the slightly later Emmanuel Point wreck (Smith et al. 1995) illustrate the number and variety of fasteners required in a ship of the period. More than one thousand iron fasteners were excavated at the Molasses Reef site, representing more than a dozen categories ranging from tiny tacks to immense forelock bolts of nearly half a meter in length (Keith 1987:105–15). Analysis of the fasteners from these Spanish shipwrecks suggests that although carpentry
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10.7. Possible ship-construction fasteners. Left to right, peened head spike, forelock bolt, drift pin. (Drawing: Peter Pilot.)
and ship-construction nails had the same nomenclature and size distinctions, those used in carpentry joining had flatter heads than those used in ship construction (Smith et al. 1995:58–59). A few specialized shipbuilding elements are present among the materials from the asilledero (shipyard) and playa area of La Isabela, in
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cluding what may have been forelock bolts, drift pins, and peened head spikes, and possibly a caulking tool (figure 10.7; see also figure 10.5). Some of the lead sheet fragments may also have been used in patching or protecting portions of ship hulls. Most of the items excavated from the asilledero-playa area, however, are fragmentary and have deteriorated badly after being buried and periodically inundated with salt water over the past five centuries.
Metallurgy The Spaniards at La Isabela introduced European metallurgical technology to America. Quantities of iron, steel, lead, and quicksilver were included in the 1494 list of supplies to be sent to La Isabela (in Parry and Keith 1984:186; appendix 1), and the archaeological evidence indicates that these were the raw materials used in a series of other metallurgical activities. Such activities included assaying and smelting precious metals, ironworking, and extracting and working lead. Metalworking at La Isabela took place at the north end of the alhóndiga, where quantities of ore, slag, scrap iron, and lead were concentrated. This location would have been convenient both to the shipyard and the alhóndiga, providing accessibility as well as control over the valuable metals and ores. Preliminary analysis of metal, ore, and slag samples from the alhóndiga by David Killick of the University of Arizona has identified several varieties of ore and slag that support the suggestion that lead smelting and ironworking activities took place in that part of the site. These studies are ongoing (Killick to Deagan, 6 July 2001, Tuscon, Arizona). The primary motive and the continual driving force of the colony was the quest for gold, and the materials for gold smelting found at La Isabela are particularly evocative. Most of the gold recovered by the Spaniards (usually via the Taíno Indians) was placer gold—that is, gold released from the primary veins by weathering and transported by water to sand or gravel beds where it forms nuggets. Like all unrefined native gold, placer nuggets are actually a natural alloy known in ancient times as electrum, which contains between 5 percent and 50 percent silver (Craddock 1995:110–11). To verify the purity and weight of gold, it was necessary to refine it by separating the silver from the electrum alloy. This could be done by cementation, whereby the silver was drawn off the metal alloy by combining and heating it with a chloride or sulfate
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flux (such as lead sulfide, or galena), leaving the gold behind. Or the electrum could be refined by amalgamation, in which the crushed electrum ore was mixed with water and mercury and agitated. The mercurygold amalgam would sink, and other, lighter particles would wash away to be captured for other uses (in a manner not unlike modern archaeological flotation methods). The remaining mercury-gold amalgam would be placed in porous bags of leather or cloth, from which the mercury would be distilled and drip out into a container, leaving the gold dust in the bag (for a sixteenth-century description of this process see Hoover and Hoover 1950:297–99). Two hundred and four grams of liquid mercury were recovered from deposits inside the alhóndiga, all from a single excavation unit along the center of the west wall. This area must have been either a storage location for mercury or possibly part of a metallurgical complex where the amalgamation process took place. Columbus clearly perceived a need for miners and metal extractors familiar with mercury, and one of his earliest requests for personnel specified “miners from those who are in Almadén” (Parry and Keith 1984:187). Extensive deposits of cinnabar—mercury’s ore—occur near Almadén, the major center for mercury production in Spain. There is no evidence that mercury was distilled from cinnabar at La Isabela. Neither cinnabar nor evidence of the iron or ceramic retorts in which it was distilled has been recovered (see Diderot 1959:plate 136; Hoover and Hoover 1950:427–32). Mercury was regularly shipped to the Spanish colonies throughout the colonial era and has been recovered from Spanish shipwrecks of the sixteenth century (see Smith et al. 1995:117–18) through the eighteenth century (see, for example, Borrell 1983). The quicksilver wrecks—the Tolosá and Guadalupe—which went down off the north coast of the Dominican Republic in 1724 were carrying large loads of mercury. The mercury on those ships was packed, fifty pounds at a time, into sheepskin bags. The bags were tightly secured, then packed into small wooden casks. Three casks at a time were placed in large wooden boxes and secured by cloth webbing. It was noted that the quicksilver was the last thing to be loaded, because it rapidly corroded the bags and boxes in which it was packed (Borrell 1983:23). This may well have happened in the case of the mercury stored at the alhóndiga of La Isabela. After amalgamation and refining, the resulting gold (or silver) was placed in crucibles and melted in an oven. The crucibles recovered at La
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10.8. Assaying crucible. (Photo: James Quine.)
Isabela are small triangular cupels of an extremely hard, metallic-gray ceramic composition, measuring from three centimeters to five centimeters in height (figure 10.8). These small crucibles are nearly identical to those illustrated in Vannoccio Biringuccio’s Pirotechnica (pre-1540) and Georgius Agricola’s De re metallica (1555), where they are identified as being used to melt and assay gold (Smith and Gnudi 1990:291– 92,137–40; Hoover and Hoover 1950:229). The distribution of these crucibles throughout the town site suggests that this final stage of production may have been done largely by individuals. Of the fifty-eight crucibles found at the site, fifty-three came from residential areas. None was recovered from either the alhóndiga or the playa area, suggesting that at least some of the hearths excavated in the Poblado residential zones were used as cupeling hearths (that is, for refining metals in a crucible in or over a fire). These hearths and crucibles may hold a clue to the extreme scarcity of faunal evidence for the Spaniards’ food at La Isabela (see chapter 7). Sixteenth-century metallurgical treatises (Smith and Gnudi 1990:137; Hoover and Hoover 1950:230) specify that crucibles for melting and assaying gold and silver should be made from animal-bone ash (see also Craddock 1995: 228–30). It is not inconceivable that the residents of La Isabela systematically reduced bone refuse to ash that could be used in the preparation of crucibles and cupels.
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10.9. Subterranean metal-working furnace or forge area, after consolidation.
It is also possible that larger quantities of gold, presumably the portions for Columbus and the monarchs, may have been refined at the alhóndiga through a process of cementation. As we noted above, silver and other metals could be drawn from crushed electrum or gold ore by combining and heating it with a chloride or sulfate flux, which left the gold behind. The base of what was probably a metallurgical hearth was located just outside the alhóndiga’s north end, and more than eightyfive kilograms of galena (lead ore) were found in the four excavation units adjacent to the hearth, compared to only two kilograms in the rest of the site combined (table 10.1). The galena could have been used in the cementation process and would have provided the desirable by-products of lead and silver (which could be recovered by resmelting the nongold residue from the cementation process). Only the below-ground portion of the furnace has survived, and so it is not possible to know what type of construction it featured (for a discussion of various metallurgy furnace types see Craddock 1995: 167–203). Its remains consist of a large, roughly oval depression in the bedrock, in which the rock lining has been heavily burned and heat-altered, forming slag (figures 10.9 and 10.10). At one edge of the pit a smaller, circular hole had been excavated and lined with rock, creating a sloping, fluelike feature extending from the ground surface into the larger pit. This was probably the entry for a tuyere (a nozzle or pipe that introduces air into the furnace) or bellows (figure 10.11).
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10.10. Metal furnace, plan view and cross section.
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10.11. Semi-subterranean smelting furnace design possibly similar to that used at La Isabela. A, ore; B, air blast through tuyere and bellows; C, soil matrix. (Drawing: Pauline Kulstad after Cotter 1959:12).
10.12. Raw materials and by-products of lead working.
The configuration of the pit is consistent with that of a smelting furnace used to reduce metal from ore (see, for example, Cotter 1957:12; Schmidt 1997:111; Agricola in Hoover and Hoover 1950:276). It could also have been used as a cupellation furnace to melt larger amounts of refined gold or lead in large crucibles or cupels, although no such evi
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10.13. Misfired loza común “kiln waster” from Tamarindo.
dence has been recovered archaeologically. The large amounts of lead ore and the relative absence of iron slag or bloom around the furnace suggest that it was not used to smelt iron but was used instead for a smelting process involving lead sulfite, in spite of the potentially noxious and even poisonous fumes that would have been expelled during firing. Lead was important both for making ammunition (see chapter 9) and as sheathing on ship hulls to protect them against corrosion and terredo worms (figure 10.12 shows a variety of raw materials and lead byproducts recovered from the vicinity of the alhóndiga). It should be noted that although lead sprue from shot making was concentrated most densely in the alhóndiga, it was also consistently found in smaller quantities in all areas of the site. The residents of La Isabela were clearly practicing rudimentary metalworking (such as gold assaying and shot making) at their homes.
Ceramic Production The discovery of a late fifteenth-century Spanish pottery kiln at Tamarindo, along with examples of its products, demonstrated conclusively that the production of wheel-thrown pottery was introduced to
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10.14. Mortero rim, showing thumb-and-fingerpinching technique used to form the pouring lip. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
America at La Isabela. There is little doubt that the kiln was used to produce pottery (rather than brick or tile). Waster sherds were recovered from inside the kiln itself, and wasters were abundant in the area surrounding the kiln (figure 10.13). Other sherds, of the kind shown in figure 10.14, provide information on potting techniques. Few teja or ladrillo sherds were recovered near the kiln, however. (Chapter 3 details the excavation data from Tamarindo, where the kiln and surrounding areas were excavated by Cruxent in 1990.) It is almost certain that other kilns for the production of ladrillos and tejas (and perhaps ceramics as well) remain to be found. Only the subterranean walls of the lower firing chamber of the kiln survived, but its form is characteristic of simple updraft kilns used by traditional potters throughout medieval Spain and other parts of the Islamic world, shown in figure 10.15 (Córdoba de la Llave 1990:330; Hassan and Hill 1986:165–66; González Martí 1944, vol. 1:16–18); Lister and
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10.15. Moorish-influenced updraft kiln types used in late medieval Spain, similar to the kiln at La Isabela. Top, Córdoba (after Córdoba de la Llave 1990:330); center and bottom, Seville (after Lister and Lister 1989:52).
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10.16. Base of kiln excavated by Cruxent at Tamarindo.
10.17. Cross section of kiln excavated by Cruxent at Tamarindo.
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Lister 1987:52–53; Myers 1989:86–97; Musty 1974:44–45; Rice 1987: 160–62). The walls of the kiln were constructed of packed mud (adobe) mixed with broken brick and tile and were between forty centimeters and fifty centimeters thick (figures 10.16 and 10.17). The lower firing chamber was roughly circular and approximately 2.1 meters across at its base. On one side of the chamber a narrow, necklike opening extended outward to form the firing box. The interior surfaces of the firing-box extension were vitrified. The Tamarindo kiln is at the lower end of size ranges for updraft kilns of the period, which were from about two meters to five meters at their widest and some three meters tall (Lister and Lister 1987:52; see also discussion by González Martí 1944, vol. 1:16–20). No evidence for a floor (on which pots were stacked for firing) between the upper and firing chambers remained, and Cruxent suggests that pots were placed on columns of ladrillos built up from the base of the chamber. Unfortunately, no fragments of kiln furniture, such as cockspurs, saggars, saggar pins, or the rolled bars widely used by Muslim potters, were recovered at Tamarindo. The products of the kiln found around it, inside it, and on the site at El Castillo are all unglazed, wheel-thrown pots in typical late medieval Spanish shapes (described and illustrated in chapter 7). No evidence for glazed pottery production has been documented, and analyses of lead glazes indicate Old World origins for all the samples (Myers et al. 1992; appendix 5). So far only the kiln itself and adjacent waster and charcoal concentrations have been delineated at Tamarindo, but other features related to pottery production were undoubtedly present. Medieval Spanish and Islamic pottery workshops were designed to organize the many complex tasks involved in making ceramics. The most tedious of these involved preparation of the clay, which had to be excavated, then crushed, sieved, placed in a pit or tank, and soaked. The clay was kneaded while soaking, often with the feet of the workmen, to allow extraneous inclusions to settle. The resulting semiliquid clay was spread out and allowed to dry, after which is was cut into blocks and stored in a cool dark place to increase its plasticity, or ripen. Only then was it ready to be thrown on the wheel (for a detailed discussion of the technical processes of ceramic preparation in medieval Spain see González Martí 1944, vol. 1:15–33). Most potter’s wheels at the end of the fifteenth century were kick wheels, some of which were pit wheels. In these the wheel shaft was
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10.18. Carved stone emblem. Diameter: 5.8 centimeters, thickness: 1.8 centimeters. (Drawing: Merald Clark.)
placed in a pit of two feet to 2.5 feet deep, with the wheel itself protruding above the ground. The potter sat on the edge of the pit to work the pots. No evidence for such a pit, which would have left an unmistakable archaeological signature, was found in the excavation of Tamarindo. Either above-ground wheels were used or the throwing area was located in an as yet unexcavated part of the site. Once thrown, the pots were stored in a drying shed for up to several months to remove excess moisture prior to firing. Ethnographic and historical studies of pottery production for this kind of kiln at this period suggest that a kiln of this size (about two
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meters in base diameter) had a firing capacity of as many as one thousand pots, with an average of 85 percent of the kiln load surviving the firing in a usable form (Myers 1989:88). If the Tamarindo kiln approached this norm, it could theoretically have produced two thousand pots (ten for each household in the city) in just three firings. Although the productivity was probably not this high, given the demands of securing fuel and clay in the face of illness and hunger, the high potential output helps explain the large number of unglazed pottery vessels recovered from the site and makes it possible that this may have been the only pottery kiln at La Isabela. There were, however, almost certainly other kilns for production of tejas and ladrillos, either at Las Coles or elsewhere. These remain to be discovered.
Stone Carving Masons and stonecutters were central to Columbus’s plan for building his city, and examples of their architectural work are shown in chapter 6 (figures 6.14 and 6.30). A smaller, but nevertheless evocative, piece of ornamental stone carving was found in the ravine refuse area. This was a round, flat-based piece of limestone, with a design carved into the convex top surface. It portrays a castle with three turrets, the symbol of Castile (figure 10.18). This appealing piece of craftsmanship may have been intended as architectural embellishment, or perhaps simply as a pastime for a homesick Spaniard. By early 1498, the artisans, craftspeople, and soldiers of La Isabela had relocated to Santo Domingo, and their kilns, forges, and waterwheels were abandoned. The remains left behind at La Isabela reflected not only the hopeful design for a New Iberia but also the collapse of that project and the expectations upon which it was based. We consider the impact this failed project had on the early development of EuroAmerican society in the next chapter.
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11 Aftermath and Transformation In our Columbus’s Outpost, we argue that the alterations to the original colonial design represented by La Isabela were largely provoked by the colonists themselves rather than by their political leaders. We suggest that the effects of this local, non-elite agency were central to the transformation of Spain in America, and ultimately to the emergence of a new, culturally multifaceted criollo society. Because traditional documentary sources shed very little light on the local experience of nonelite colonists, the transformation of the Isabeline plan is seen most vividly in the archaeological records of households and local settings in La Isabela and the earliest Spanish settlements that succeeded it. The details of social, economic, demographic, and ideological changes in Hispaniola between 1498 and 1550 are documented in chapter 10 of Columbus’s Outpost. In brief, economy and labor were central to these changes, as native Caribbean peoples under Spanish domination declined in numbers and were replaced as a labor source by enslaved Africans. Demographic change was also impelled by intermarriage among Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans, leading in turn to the generation of new social, political, and ideological orders. There
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was a new kind of social sensibility for the Spanish colonists, one that tried to deny class privilege by encouraging even the basest-born Spaniards to claim land and Indian labor in the manner of hidalgos. This was first seen among Roldán and his followers (the roldanistas), who were mostly common soldiers, farmers, and artisans but who nevertheless successfully rejected demands of obedience from their Spanish leaders and lived as a separate polity in Indian communities with Indian allies. Although they doubtless abused and exploited their Indian hosts (and particularly their hostesses) to some extent, they did establish a lifestyle that emphasized accommodation and incorporation of new American elements and circumstances. This pattern was assumed by subsequent colonists and persisted in some form or another throughout the colonial period. The details of this process can be seen best (and perhaps only) in the archaeological record, and we hope to document the process more fully in the following discussion by comparing the results of archaeology at La Isabela with those at its successor towns. Of the thirteen original Spanish towns established and occupied in Hispaniola after the demise of La Isabela, two (Concepción de la Vega and Puerto Real) have been excavated and reported in a manner consistent with that of La Isabela and thus provide appropriate comparative samples. Santo Domingo has also been extensively excavated archaeologically, but its five centuries of urban development and its densely settled population of nearly two million people have severely compromised the sixteenth-century deposits (for discussions of archaeology in Santo Domingo see Council 1976; García Arévalo 1978; Olsen, Pérez Montás, and Prieto, eds., 1998; Ortega 1982; Ortega and Cruxent 1976; Ortega and Fondeur 1978a, 1979; and Veloz Maggiolo and Ortega 1992). Concepción de la Vega, in the Cibao valley, was first established as a fort in 1496 and grew rapidly as a gold-mining center after 1502. Concepción was a gold-rush boom town, flourishing through the productive gold mines and the viable Taíno population in the early part of the century, then declining until its destruction by an earthquake and subsequent abandonment in 1562. Puerto Real was an isolated cattle-ranching center in northwestern Hispaniola, founded in 1503 to subdue that part of the island and enduring as a center of contraband trade and hide production until 1578 (figure 11.1). Puerto Real’s peak of prosperity seems to have emerged somewhat later than that of Concepción, as cattle ranching and contraband trade stabilized on the frontier after the end of the gold rush. Puerto Real persisted as a town past the time
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11.1. Towns in Hispaniola, ca. 1503.
when the Taínos and other Caribbean peoples had largely been annihilated as self-sustaining, traditional societies, and the Spanish population of Puerto Real relied primarily on African rather than Indian labor. The towns’ respective archaeological records clearly reflect these differences in economy and labor, but more important, the records reveal some of the otherwise undocumented social and material adjustments made as part of the colonists’ coping strategies.
Concepción de la Vega Less than two years after the founding of La Isabela, Columbus established the fortress of Concepción in the Cibao valley near present-day La Vega, at the town of Guaricano, governed by the Taíno cacique, Guarionex. Detailed historical information about Concepción de la Vega during the sixteenth century can be found in Cohen 1997; Concepción 1981; Moya Pons 1971, 1987; and Woods 1999; the following summary is drawn largely from these sources. Guarionex agreed to accept the demands for tribute imposed by Columbus after his defeat of the allied Taíno chiefs in March 1495 (detailed in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 4). Guarionex also accepted the Catalonian Hieronymite friar Ramón Pané, who was assigned by Columbus to live among Guarionex’s people and learn about their spiritual life (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 3; Arrom 1989, 1999; Pané 1974). By 1498, however, the fort had been moved a league away from Guaricano be
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cause of increasing resistance to Spanish presence on the part of Guarionex’s people. A town, known as Concepción de la Vega, was soon established nearby. The original fort of Concepción (or the fort relocated in 1496 or 1497) was built of tapia (rammed earth) and lasted for more than a decade. “After the said fort of Isabela, the best was that of Concepción de la Vega, which was of tapia with its battlements [almenas] and good workmanship, which lasted for many years, until the year 1512, if I remember it; all the rest had fallen many years before, and there wasn’t a trace of them, for they were burned by the Indians in the cruel wars that they were making against them” (Las Casas I, CX; 1985, vol. 1:430). Circumstances in Concepción (as in all of Hispaniola) were dramatically altered after 1502, when Nicolás de Ovando arrived with 2,500 new Spanish settlers (only some three hundred Spaniards were present in the colony when he arrived). Ovando implemented formal imperial controls through an ambitious project to subdue and settle the island (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 10; Moya Pons 1987; Sauer 1966). Large numbers of the newcomers went to the Cibao in search of gold, and Concepción quickly developed into America’s first boom town. The gold attracted thousands of Spanish settlers to Hispaniola, and Concepción grew over the course of the first decades of the sixteenth century into the colony’s largest city, rivaling the official capital of Santo Domingo in economic, political, and religious importance. The brick fort whose ruins are still evident on the site of Concepción today (figure 11.2) was probably built between 1512, when the Spanish Crown mandated that a fort like Santo Domingo’s should be built at Concepción to replace the town’s deteriorating fort, and 1525, when a witness described the battlemented fort at Concepción (see Palm 1955, vol. 1:54–55). It is thought that the brick cathedral and monastery at Concepción were built between 1525 and 1528, almost certainly replacing earlier wood and thatch structures (Palm 1955, vol. 2:22–23). At its peak, the town boasted, in addition to the fort, one of the colony’s two cathedrals, one of the colony’s two gold foundries, a hospital, a Franciscan monastery, an aqueduct, and possibly as many as a thousand Spanish and Indian residents. Sugar was produced for the first time in the Americas by residents of Concepción in 1506. Bartolomé de Las Casas was ordained at Concepción, and Fray Antonio Montesinos gave his famous sermon decrying the Spaniards’ treatment of the Indians from the pulpit of the town’s cathedral in 1511.
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11.2. Fortaleza of Concepción de la Vega, north tower.
The repartimiento (distribution of Indian labor to Spanish landholders) of 1514 lists forty-three encomenderos (landholding citizens) in Concepción (Arranz Márquez 1991:589–98). Of these, nineteen were married—ten to Indian women and nine to Spanish women. These encomenderos were assigned 2,450 Indian laborers through forty-seven caciques (five of whom were women chiefs). After the repartimiento of 1514, however, the town’s circumstances were reduced. A visitor in 1517 noted that “this was formerly a city of fifty householders, of whom forty kept horses and would ride out as elegant and well-caparisoned as one might from Salamanca or any populous city in Spain . . . After this repartimiento there are only about twenty-eight householders and ten horses. Similarly, in other settlements they have been reduced to collections of hovels and shepherd’s huts” (Alonso de Zuazo to Guillaume de Croy, Sieur de Chievres [1517], in Parry and Keith 1984:274). The city continued to decline as the gold mines and the Indian population were depleted, and colonists left to seek their fortune in New Spain. After the destructive earthquake of 1562, the town was relocated to the present site of La Vega on the banks of the Camú River. The ruins of old Concepción de la Vega lay buried and largely forgotten over the next three centuries, except for occasional visits by treasure hunters and archaeologists. In 1976, however, the Dirección Nacional de Parques of the Dominican Republic () implemented an archaeological program
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Si i hT S Th Di ib i
at Concepción de la Vega, intended to bring wider public visibility to the site. The archaeologists excavated the central part of the town, near the fort, between 1976 and 1994, uncovering the remains of the brick fortress’s medieval-style tower (complete with openings for shooting crossbows), a metal foundry, the plaza de armas, house foundations, and an aqueduct that carried water from the hills into the center of town. Excavation of the monastery (located five hundred meters from the fortaleza) was carried out in 1977 and 1978, although no report of those excavations has been located. From 1996 to 1999 University of Florida archaeologists mapped and surveyed the site and conducted a systematic subsurface test program designed to delineate the boundaries and internal organization of the town. The results of this survey (reported in Cohen 1997 and Woods 1999) revealed that the maximum town boundaries measured approximately four hundred meters north-south and 640 meters east-west (figure 11.3). With an area of more than 250,000 square meters, it would have been the largest Spanish city in the New World until the 1520s (table 11.2). The orientations of the stone foundations of the fortaleza, cathe-
f A if
11.3. Site basemap, Concepción de la Vega. (After Woods 1999.)
i Hi
i l
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S
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3,397 10,444 70,567 84,408 77 14 3,361 5,903 1,318 94 93 54 128
Majolica Lead-glazed wares Unglazed wares Total European ceramics
Domestic items Furniture Glass Architectural Military Horse-related Clothing Ornaments Personal items Tools All European items European items/m2
0.968 0.029 0.003
Ceramics Tools Ornamental
72,443 2,143 252
%
Non-European
0.001
0.035 0.062 0.014 0.001 0.001
105,328 176 14
65 17 2,978 6,510 46 436 82 15 331 94 164,892 22
48,732 32,565 72,956 154,253
7,500+ Freq.
0.998 0.002 0.000
%
0.001
0.018 0.039 0.000 0.003 0.000
0.000
0.296 0.197 0.442 0.935
% Euro.
22,909 151 1
16 15 1,741 2,855 26 50 615 45 276 73 33,577 31
10,844 5,793 11,228 27,865
1,088 Freq.
Pto. Real
0.993 0.007
%
0.010 0.002 1.000
0.052 0.085 0.001 0.001 0.018
0.000
0.323 0.172 0.334 0.830
% Euro.
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0.001
0.036 0.109 0.738 0.883
% Euro.
La Vega
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19,392 Freq.
Excavated area in m2:
Isabela
11.1 Summary of Artifact Distributions at Three Spanish Town Sites in Hispaniola
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74,838 95,639 170,477
19,392 Freq.
0.439 0.561
% All
% Euro.
105,518 164,892 270,985
7,500+ Freq.
0.389 0.608
% All
% Euro.
23,061 33,587 56,648
1,088 Freq.
Pto. Real
0.407 0.593
% All
% Euro.
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Total non-European items Total European items Total all items
Excavated area in m2:
La Vega
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11.1 Summary of Artifact Distributions at Three Spanish Town Sites in Hispaniola (Continued)
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11.2 Sizes of Spanish and Spanish-American Towns Established ca. 1480–1520
Town Puerto Real, Spain Ronda, Spain (New Town) Santa Fé de Granada, Spain La Isabela Concepción de la Vega Santo Domingo Puerto Real, Hispaniola
Date
Approximate Area (in Square Meters)
1483 1485 1491 1493 ca. 1502 ca. 1502 ca. 1504
120,000 1 116,500 2 124,000 34,000 250,000 135,000 200,000
Source Foster 1960:44 Gutkind 1967:245–46 Chapter 3 Woods 1999 López-Penha 1992:44 Williams 1995
1 Measurements
taken from a 1702 map “Plano de la Bahía de Cádiz y su entorno” by the Duque de Ormont. Figure 64 in Cartografía militar y marítima de Cádiz. Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos. This is a compendium with no apparent author. 2 Measurements from “Plano de Ronda” (1982). Ronda: Oficina de Información Turistica de la Junta de Andalucía.
dral, and structural walls near the plaza de armas are consistently aligned with magnetic north (figure 11.3), suggesting that Concepción was organized in a rectilinear grid plan like that of Santo Domingo. This was certainly true after the principal buildings were rebuilt of masonry after about 1512. Summaries of the many other insights into the organization of space and activities gained from the results of the subsurface survey at Concepción de la Vega are detailed in Woods 1999. As part of the University of Florida- collaboration, the huge collection of uncatalogued and uncurated materials excavated from Concepción de la Vega before 1994 (including more than 270,000 artifacts) was cleaned, inventoried, and rehoused (this work is summarized in Deagan 1999). The artifacts were recorded in general categories, comparable to those used at La Isabela for the “general category analysis” (appendix 3A). The materials are listed in appendix 9 and summarized in table 11.1.
Puerto Real Puerto Real was established in 1503 as one of Nicolás de Ovando’s chain of new towns intended to subdue and control the island (see Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 10). It was located in the former territory of Columbus’s
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old ally Guacanagarí, on the north coast of what is today Haiti, some eighty kilometers west of La Isabela (figure 11.1). Puerto Real was not located in an area of gold deposits and never achieved the wealth or prominence of Concepción. Although copper mines were found nearby and were exploited for the first decade of Puerto Real’s settlement, the town eventually developed a stable economy based on farming, cattle ranching, and the production of hides for trade. Between 1508 (when Crown authorization was granted to capture Indians from the Bahamas as slaves) and about 1520 (when even that source of labor was depleted), Puerto Real served as a point of departure and entry for slaving expeditions to the Lucayan (Bahamian) Islands. The citizens of Puerto Real soon realized, however, that the most lucrative outlets for their products were the Portuguese, English, and French corsairs who came to northern Hispaniola to trade illegally with Spanish citizens, who entered quite willingly into the arrangements as the best way to acquire necessary goods (rescate in northern Hispaniola is considered in detail in chapter 5 of Columbus’s Outpost). Puerto Real was remote from Santo Domingo and did not have the lure of precious metals to attract a large influx of settlers who could in turn support merchants selling European goods. Probably for some of the same reasons, the documentary record of Puerto Real is sparse, and most of what we know about life in the town has come from archaeology. The documentary evidence pertaining to Puerto Real has been summarized in Hodges and Lyon (1995), and the archaeological research is summarized in Deagan, ed., 1995 and Ewen 1991. Little is known of Puerto Real’s population before the repartimiento of 1514. There were thirty-five encomenderos in the town at that time, nineteen of whom were considered vecinos (landholding citizens who were heads of households). Among those who were not vecinos were a blacksmith, a barber, and a public notary, and it is also known that a schoolteacher resided in the town. Of the five vecinos who were listed as married, three were married to Spanish women and two to Indian women (Arranz Márquez 1991:92–93). At some time after 1527, when Las Casas began his História, he noted that Puerto Real “still exists but is almost abandoned [causi perdida]” (Las Casas II,X; 1985, vol. 2:241). The contraband trade must have revived the population somewhat, as in 1561 it was noted that Puerto Real had “little more than twenty vecinos,” a number repeated in 1568 (Lyon 1995:460). While Concepción’s economy rose and fell with the production and
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then depletion of the gold mines and the Indian labor supply, Puerto Real developed a thriving, if illegal, trade in hides that had to be forcibly stopped in 1578 by the Spanish authorities. They accomplished this by destroying the town and forcing its residents into the new settlement of Bayahá, where it was thought the contraband could be more closely controlled. It could not, and Bayahá was in turn burned and forcibly abandoned in 1605 (Hamilton and Hodges 1995). An extensive program of archaeological survey, excavation, and analysis was carried out at Puerto Real between 1979 and 1986, after its discovery by medical missionary and avocational archaeologist William Hodges of the Hôpital le Bon Samaritain in Limbé, Haiti (Hodges 1995). Researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Georgia joined Hodges and his team from the Museé de Guahabá in Limbé in 1979. A systematic subsurface survey similar to the kind carried out at La Isabela and Concepción de la Vega revealed a site area of approximately sixteen hectares, arranged in a rectangular form of about five hundred meters by four hundred meters (two hundred thousand square meters). The town was organized—most probably on a grid plan—around a central plaza containing public buildings, a church, and a cemetery (Williams 1995; Willis 1984). All of the buildings exposed through excavation are aligned at an angle of approximately 30º east of magnetic north, which parallels the riverbed that formed the western edge of the sixteenth-century town. Subsurface testing revealed the locations of fifty-seven masonry structures, and there were undoubtedly many more nonmasonry buildings (Williams 1986). Excavations have been carried out in the central plaza and church areas (Marrinan 1995; Willis 1984, 1995), exposing the remains of large stone buildings believed to have been the church and monastery or the audiencia (town hall), shown in figure 11.4. The cemetery was located on the west side of that building, with extended burials facing the building (toward the east), with arms crossed on the chest in the traditional Catholic mortuary pattern. Three other areas at Puerto Real have been excavated, including two domestic sites (Ewen 1991, McEwan 1995) and a site believed to have been a commercial or manufacturing area because of the huge quantities of cattle bone, awls, and coins and the small amount of domestic refuse recovered there (Deagan and Reitz 1995). The domestic sites in particular have provided detailed information about colonial life and the adaptive strategies of the Spaniards on the sixteenth-century His
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11.4. Central plaza excavation, Puerto Real, showing rubble and robbed wall trenches from the church.
paniolan frontier. The material remains from Puerto Real are summarized in table 11.1 and detailed in appendix 9.
Archaeological Comparisons of La Isabela and Its Successor Towns One of the most immediately notable material differences between La Isabela and its successors was the fact that both Concepción de la Vega and Puerto Real were organized in regular grid-type plans around the plaza and cathedral (or, in the case of Puerto Real, the church). Although no evidence for streets remains at either site, the orientation of the built environment in both these later towns—unlike that of La Isabela—was extremely regular, suggesting a linear, gridlike organization. All of the structures excavated at Concepción de la Vega were oriented toward magnetic north, while those of Puerto Real were aligned at an angle of approximately 30º east of magnetic north, following the sixteenth-century course of the Fossé River that marked the town’s western edge.
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Both Puerto Real and Concepción were larger than La Isabela. Unlike Columbus’s town, neither of the later settlements was walled, which allowed a dispersal of occupation away from the town center in a way that was not possible at La Isabela. The size differences are obviously related to the much longer periods of occupation at Concepción and Puerto Real, yet these post-Isabela, sixteenth-century Spanish-American towns were also large in comparison to towns established in Spain during that period. Santa Fe de Granada, for example, founded by Ferdinand and Isabela in 1491, covered an area of about four hundred meters by 312 meters. Public architecture in both Concepción and Puerto Real differed from that of La Isabela in its dependence on ladrillo bricks. Clearly this was partially because of the absence of easily available stone building materials in these parts of the island, a lack met by establishing intensive production centers for bricks rather than relying on tapia in the manner of the architects at La Isabela. Domestic structures at Puerto Real were most commonly of wood or thatch, with stone foundations or rubble supports at the base of walls or a combination of masonry and wood. The material evidence for day-to-day life at Puerto Real and Concepción de la Vega provides a vivid reflection of the lifestyle changes that took place after La Isabela (appendix 9, summarized in table 11.1). At both towns diverse and international assemblages of artifacts (figures 11.9 to 11.15) document a steady decline away from the essentially medieval Andalusian material world revealed at La Isabela toward a Renaissance-inspired, mixed American and European material pattern. Rather than the Islamic and medieval-style tablewares found at La Isabela, for example, the glazed tablewares and drinking vessels of the later towns more often reflect the stylistic traditions of the Italian Renaissance (figures 11.5 and 11.6), as well as northern-European stonewares, Portuguese mica-tempered wares, and Chinese porcelain (see appendix 9). Although Morisco stylistic influence is still apparent in the ornamental book clasps, harness ornamentation, and medicine vials from Concepción de la Vega and Puerto Real, thimbles, candlesticks, merchants’ weights, and scissors from Nuremberg were found at both sites (figures 11.7 and 11.8). It is clear that personal adornment and household furnishings in the sixteenth-century towns reflected a more European Renaissance style than did the Moorish-influenced items from La Isabela (figures 11.7 to 11.9).
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11.5. Italianate Ligurian Blue-on-Blue majolica tableware, Concepción de la Vega. Museo Casas Reales, Santo Domingo. (Photo: James Quine.)
11.6. Venetian glassware, Concepción de la Vega. Parque Nacional de Concepción de la Vega. (Photo: James Quine.)
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11.7. Copper-alloy candleholder, probably North European, Puerto Real. Musée de Guahaba, Limbé, Haiti. (Photo: James Quine.)
11.8. Nuremberg thimbles, Puerto Real. Musée de Guahaba, Limbé, Haiti. (Photo: James Quine.)
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11.9. Gilded brass unicorn pendant, Puerto Real. Bureau National d’Etnologie d’Haiti. (Photo: James Quine.)
The quantities of glazed European ceramics imported to Concepción and Puerto Real are considerably greater than that at La Isabela, no doubt reflecting the increased shipping and mercantile activity after 1502. Concomitantly, the proportions of unglazed European wares (wheel thrown and kiln fired) in these later towns is dramatically lower, and there is no direct evidence that unglazed European pottery was produced at either settlement (although ladrillos obviously were). Much of the variety and abundance of material remains in these later towns was of course related to the increased shipping between Spain and America that began in Ovando’s time, and to the importating of consumer goods through merchants. This represents a major shift from the corporate factoría represented at La Isabela to a mercantile economy. The change in commerce is seen not only in the increased variety of goods themselves but also in the technology of shipping and packaging. The form known as the Spanish olive jar, for example, was widely used throughout the Mediterranean before 1500, but it appears archaeologically for the first time in the Americas at the towns established by
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11.10. Merchants’ baling seals, Concepción de la Vega. Parque Nacional de Concepción de la Vega. (Photo: James Quine.)
Ovando after 1502 (see Avery 1994 for a synthesis of information on ceramic shipping containers in the Americas). The appearance and increase of this form in the sixteenth century reflects the intensified need for shipping containers bound for the Americas, which was met in a form that could be usefully recycled in a number of ways. The active commercial life of both towns (but particularly Concepción) is seen in dozens of coins, coin weights, and baling seals excavated there (figure 11.10). Most of the coins found at the later towns were lowdenomination products (maravedís) of the Santo Domingo mint, established in 1536. Coins minted in Spain are rare at Hispaniolan sites after this time, reflecting the transition to a local colonial economy. Materials excavated at Puerto Real and Concepción also document the early development of colonial domestic life in the Americas. In contrast to the predominantly male and military composition of the La Isabela materials, the material world of the sixteenth-century towns was clearly shaped by women and children as well by men, a fact reflected in jewelry, sewing equipment, hairpins, toys, and the imprint of an infant’s foot preserved in clay at Concepción (figure 11.11).
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11.11. Ceramic lion image made from an infant’s footprint, Concepción de la Vega. Parque Nacional de Concepción de la Vega. (Photo: James Quine.)
Although the socially visible forms of ornamentation, display, and clothing associated with women in the sixteenth century were predominantly Spanish, women’s activities in the kitchen and dining room were not. A major adjustment in foodways, for example, is suggested in the dietary remains. Puerto Real is the only early Spanish site in Hispaniola that has been subject to intensive and systematic analyses of dietary remains (Reitz and McEwan 1995), because La Isabela (as chapter 7 documents) did not produce a sufficient sample of surviving plant or animal remains for study, and the abundant faunal remains from Concepción de la Vega have not yet been either identified or studied. Nevertheless, zooarchaeologists Elizabeth Reitz and Bonnie McEwan have shown that the diets of the Spanish colonists at Puerto Real and other sixteenth-century sites in the region reflect adjustments away from traditional Spanish foodways, and adaptations in response to local conditions (Reitz 1992; Reitz and Scarry 1985; Reitz and McEwan 1995). Cooks in the Spanish colonies, whether they were Spanish, Indian, or African, adjusted flexibly to variances in local resources while attempting
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to maintain ideal Iberian food preferences (mammal meat). At Puerto Real, for example, the most abundant food was beef, thanks to the flourishing cattle ranches of the town. The dominance of beef in the diet, however, was in itself a sharp departure from the cuisine of sixteenth-century Spain, in which the choice of meat was probably most often mutton or goat (Reitz and McEwan 1995:296–97). At the same time, local American foods, such as fish, turtles, corn, and manioc, were also incorporated into the colonists’ diets at Puerto Real. It seems clear from the archaeological record that Spanish women quickly learned to use and incorporate unfamiliar local foods, unlike the men of La Isabela. Indian women also learned to use and incorporate unfamiliar imported foods to develop a cuisine that was distinct from both indigenous American and Iberian diets but had some traits in common with each. Both diet and food preparation at Puerto Real and Concepción were dramatically different from the pattern seen at La Isabela, in that the colonists in the sixteenth-century towns (presumably women) thoroughly incorporated new, non-European elements into their kitchens, whereas the colonists at La Isabela (presumably men) did not. American-Indian and African items apparently replaced the European pottery forms that were produced in such abundance at La Isabela. Access to traditional Spanish food-preparation vessels (so important to the Isabela colonists) was apparently no longer considered a priority in the post-1500 Spanish-American towns. It seems that neither the local production of kitchen and domestic pottery nor the importation of such vessels from Spain persisted in any of the Spanish colonial sites in the Caribbean after 1500. The differences in domestic organization between La Isabela and the Ovando towns seems to have been a strictly American phenomenon. The few sixteenth-century households in Spain that have been excavated and reported are much more similar to La Isabela in the composition and forms of their household assemblages than they are to Concepción and Puerto Real, despite the fact that they are contemporary with those later American towns (see chapter 7, table 7.15). Several of the most common pottery forms found both at La Isabela and at sixteenth-century Andalusian sites—morteros, cántaros, jarros, and fuentes—are found only rarely at Puerto Real and Concepción. Domestic ceramic furniture, such as oil lamps and anafres, are even scarcer. In contrast, cooking at the sixteenth-century American sites was done more often than not in Indian or African pottery vessels. It seems
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evident that the incorporation of Indian women into Spanish-American households—as servants, wives, or concubines—strongly influenced many of the areas assigned to and largely controlled by women, particularly those related to foodways (the phenomenon of mestizaje in early Hispaniola is considered in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 11, and is treated in further detail by Arranz Márquez 1991; Deagan 1996; Esteva Fabregat 1995; Mörner 1967; Moya Pons 1987; and Socolow 2000). The adoption of American foods and cooking techniques caused pucheros and anafres to be replaced with aboriginal vessels and hearths for cooking, cántaros and tinajas for storage to be superseded by Indian vessels and olive jars, and morteros for processing traditional Spanish plant foods to be supplemented by the manos, metates, and griddles more useful for preparing corn and cassava. The adoption of these American foodways (and possibly other more perishable elements of household organization and childcare) is thus clearly evident at both Concepción de la Vega and Puerto Real. The specific ways in which this adoption is manifested at the two towns provides another important insight into the transformation of SpanishAmerican society during the sixteenth century: that is, the decline of the Taíno people and their replacement by nonlocal Indians and ultimately Africans, who were brought to America as unwilling labor. When Concepción was established in the late fifteenth century, Taíno ceramic traditions were apparently still viable, and about 7 percent of the Indian ceramics at Concepción are identifiably Taíno (Chican Ostionoid) in origin (Deagan 1999; see also Ortega and Fondeur 1978b). At Puerto Real, however, which was not established until after 1503, only one half of 1 percent of non-European pottery could be identified as Taíno. At both sites the most abundant non-European ceramics were plain, poorly finished, handmade pots in simple bowl forms that did not resemble the paste and composition of local Ostionoid (Taíno) pottery (figure 11.12). These pots accounted for 74 percent of the non-European ceramics from Concepción and 53 percent from Puerto Real (Deagan 1999; Ortega and Fondeur 1978b; Smith 1995). Although clearly non-European and probably Native-American in origin, this simplified pottery is thought to have been a response to the breakdown of traditional Indian craft traditions provoked by forced relocation, population loss, and enslavement. Similar pottery is also found at other Spanish contact sites throughout the Caribbean, such as Nueva
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11.12. Generic colono-ware vessel form found throughout the Spanish Caribbean region.
Cádiz, Venezuela (Willis 1976), and eastern Cuba (Domínguez 1978; Romero 1981). Pottery of this category—produced locally, usually by Indians or Africans, in response to the changes provoked by multicultural interaction in the colonies—is generally referred to as “colono ware.” It occurs as a general phenomenon throughout the Americas in early colonial contexts but has distinctive local expressions based on local pottery traditions, demographic patterns, and other factors. It appears somewhat later in the Lesser Antilles, corresponding to the growth in the African population there (see, for example, Gartley 1979; Heath 1988; Peterson and Watters 1988). Colono ware pottery was virtually absent at La Isabela. It is abundant at both Puerto Real and Concepción de la Vega but is expressed in dramatically different ways at the two sites. These differences reflect not only the local economic distinctions between the towns but, more important, also the differing composition and fates of their respective laborers. As we noted, Concepción de la Vega’s economic peak was reached during the early decades of the sixteenth century, during which the town thrived as a gold-mining center and the residents relied primarily upon Indians as a labor force. Before 1509, when King Ferdinand granted
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permission to enslave Indians from other islands in the Caribbean (Las Casas III, CXXVII; 1985, vol. 3:270), most of the laborers were probably Taínos. For the next two decades, Native-American laborers were drawn from throughout the Caribbean and the mainland of South America, until even that source was depleted (see further discussion in Columbus’s Outpost, chapter 10). By about the third decade of the century, both the gold mines and the Caribbean Indian populations were largely depleted, and enslaved Africans provided labor in sugar plantations, cattle ranches, and towns. This tragic sequence of events is chronicled in the ceramics of Concepción and Puerto Real, which also show the influence of these unfree laboring groups on the material life of the colony. It is perhaps most dramatically reflected at Concepción de la Vega, where a unique ceramic ware known as cerámica Indo-Hispano was first described (Ortega and Fondeur 1978b). Ortega and Fondeur concluded that these wares were the result of a directed attempt to introduce a pottery-making industry at Concepción, using Indian potters. If there was in fact a directed effort at training native potters to produce European-style ceramics, it was only in part successful, and a small part at that. The great majority of this cerámica Indo-Hispano, despite showing European forms, is clearly non-European in inspiration and decoration (figure 11.13). It is unique in the Americas, showing combinations of Caribbean, European, and possibly South American elements. It was produced in three varieties, including red slipped decoration, white slipped decoration, and red-and-white painted varieties. Some of the slipped examples are delicately incised. Forms include those known from both Taíno and Spanish pottery traditions, and others appear unique. Sherds from similar vessels have been found (although rarely) at several early sixteenth-century Spanish sites in Santo Domingo, including the Fortaleza de Ozama, the Casa del Cordón, and the home of Nicolás de Ovando. Some of these sherds are thought to have been related to the indigenous pottery of Curacao (García Arévalo 1978:116–17; see also Ortega and Fondeur 1979:78–79). This singular, decorated, hybrid pottery is completely absent at Puerto Real. Native-American ceramics at Puerto Real were instead gradually replaced by a type that has been named Christophe Plain (figure 11.14), which is thought to have been made or influenced by African potters (Smith 1986; 1995). Christophe Plain pottery became
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11.13. Cerámica Indo-Hispano, Concepción de la Vega. Parque Nacional de Concepción de la Vega (Photo: James Quine.)
11.14. Christophe Plain pottery, Puerto Real. Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville. (Photo: G. Charles Smith, by permission of University Presses of Florida.)
most common at Puerto Real toward the middle of the sixteenth century, when very few American Indians of any origin were left in Hispaniola and Africans had been enslaved and imported in large numbers. Christophe Plain pots shared many stylistic and manufacturing characteristics not only with African pottery but also with several Afro
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Caribbean wares that have persisted to the present day in the Caribbean (see Gartley 1979; Heath 1988; Matthewson 1972; Nicholson 1990). There seems to have been no attempt to influence the production of Christophe Plain pottery to suit European tastes, and its forms were apparently deemed appropriate by (and for) cooks at Puerto Real (be they Spanish, Indian, or African). The common theme through this desolate account of labor capture and decimation and the replacement of Taínos by relocated Indians and Africans is that Spanish (or Spanish-identified) households adopted the pottery of each of these groups into their kitchens with few attempts at modification. The unreserved adoption of a new cooking technology in turn presumes the adoption of a new or modified cuisine, which, as we discussed above, is also supported by the food remains excavated at Puerto Real. Clearly this change was effected through the agency of women in the households of these early Spanish towns, and it has persisted throughout Latin America. The larger sociohistorical implications of the change are explored in the final chapter of Columbus’s Outpost.
Stereoscopic History One of the great challenges of any historical archaeology project is to produce insight and understanding that could not have been realized without the articulation of material remains with other kinds of evidence. We believe that, like a stereoscopic or 3-D view, the full dimensions of life in the past cannot be seen until the images produced by written, material, and iconographic accounts are superimposed and articulated at the correct angles. For example, if we were to summarize what we know about the community of La Isabela on the basis of archaeological evidence alone, without recourse to written documents (even if interpreted through analogy to general conditions in fifteenth-century Spain), we might arrive at a very different assessment of the Columbian project than that suggested by documentary evidence alone (recounted in chapter 4 and in more detail in chapter 4 of Columbus’s Outpost). The archaeological evidence is, admittedly, compromised by centuries of human and natural abuses to the physical fabric of La Isabela; but we believe that these taphonomic factors have been no less damaging to the archaeological record than the illiteracy and power inequities that affected written accounts have been to the documentary record.
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Using the single dimension of archaeology, we would probably not arrive at the image of a failed colony dominated by starvation, illness, poverty, and a longing to escape. We would instead probably conclude that La Isabela was a small but substantial community that, although on the remotest possible frontier, possessed a well-defined medieval pattern of spatial organization, massive and impressive formal architecture, and abundant material provisions. The overall stylistic character of La Isabela’s material world was strongly medieval and strongly Morisco (Spanish Muslim), with medieval Muslim traditions evident in building construction, personal ornamentation, pottery forms and decoration, horse equipment, medicine, lighting, and sanitation. The town had a distinctly military character, located on a natural defensive stronghold surrounded by water on three sides and well supplied with weaponry that was modern and sophisticated for fifteenth-century Europe. Most of the inhabitants wore armor at least some of the time, although the presence of other kinds of clothing, jewelry, and ornamental items suggests that a diverse array of costumes and personal ornamentation may have been seen in the town. Common houses were made of perishable materials and were modest in size and layout, but they were not significantly different in these aspects from common houses of the time in Iberia. The interiors of these homes seem to have been very sparsely furnished, but this too was characteristic of late medieval Iberia. La Isabela’s households also boasted a complement of ceramic cooking, eating, washing, storage, and lighting equipment equal in variety and number to that found in Spanish homes of the same period. Most of these ceramic household items were made at La Isabela. Despite the apparent military character of many town features, a wide range of modern fifteenth-century craft and industrial production activities were practiced, including agriculture, metallurgy, blacksmithing, shipbuilding, stonemasonry, milling with waterwheels, lime burning, carpentry, woodcutting (and possibly charcoal manufacture), tile making and brick making, and ceramic-vessel production. The products of these industries are found throughout the town, suggesting that they were accessible to all the colonists. The widespread occurrence of coins, counting tokens, and coin weights implies a money-based exchange system, with a commercial sector near the periphery of the southeastern sector of the town. Other aspects of community life that might be expected in a late
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fifteenth-century Spanish town on the American frontier are peculiarly absent in the archaeological record and could lead to erroneous interpretation in the absence of written history. Catholicism and religiosity, for example, were reflected only in the church building itself (which was not elaborate by any measure), the town cemetery containing fewer than one hundred burials, and a single personal crucifix lost near a house. Without the abundant documentary evidence that religiosity dominated late medieval Spanish town life, we might conclude that Catholicism played an insignificant role at La Isabela. (In the presence of such documentation, however, we conclude that religious items were carefully guarded, and that much religious expression was nonmaterial.) There was also very little evidence for direct interaction with the Taíno Indians. Most of the aboriginal materials recovered from the site are thought to have resulted from the pre-Columbian Taíno occupation area in the vicinity of the church, and the site yielded remarkably few hawk’s bells and no glass beads, the most common items for Indian trade elsewhere in America. In the absence of the documentary record, the scarcity of hawk’s bells and beads in the archaeological record of La Isabela might have led us to conclude (erroneously) that these items were used widely as trade goods only after the abandonment of La Isabela. Perhaps the most striking absence in the archaeological record of La Isabela was the lack of floral and faunal food remains. This contrasts sharply not only with other early Spanish colonial sites (where floral and faunal remains are abundant) but also with the striking profusion at La Isabela of ceramic vessels used for food storage, processing, and especially eating. A number of archaeological and taphonomic factors undoubtedly influenced the survival of the fragile food bones and seeds at the site, discussed in chapter 7. However, the dramatic absence of food remains at La Isabela, when considered with the vociferous written complaints of starvation, suggests that the Spaniards at La Isabela did not eat locally available food introduced to them by the Taínos. In summary, the archaeological record suggests a small, medieval, Spanish-Islamic-style city with formal and substantial public architecture, ephemeral domestic architecture, and an abundant complement of craft products, industries, and household furnishings typical in late fifteenth-century Islamic-influenced Andalusia. Other than the peculiar absence of plant and animal remains, there is little to suggest directly either a confrontation with or accommodation to the American social or physical landscape. Nor do the material aspects of the site reflect the
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desolation, poverty, impermanence, and misery that so dominate the written accounts. We have attempted in the preceding chapters, however, to overlay the written and material evidence for life in La Isabela, and we believe that the resulting image is both more accurate and more significant than either the documentary or archaeological image alone. As we noted in the introduction to this book, one of the most important contributions of La Isabela to archaeology and history is its role as a material datum point for measuring cultural change and adaptation. Comparison of La Isabela with sites both in Spain and in sixteenth-century Hispaniola have permitted us to glimpse the ways in which ordinary colonists coped with the circumstances of early colonial America and changed their own cultural practices in response to them. At La Isabela overwhelmingly Spanish cultural practices were revealed in the material world, similar in most ways to households in Spain. The households of early sixteenth-century Concepción and Puerto Real, however, reflect significant differences from both La Isabela and households in Spain in their material composition and organization. Regardless of the cultural and social identity claimed by colonists in Hispaniola, they were living their daily lives in a uniquely American way within a decade of La Isabela’s abandonment. These households practiced a new cultural regimen derived from an amalgam of European, American, and African traditions. It was a regimen experienced neither at La Isabela nor in Spain, and it was invisible in the written accounts of the Spanish colony. As we argue in Columbus’s Outpost, new forms of social and ideological practice were encoded in this new materiality, representing profound shifts not only in the governance and economy of Hispaniola but also in the social relations and ideological constructs that governed interaction in the colonies. This material expression both shaped and reflected colonists’ concepts of identity and social hierarchy very early in the colonial period, and governance and empire were forced to respond. The dialectic between these new American identities and the initial Spanish imperial ideas led to the genesis of a vital new society in Spanish America, whose roots are clearly traceable to the dynamics of multicultural interaction in the households of the sixteenth-century towns of Hispaniola. It also, inevitably, led to the end of empire through a process that is not fully visible in either written or material accounts alone but, like a 3-D image, emerges when we lay both sources of evidence over each other.
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Supplies and Items Brought to La Isabela The Crown’s List, 1494 (From the crown’s memorial for the Factor, Don Juan de Fonseca, on supplies needed to sustain approximately one thousand for one year in Hispaniola, in Parry and Kieth 1984:185–88.)
Foodstuffs Wheat, 600 cahices [1 cahice = 12 fanegas, or about 18.5 bushels] Barley, 100 cahices Biscuit, 600 quintals [1 quintal = 4 arrobas, or about 100 pounds] Wine, 12,000 arrobas (in casks) [1 arroba = approximately 4 gallons liquid, 25 pounds dry] Vinegar, 2,000 arrobas (in casks) Oil, 410 arrobas (in jars) Beans, chickpeas, and lentils, 70 cahices Bacon, 500 sides Beef, 100 carcasses (in casks) Raisins and figs, 200 quintals Unshelled almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts, 30 quintals Salted fish, 300 barrels Onions, 4,000 bunches Garlic, 5,000 strings Sugar, 50 arrobas Mustard, 6 flasks Honey, 9 arrobas Molasses, 10 jars Other seeds and vegetables
Livestock and Fowl Mares, 12 Asses, 12
Sheep and goats Calves, 20 Chickens, 400
People Miners from those who are in Almadén [Mercury mines] Wool experts Spice and perfume experts Goatherds Peasants and laborers
For maintanance of People Medicines [60,000 maravedis worth] Shoes and sandals Other items of clothing and footwear Nails of all kinds for houses and ships French saws, 1 dozen [1,500 maravedis each] Anujos [?] for wine, 20 Wine flasks of 2, 3, or 4 azumbres [1 azumbre = about 4 pints] Water casks, 500 dozen Strainers and ajonarlos [?], 10 dozen Seives and sifters, 10 dozen Glass lamps, 3 dozen Chamber pots in 6 straw boxes, 5 dozen Coarse cloth [jerga], 1,000 yards Coarse canvas, 1,000 yards Measures for bread, wine, and oil, plus other glasses Lenteduas [?], 5 dozen Tallow, 59 quintals Soap, 10 quintals Wax, 2 quintals Gunpowder, 30 quintals Iron Steel, 20 quintals
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Lead, 15 quintals Quicksilver, 2 quintals Mangarras [?], 200 Fishing nets, 4 Harpoons and arrows, 5 dozen Fish hooks of all types, 20 dozen Fish hooks from Cardona, 2 dozen
For maintainance of Ships Oars for small ships, 12 Oars for boats [bateles], 100 Oars for caravels, 100 Pintels and gudgeons for rudders, 11 Mariner’s compasses, 1 dozen Mariner’s watch glasses, 1 dozen Medium-sized anchors, 10 Rigging of all kinds, 60 quintals Rigging of all kinds made from esparto grass Alonas [?] for sails, 1,200 wings Gelisano thread, 6 quintals Alcohol for varnish, 20 quintals Oakum, 30 quintals Tar, 10 barrels
Required by the Admiral and His Household, 1494 (In Parry and Kieth 198:187–88.) Clothing and footwear for himself A bed made of 6 mattresses of fine Brittany linen Pillows of cambric, 4 Bedsheets of half cambric, 3 pairs A light quilt A blanket Green and brownish serge silk cloth A cushion [alhambra] Cloth tapestries depicting trees Door hangings of the same, 2 Coverings with his coat of arms, 4 Decorated coffers, a couple Perfumes Paper, 10 quires
For His Kitchen Tablecloths of 8 cuarteles, 5 yards each, 4 pairs Small cloths, 6 dozen Towels, 6 Tablecloths for cupboards and for his men when they eat, 6 pairs of 6 yards each A pewter cutlery Silver cups, 2 Jugs [silver?], 2 Salt cellar [silver?] Spoons [silver?], 12 Brass candlesticks, 2 pairs Copper pitchers, 6 Large pots, 2 Small pots, 2 A large cauldron A small cauldron Large frying pans, 2 Small frying pans, 2 Stewing pans, 2 A large copper pot with lid A small copper pot with lid A brass mortar Iron spoons, 2 Graters, 1 pair A grill to roast fish Forks, 2 A colander Kichen towels of thick linen cloth, 12 yards A large basin for cleaning Large tapers, 12 Candles, 30 pounds Candied citron, 20 pounds Sweets without pine kernels, 50 pounds All types of conserves, 12 jars Dates, 4 arrobas Quince preserve, 12 boxes Rose-colored sugar, 12 jars White sugar, 4 arrobas Water scented with orange blossoms, 1 arroba Water scented with roses, 1 arroba
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Saffron, 1 pound Rice, 1 quintal Raisins from Almuñecar, 2 quintals Almonds, 12 fanegas Good honey, 4 arrobas Fine oil, 8 arrobas Olives, 2 jars Fresh pig’s lard, 3 arrobas Ham, 4 arrobas Chickens, 50 pairs Roosters, 6
For His Household
4 April 1495 25 naguas 15 hammocks 6 Indian arrows 1 flint battle ax 9 Indian hatchets 1 wooden horn Clothing made of feathers 6 mats 14 parrots 3 arrobas and 21 pouunds of spun cotton
Ordinary mattresses, 12 Thick bedsheets, 12 pairs Ordinary blankets, 12 Green and brownish cloth, 80 yards Shirts, 80 Leggings and jackets, 4 Vitre [coarse canvas], 100 yards Ordinary shoes, 120 pairs Black thread, 6 pounds Fine yarn, 6 pounds Black twisted silk, 3 ounces
6 May 1495
Tribute Goods Received by the Admiral, 1495–1496
9 July 1495
(From Navarrete, Colección de documentos inéditos 10:5–9, 42 vols., Madrid, 1864–84. List generated from translation in Parry and Keith 1984:212–13.)
10 March 1495 3 small masks with 19 peices of gold leaf 2 mirrors with reflectors of gold leaf 2 spindles [torteruelos] of gold leaf
11 March 1495 1 mask with gold leaf 2 hammocks 2 cotton naguas [skirts worn by women] 11 skeins of cotton
(From Plundering Caonabo’s Town) 14 large masks [guaycas] made of cotton and stones (3 with 7 pieces of gold leaf ) 1 completely woven hammock 66 old hammocks 10 naguas 1 belt 1 article of clothing made of feathers 152 colored stones (from Concepción) 4 large masks, 2 with ten peices of gold leaf 1 belt with a green front and two pieces of gold leaf 3 pairs of naguas 1 large mask with 4 peices of gold leaf 9 hammocks 8 naguas 7⅛ ounces of gold [to make a gold case for a large nugget of gold]
18 December 1495 2 marks, 3⅞ ounces, 5 tomines, and 9 grains of gold Gold nugget shaped like a frog, 1½ ounces 1 belt with a front that had 4 pieces of gold leaf (from Guacanagarí) 2 marks, 6⅜ ounces, 6 grains of gold
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(from caciques at Concepción and Santo Tomás) 1⅛ ounces, 1 tomin, and 9 grains of gold 3 gold mirrors
21 January 1496 5 guaycas with 8 peices of gold leaf
2 February 1496 3 guaycas with 11 small peices of gold 7⅜ marks, 1 tomin, 5 grains gold (including 1 nugget of 2 marks, 3 ounces) 16 gold mirrors 10 pieces of gold leaf 2 quills of gold dust 1 mask with 3 pieces of gold 1 mark, 16/8 ounces, and 3 tomines of gold
16 February 1496 6⅞ ounces of gold 5 masks with 15 pieces of gold leaf Figurine covered with gold leaf (from Behechio)
19 February 1496 10 marks, 7 ounces, and 5 grains of gold 1 belt with a face contining 15 pieces of gold leaf five arrobas of cotton with 36 pieces of gold leaf 6 spindles (torteruelos) with knobs made of gold leaf 2 statues with 10 gold beads a cotton mask with 9 peices of gold leaf 3 cotton mirrors with reflectors of gold leaf A belt with two faces 8 quills of gold 4 masks with 21 pieces of gold leaf 1 badge (tao) covered with gold leaf
4 tablets (tabletas) covered with gold leaf 1 cotton cap covered with gold leaf 4 nose perfumers with 10 gold beads a badge of guanín [metal alloy of gold, silver, and copper] a half-moon of guanín a half-moon of hair (madejita) Several small pieces of brass tied together 1 belt with no gold 2 spindles of amber 5 quills of amber four small pieces of hair 2 masks with 9 pieces of gold leaf that twinkled (the gold weighed 4½ ounces, 5 tomines, 6 grains) 5½ ounces, 2 tomines, 9 grains of gold 1 guayca with 7 pieces of gold leaf 3 cotton mirrors with gold reflectors 2 quills of gold leaf 2 arrobas of cotton with 17 pieces of gold leaf 3 long Indian arrows A purgadera [vomit spatula] with 29 drops of gold 101 strings of amber 7 stone necklaces 1 copper mirror 5 badges (taos) 2 brass spindles 1 stone cross 42 arrobas and 3 pounds of cotton 3 naguas 4 casks and a barrel 1 large gold mirror 11 gold nuggets
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Horizontal Distribution of Artifact Categories
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Items Excavated at La Isabela
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. Distribution of Artifacts Through Town Zones, Based on Intensively Analyzed Subsample
Excavated area in m2 :
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
European Materials Ceramics Majolica Bizcocho Caparra Blue Columbia Plain (CP) CP with blue CP with green CP with turquoise CP gunmetal Cuerda seca Isabela Polychrome Yayal b/w UID aqua UID blue UID b/w UID green UID green/white UID Italianate UID Morisco UID polychrome UID white UID majolica Subtotal majolica Sgraffito slipware Melado Melado A Melado B Melado C Melado D Melado G UID melado Subtotal melado Vitreo Vitreo A Vitreo A/B
70 1 208
15 1 106
21
1
15 2
14
17
1 14 1
2 17 1
3 15 56 12
14 3 4 1 355
16 1 2 17 193
0.040
301 8 81
2
21
10
5
10 3
0.028
3
301 116 89 14 2 31 553
2 2 39
126 632
3
0.034
1 6 70
0.02
24
180 39 26 9
0.063
37 291
10
579 255 47 108
0.043
29 1,018
50 2
55 17 12 3
0.055
6 93
9
0.027
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Page 313
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
49 54 685 1 27
32 31 338
22 3 85
15
13 1 14
2
1
1 1 41 4
8 1
#
%
8 21
11 5
78 12 4 75 1 1
11
2 1 1 49
0.012
17 2 14 61 1,092 0.0492
43 2 2 2 87 2 6 2 19 6 2 56 658
1 6
67 2 1 55 6
0.029
58 348
0.031
9 41
1
9
3
6
1
31 15 5 3
1,070 260 151 265
760 339 164 317
259 80 79 128
54 6 8 1
6 60
6
0.015
72 90 1,818 0.0818 1,670
114 3
77 3
0.075
9 555
13
0.049
0 69
4
0.030
%
499 100 1,578 1 67 1 26 1 231 21 5 25 338 19 7 3 134 23 24 335 3,438 0.035 47
0.050
3,289 1,127 581 848 2 280 6,127 0.062
304 8
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Page 314
(Continued ) Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
Excavated area in m2 :
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
Vitreo C Vitreo D Vitreo E Vitreo F Vitreo G Vitreo H Vitreo I Vitreo I-2 Vitreo J Vitreo UID Subtotal vitreo
2 1 19 104 37 4 1 8 1 165 375
Loza Común Subtotal ceramics
4,084 5,370
0.043
2 2 4 38 30 4 10 5 8 85 216
0.463 3,920 0.609 4,612
42 2 71 222 134 89 78 14 10 265 1,040
0.573 13,768 0.675 16,482
0.032
1
0.056
4 2 2 1 2 2 2 22 54
0.015
0.747 0.895
2,242 2,459
0.639 0.701
Household/Domestic Items Candleholder Collander Copper cup Fork Key Table knife Metal mortar Pestle Metal pot Spoon Strike-o-lite Decorative clavo Copper tack Hardware Finial Handle Inlay Lock Subtotal household
3 7 1
8
1
1
1 2 1 8
0.001
8
1 0.001
8
0.000
2
Glass Aqua Brown Black
92 71
1
2 4
79 60
0.001
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Page 315
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
11 38 32 115 84 17 46 32 61 191 770
6 4 22 48 33 9 9 4 2 104 274
0.024
11 33
0.475 16,406 0.7384 18,413 0.544 20,661 0.93 21,511
0.824 9,786 0.963 10,969
0.863 0.967
1,049 1193
1 11
5
#
% 2
10 3 11
132 172 1,948 2,230
0.042
3
22 12 70 244 117 23 50 38 62 498 1,336 0.0601
18
2
0.034
1 2 1
3 5 2 1
0.024
1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 5
3 9
0.001
28 0.0013
4 6 4
2 1 21
4 2
0.001
10
10 3
0.001
1 2
13 10
92 59 225 788 442 148 207 103 146 1,473 4,270 0.043
0.762 70,567 0.713 0.866 85,487 0.862
1 1
1 1 2 1
1 1
4
%
0.001
4 53 1 2 6 1 1 1 4 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 6 1 92 0.001
207 166 4
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Page 316
(Continued )
Excavated area in m2 :
Blue Clear Decorated Dark green Green Olive green UID glass Subtotal glass
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
219 7 83 342 814
0.092
7 3
14 1
8
5
286 305
0.045
876 902
8 174
132
0.049
315 768
0.219
Architectural Items Bolt Bolt nut Door lock Estoperole tack Handle Iron object Lead object Nail UID Nail wrought Spike UID Spike wrought Iron staple Iron tack Washer Copper wire Subtotal Architect.
2 2
18 19
24
2
30 2 441 979 12 635 3 14 2 16 2,162
109 1 145 949 85 2 9 1 4 5 0.245 1,349
2 76 4 4 1
3
2 35 1 9 2 2 21 1
2
1
0.197
2 2
1
34 5 158 271
3
3 15 14 2 4 510
0.028
9 71 1 6 3 1 4 1 100
Military Items Armor buckle Brigandine Brigandine rivet Chain mail Gun-barrel frag. Breech plug Cannon frag. Crossbow bolt Hilt fragment Escutcheon Lance
3 18 1 7
9 2 8 1
1
0.028
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Page 317
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
#
%
6 23
43
30
33
1 27
6
163 237
0.058
43 128 0.0058
3 2
46 88
1 24
0.004
5 3 16 62
5 3
1 1
3
2 3 18 2
0.056
15 575 4 8 310 5 2,087 3,381 0.034
0.012
34 29 2 33 4 313 23 1,203 3,291 114 733 36 48 19 35 5,917 0.060
41
11 2 0.005
77
2
2
17 2 372 705 6 54 2 1 1,161
1 11 11 1
0.283
2 1 36 6 78 119 9 28 2 7 1 2 296 0.0133
134 1 3 2 5 4 2 227
320
1 106
1 64
5
4
5
2
1
3 1 1
60 5
6
55
0.01
2 2 3 1 5 95
1
8
1
0.008
17
18
%
10 657 8 53 5 2 21 10 1 3 3
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Page 318
(Continued ) Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
Excavated area in m2 :
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
Lead ball Iron-shot core Iron ball Lead/iron ball Stone ball Pole-arm tip Scabbard tip Sword blade Iron pommel Trigger Shot mold Subtotal military
4 42
4 66
9 3 12
2 1 10 2 4
7
1
2
1 163
0.018
1 1 165
1 1 1 1
3
1 0.024
42
0.002
26
0.007
Horse-Related Items Bit Harness buckle Tack hardware Bridle loop Horseshoe Horseshoe nail Spur Subtotal horse
1
2
1 5 1 8
2 4
2 6 0.001
8
0.000
8
0.002
Clothing Items Aglet Buckle Clasp Eye Fastener Grommet Needle Straight pin Strap tip Subtotal clothing
2 1
1 2
3 5 1 1
3
2 4 12
6
0.001
1 3 7
1 1 1
0.001
2 12
0.001
9
Ornamental Items Agate bead Glass bracelet Brooch
1 3
2
2
0.003
Deagan2.14App3
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12:52 PM
Page 319
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
#
%
3 1
3 1 1
7
1
0.007
333
0.014
0.004
1 3 5 4 45 11 5 74 0.001
0.001
24 32 2 2 8 2 1 10 14 95 0.001
1 4
1
1 1 29
26 112 5 5 4 22 15 16 2 5 2 987 0.010
1 1
1 2 1
1 1 0.015
125
0.006
1 85
0.007
19
1 4
1
21 1 26
0.006
4 1
1 2 8
1 1 1
0.002
10 1 1 13 0.0006
2 3
3 11 1 1 2
1 3 22
0.001
1 1 1 1
2 5
5 9
3
1
1 1 1 2
1
1
5
19
3
0.000
0.001
4
0.000
2
%
0 2 11 1
Deagan2.14App3
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12:52 PM
Page 320
(Continued )
Excavated area in m2 :
Copper strip Earring Filigree Finger ring Pendant Jet fragment Subtotal ornamental
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
2 1
1 1 6
1 3 2 0.001
3
0.000
8
0.000
3 5
0.001
Other Personal or Religious Items Crucifix Cross Shrine Reliquary Hawk’s bell Book hardware Seal Coin Cup weight Gaming disc Subtotal personal
1
12
13
12
0.001
12
25
0.002
25
7
0.001
1 8
0.002
Tools, Crafts, Implements Ax Chisel Hammer Knife Machete Wedge Rule/scale UID tool Fish hook Harpoon Hone Copper tube Chain link Iron loop Copper loop Subtotal tools
1
1 1 1
1 2 1
2
1 1 9
11
1
0.001
3
1
0.000
1 1 6
0.000
5
0.001
Deagan2.14App3
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12:52 PM
Page 321
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
#
%
1
0.001
3 3 1 14 3 4 42 0.000
0.001
1 1 1 1 4 1 1 114 1 4 129 0.001
0.004
3 2 1 2 1 1 1 15 4 1 1 1 15 2 1 51 0.001
1 3
6
0.001
3
1 1
3 0.0001
6
3
0.000
3
1
0.000
2
1 1 1
1 1 13
1
1
0.000
2 18 0.0008
3
1
21 1 1 28
21
0.001
1
1 2
22
2
0.002
1 1
1 1
1
6
1
2
1
2 1
1
1
4
1
0.001
10 0.0005
3
2 1 0.000
4
0.000
5
%
Deagan2.14App3
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12:52 PM
Page 322
(Continued )
Excavated area in m2 :
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
Metallurgy Crucible Lead fragment Lead object Iron rod Iron strap Iron fragment UID iron object Copper sheet Copper strap Copper object Copper fragment Subtotal metallurgy
All European
3 1
4 14 5
1
6 2 7 154 33 2
1 172 110
325 50
113 4
1 1 39 328
9 7 414
7 6 217
0.025
0.048
0.022
0 118
8,815
6,837
18,425
3,509
45 283 3,650
11 316 3,634 24 2 17 4,004
138 12,207 13,375 3 5
30 1,164 14,655
Indigenous Materials Ceramics Burén Chican Decorated Chican Plain Unidentified ceramic Meillacan Plain Meillacan Decorated Subtotal ceramics
3,978
25,728
8 22 15,879
Tools and Implements Grater Metate Grinding stone Ax Blade Celt Chisel Fish hook Hammer stone Punch Scraper Projectile point
1 4 1
1
4 1
1 1
0.034
Deagan2.14App3
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12:52 PM
Page 323
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
#
%
12
19 7 5 1
9 4 2
9
2
4 56 6
336 21
561 43
43 21 5
35 8
3 5 379
20 8 698 0.0314
172 77 1 1 11 9 303
6 0 90
1 1 54
0.092
0.014
0.008
0.039
0 58 90 23 1 8 1,911 367 8 2 58 75 2,601 0.026
4,098
22,217
22,345
11,346
1,377
98,969
75 1,121 12,498
8 715 6,615
18 667 8,702
10 217 3,429
3 106 1,008
7 61 13,762
16 5 7,359
4 1 9,392
1 8 3,665
2 4 1,123
335 16,796 67,566 27 45 118 84,887
3 1
2
4
6
1
7 1
2
1 1 1
1 1
1 1 1
%
3 1 1 15 1 17 2 4 1 1 2 1
Deagan2.14App3
2/22/02
12:52 PM
Page 324
(Continued )
Excavated area in m2 :
Fishnet weight Stone bowl frag. UID stone tool Chert core Debitage Flake Subtotal tools
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
2 4 1
27
103 8
134
1
1 1 2 4 2
36
41
2
1
489 1 533
269 315
Ornamental/Ritual Items Bead Shell bead Stone bead Cuenta de colár Ear plug Gorget Labret Pendant Stamp Stone ball Jadeite celt Pipe Phallus Shell plaque Zemi Worked coral Worked stone Subtotal ornamental Total Taíno items Total Euro. items Total All Items
4 5
1
1 8 21
1 5 2
6 1 1
3
1 2
1
1 2
15
13
2 1 1 41
4,001 8,815 12,816
0.312 4,151 0.688 6,837 10,988
0.378 26,302 0.622 18,425 44,727
0.588 16,206 0.412 3,509 19,715
12 15 11
6 1
12
Post-Isabela Colonial Ceramics Black lead glazed Plain Delft Faience English slipware Stoneware Porcelain Salt-glazed Stoneware
1
14 5
19 3
0.822 0.178
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Page 325
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
#
%
54
18
5
3
1 1 593 2 658
7
1
2
17
57
28
48
49
78
37
50
1 18 1 60
3 11 1 16 1
6 5 9
1 2
2 5
1 1 3
2
2 1 1
2 5 2 7
94
36
2
3
2 28
4
14,427 0.779 7,502 0.2524 9,506 0.298 3,730 4,098 0.221 22,217 0.7476 22,345 0.702 11,346 18,525 29,719 31,851 15,076
0.247 0.753
1
1
2 3 3
6 5
2 1 4
1 1 3
186 4 15 1 1,604 3 1,862
7 37 27 119 3 3 1 17 1 4 1 4 2 3 15 1 5 250
1,177 0.461 86,999 1,377 0.539 98,969 2,554 185,968
12
1 2
%
12 1 2 2 62 34 22
0.468 0.532
Deagan2.14App3
2/22/02
12:52 PM
Page 326
(Continued )
Excavated area in m2 :
Cologne stoneware Redware Unidentified ceramic Tin-enameled ware Subtotal colonial
20th-century items Total post-Isabela
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
Zone 3 (Residential)
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza)
1,408 # %
2,496 # %
3,520 # %
1,856 # %
37 56
6 29
17 208 263
3 12
1,256 1,312
1,440 1,469
5,157 5,420
1,274 1,286
876 192,799
99 57,675
2,205 149,394
998 125,881
20,956 764
18,781 242
8,245
13,094
2,613
120
10 607
24,333
19,143
8,862
5000 203 43 18,340
18,796
69,735 154 3,805 19,414 578 82 89 93,857
10
5
126 4,932 301 64 698 6,131
54 3,485
1567 78 6,629
343 50 4,926 6,407 32 15
2
Weighed Substances (in Grams) Subsistence Faunal bone Marine shell
Architectural Teja Ladrillo Plaster Mortar Limestone Subtotal architectural
Metallurgy Galena Mercury Slag Iron fragment Lead Lead fragment Metal fragment Subtotal metallurgy
9,652 41,070 4 12 69,535
95 3,639
Miscellaneous Substances Charcoal Chert Coral Granite Hematite Ocher Pigment Quartz Rock
812 93 17,456
641 38 6,751 584
61 2 4 5,665
12 13,634
4,2904
177 27,189
Deagan2.14App3
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12:52 PM
Page 327
Zone 5 (Casa Colón)
Zones 6–7 (Laguna)
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.)
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur)
Total
704
1,344 # %
3,648 # %
3,200 # %
1,216 # %
19,392 #
#
%
3 14 26
2 1 9 119 155
166 99 273
33 89 127
13 6 22
3 3 241 581 963
580 606
1,987 2,142
6,005 6,278
1,490 1,617
590 612
19,779 20,742
1,024 163,174
3,890 394,364
3,047 686,138
1,084 414,023
761 110,655
13,983 2,294,102
29,696
30,892 7,830
39,603 272 872
4,124
3,996
137 70 419,437
266 115,678
82557 205 3,219 115,677
1
277 437,253
525 730,457
7 5,352 156 19 19 5,552
2,428 220 174 200 3,022
639 78
514 48
11 728
1,824 2,386
292 2 30,541 344
92 42 21,775 5,268
24
1,889,180
253 38 997
52 1,340
111 11,576
39 321 13,987
29
11
76 7 62,440
5,689 1,107 64
4 67,652
54,327
30,242
9,077
186,190
%
Deagan2.14App3
2/22/02
12:52 PM
Page 328
(Continued ) Summary Statistics: La Isabela Artifact Distribution* Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
1,408 % All Euro.
#
Area in m2 : #
2,496 % All Euro.
Zone 3 (Residential) #
3,520 % All Euro.
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza) #
1,856 % All Euro.
European Items Majolica Sgraffito slip Melado Vitreo Loza común Total Euro. Ceram. Domestic/house Glass Architecture Military Horse equipment Clothing Ornaments Personal items Tools Metallurgy Total all European
355 3 553 375 4,084 5,370 8 814 2,162 163 0 12 6 13 11 217 8,815
0.040
193
0.028
0.063 0.043 0.463 0.609 0.001 0.092 0.245 0.018
291 216 3,920 4,612 8 305 1,349 165 8 7 3 12 3 328 6,837
0.043 0.032 0.573 0.675 0.001 0.045 0.197 0.024 0.001 0.001
0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.025
% all items
0.002 0.048
632 24 1,018 1,040 13,768 16,482 8 902 510 42 8 12 8 25 6 414 18,425
% all items
0.034
70
0.020
0.055 0.056 0.747 0.895
93 54 2,242 2,459 2 768 100 26 8 9 5 8 5 118 3,509
0.027 0.015 0.639 0.701 0.001 0.219 0.028 0.007 0.002 0.003 0.001 0.002 0.001 0.034
0.049 0.028 0.002 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.022
% all items
% all items
Indigenous Items Ceramics Tools/implements Ornament/ritual Total all indigenous Total 15th cent. Total modern
Weighed Substances Faunal bone Marine shell Architectural ** Metallurgy
3,978 8 15 4,001
0.312
12,816 1,312 #
g/m2
4,004 134 13 4,151
25,728 533 41 0.378 26,302
15,879 315 12 0.588 16,206
10,988 1,469
44,727 5,420
19,715 1,286
#
g/m2
#
g/m2
876 0.622 99 0.040 2,205 1 192,799 136.931 57,675 23.107 149,394 60 24,333 17.282 19,143 7.669 8,862 4 69,628 49.451 93,894 37.618 6,209 2
0.822
#
g/m2
998 125,881 18,340 3,689.4
1 68 10 2
Deagan2.14App3
2/22/02
Zone 5 (Casa Colón) #
704 % All Euro.
49 1 60 172 1,948 2,230 5 237 1,161 29 26 8 6 1 4 379 4,098
0.012 0.015 0.042 0.475 0.544 0.001 0.058 0.283 0.007 0.006 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.092
12:52 PM
Zones 6–7 (Laguna) #
1,344 % All Euro.
1092 9 1,818 1,336 16,406 20,661 28 128 296 333 13 22 3 18 10 698 22,217
% all items 13,762 658 7 14,427 0.779 18,525 606
0.049 0.082 0.060 0.738 0.930 0.001 0.006 0.013 0.015 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.031
g/m2
1,024 163,174 115,677 1,340.2
1 232 164 2
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.) #
3,648 % All Euro.
658 3 1,670 770 18,413 21,511 21 88 227 125 5 19 6 28 3 303 22,345
% all items 7,359 49 94 7,502
0.252
29,719 2,142
#
Page 329
#
9,392 78 36 9,506
0.029 0.075 0.034 0.824 0.963 0.001 0.004 0.010 0.006 0.001 0.001 0.014
3,890 3 394,364 293 437,253 325 5,873.1 4
# 3,047 686,138 730,457 3,023.8
#
3,200 % All Euro.
348 6 555 274 9,786 10,969 10 62 95 85 1 4 3 22 4 90 11,346
0.031 0.049 0.024 0.863 0.967 0.001 0.005 0.008 0.007
0.002 0.008
% all items
% all items
0.298
3,665 37 28 3,730 0.247
31,851 6,278 g/m2
Zone 9 (Pob. Este)
15,076 1,617 g/m2
#
g/m2
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur) #
Total
1,216 19,392 % All # % All Euro. Euro.
41 1 69 33 1,049 1,193 2 77 17 19 5 2 2 2 5 54 1,377
0.030 0.050 0.024 0.762 0.866 0.001 0.056 0.012 0.014 0.004 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.004 0.039
3,438 47 6,127 4,270 70,567 85,487 92 3,381 5,917 987 74 95 42 129 51 2,601 98,969
0.035 0.062 0.043 0.713 0.862 0.001 0.034 0.060 0.010 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.026
% all items
% all items
1,123 50 4 1,177
84,887 1,862 250 0.461 86,999
0.468
2,554 612
185,968 20,742
#
1 1,084 0 761 188 414,023 129 110,655 200 419,437 131 115,678.3 1 769.8 0 2,386.3
g/m2
#
1 13,983 91 2,294,102 95 1,889,179 2 186,189
g/m2 1 118 97 10
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(Continued ) Summary Statistics: La Isabela Artifact Distribution*
Area in m2 : Artifact Density by Zones All European All Tanío Total modern items
Zone 1 (Playa)
Zone 2 (Alhóndiga)
1,408 #/m2
#
#
8,815 4,001 1,312
2,496 #/m2
6.261 6,837 2.842 4,151 0.932 1,469
Zone 3 (Residential) #
3,520 #/m2
2.739 18,425 1.663 26,302 0.589 5,420
Zone 4 (Church/Plaza) #
1,856 #/m2
5.234 3,509 7.472 16,206 1.540 1,286
1.891 8.732 0.693
* These data represent the intensively-analyzed subsample of excavated materials analyzed by the University of Florida. They account for 68 percent of the total area excavated and approximately 65 percent of the total number of artifacts excavated. * * Quantification of architectural materials is not reliable for comparative purposes, because the hundreds of thousands of tejas, ladrillos, construction stone were left in situ in the field at the time of excavation and were not recorded by weight.
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Zone 5 (Casa Colón) #
704 #/m2
12:52 PM
Zones 6–7 (Laguna) #
1,344 #/m2
Page 331
Zone 8 (Pob. Cent.) #
3,648 #/m2
4,098 5.821 22,217 16.531 22,345 14,427 20.493 7,502 5.582 9,506 606 0.861 2,142 1.594 6,278
Zone 9 (Pob. Este) #
3,200 #/m2
6.125 11,346 2.606 3,730 1.721 1,617
3.546 1.166 0.505
Zone 10 (Pob. Sur) #
Total
1,216 19,392 #/m2 # #/m2
1,377 1,177 612
1.132 98,969 5.104 0.968 86,999 4.486 0.503 20,742 1.070
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: Field Catalogue of All Excavated Items In General Classification Categories by Count Item
Frequency
% of All Artifacts
European Items Colonial Ceramics Majolica Vitreos Melado Loza común Stoneware Lebrillo Subtotal colonial ceramics
6,917 17,676 289 107,348 50 30 132,310
1.523 3.891 0.064 23.628 0.011 0.007 29.124
103,406 35 96 1,662 106,199
22.762 0.008 0.021 0.366 23.156
237,509
52.280
128 885 700 9,500 11,213
0.028 0.195 0.154 2.091 14.68
705 158,781
0.155 34.951
13 43 13,099 1 4 5 487 1 84 6,754
0.003 0.009 2.883 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.107 0.000 0.018 1.487
Nonceramic Items Metales a Crisól Moneda Vidrio Subtotal nonceramic items Subtotal European Items (excluding architectural) Ceramics of Unrecorded Origin “Ceramics” Handle Base Rims Subtotal undifferentiated ceramics Indian Items Ceramics Burén Indian Ceramics Indian Nonceramic Items Worked shell Bead Cuenta de colár Earplug “Pearl” Clay pipe Fishnet weight Hammer stone Ax Flakes
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: (Continued ) In General Classification Categories by Count Item
Frequency
% of All Artifacts
Lithics b Celt fragments Subtotal Indian items Subtotal artifacts
25,590 9 205,676 454,298
5.633 0.002 46.251 100.00
Architectural Materials Plaster/mortar Ladrillo Teja Carved/worked stone Subtotal architectural materials
23,770 1,596 201,860 5 227,231
Metals and Ores Galena Lead Mercury Subtotal Stone and Minerals Polished stones Quartz Mica Ocre Resin Rounded pebbles Coral Rock Pumice Lime, stone Subtotal stone and minerals Faunal/Charcoal Charcoal Shell Crab shell Animal bone Subtotal faunal/charcoal 20th-century items
101,867 1,153 154 grams 102, 950 25 7 1 63 265 25,118 10,631 2,984 5 42 39,203 10,639 635,467 4,952 7,643 658,701 61,501
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: (Continued ) In General Classification Categories by Count
Item Summary Subtotal European Items (excluding architectural) Subtotal Indian items Subtotal undifferentiated ceramics All artifacts Architectural items Metals/ores Stone and minerals Faunal/charcoal Modern items Total all catalogued items
Frequency
% of All Artifacts
% of All Items
237,509 205,576
52.28 45.25
15.37 13.30
11,213 454,298
2.47 100
0.73 29.4
227,231 102,958 39,203 658,701 61,501 1,545,278
a All
14.7 6.66 2.54 42.63 3.98
metal items were counted and recorded at the time of excavation as “metales,” including both objects and fragments. b All lithic objects were recorded at the time of excavation as “liticas,” including stone tools and flakes.
.
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Potentially Undisturbed Domestic Proveniences Used for Macrofaunal Analyses A. Casa de Colón (In Area of Precontact Midden) FS# Unit Provenience Town Area 699 721 751 753 755 762
E120LBS E120LBS E104LCS E104LCS E104LCS E104LDS
Rubble Level 3 Rubble Level 2 Level 2 Rubble
Casa Colón (rubble) Casa Colón (sheet deposit) Casa Colón (rubble) Casa Colón (sheet deposit) Casa Colón (sheet deposit) Casa Colón (rubble)
B. Isolated Sample Outside Alhóndiga (In a Badly Disturbed Area) 136
E56LIN
P2
Alhóndiga (sheet deposit)
Pozo (pit) 7 Pozo (pit) 1, Test 1
Zone 4— elite residential (shovel test)
C. Elite Residential 448 669
E48L4S E8L7S
Zone 4— elite residential (shovel test)
D. Non-Elite Residential 740 1525 1567 1589 1572 5009 1520 1522 1533 1538 1562 5311 5305
E104LIS E16LÑS E16LÑS E16LÑS E16LÑS E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN E16LIN E8LHN
Test 3 Z2L3, C8 Z2L2, C7 A4L2,C8 F1L2, C8 Z2L1, CC15 Area 1, C14 Z2L1, C14 Z2L1, C5 Z2L1, C1 Z2L3, 13 FEA1, L8 Z2L1, C16
Zone 10— south Poblado (sheet deposit) Zone 9— east Poblado (sheet deposit) Zone 9— east Poblado (sheet deposit) Zone 9— east Poblado (dip in sheet deposit) Zone 9— east Poblado (pit) Zone 8— Poblado central (sheet deposit) Zone 8— Poblado central (pit) Zone 8— Poblado central (sheet deposit) Zone 8— Poblado central (sheet deposit) Zone 8— Poblado central (sheet deposit) Zone 8— Poblado central (sheet deposit) Zone 8— Poblado central (trash deposit) Zone 8— Poblado central (sheet deposit)
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Deagan2.16App5
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Compositional Analyses of Ceramics from La Isabela
Emlen Myers Archaeological Consultant 7 December 1991 Chemical analysis has been completed for seventy-two samples of the materials sent from La Isabela. These include one sample for each artifact and three subsamples each for the two soil samples with high clay content. Photographs of the artifacts have been taken, and descriptive data have been entered in our database files at the National Conservation Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. From previous work I also have analytical and descriptive data from seven other presumed local sherds, three aboriginal and four of European type. Also relevant are fifty-odd majolica and lead-glazed earthenware analyses already completed for the Smithsonian Institution Conservation Analytical Laboratory’s majolica project. The immediately relevant dataset thus consists of concentration measurements for thirty-one elements in 112 samples. A sample inventory is given below. Preliminary work on the data reveals a readily interpretable overall pattern. All glazed wares are grouped with ceramics of known Spanish origin, including the majolica, and are clearly Spanish themselves. All of the unglazed wares (fine, coarse, tiles, and others) are grouped together along with the clay samples and aboriginal wares. So, the unglazed wares all appear to have been made from clays similar to the ones Deagan and Cruxent provided. To me the data indicate the certain New World production of these plain wares. Elements most useful in making this gross distinction between Old and New World materials are scandium, iron, chromium, thorium, and the rare earths. Among the New World materials there are a number of interesting patterns as well. The tiles, clays, fine wares, and kiln fragments group together and are distinct from the coarse wares. The aboriginal sherds (n = 3) are much closer in composition to the coarse wares. It is possible that variation in amounts of the “dark mineral,” probably chromite (which Cruxent has noted as characteristic of local ceramics) is responsible for compositional differences between the fine and coarse wares. If it is also true that material was added intentionally to the coarse wares as temper, then the Spaniards who made the European-style pottery were probably using the same temper as the Indians, whose potsherds are compositionally similar. Additional analytical work is recommended to test this and other possibilities related to ceramic production at the site.
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La Isabela Samples Analyzed (N = 112) ID No.
Artifact Description
ISA010 ISA011 ISA012 ISA013 ISA014 ISA015 ISA016 ISA017 ISA018 ISA019 ISA020 ISA021 ISA022 ISA023 ISA024 ISA025 ISA026 ISA027 ISA028 ISA029 ISA030 ISA031 ISA032 ISA033 ISA034 ISA035 ISA036 ISA037 ISA038 ISA039 ISA040 ISA041 ISA042 ISA000 ISA002 ISA003 ISA004 ISA005 ISA006 ISA007 ISA043 ISA044
Mang. on honey-colored ware Mang. on honey-colored ware Mang. on honey-colored ware Mang. on honey-colored ware Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Columbia Plain, green variant Unidentified blue on white Isabela Polychrome Isabela Polychrome Isabela Polychrome Yayal Blue on white Unidentified blue on w. maj. Isabela Polychrome Unidentified blue on w. maj. Isabela Polychrome Coarse plain-ware sherd Coarse plain-ware sherd Coarse plain-ware sherd Fine plain-ware sherd Unidentified aboriginal ware Unidentified aboriginal ware Unidentified aboriginal ware Melado Melado
Context None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None None SONDEO #6 SONDEO #6 SONDEO #6 SONDEO #6 None None None FS-0654 FS-0654
.
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ID No.
Artifact Description
ISA045 ISA046 ISA047 ISA048 ISA049 ISA050 ISA051 ISA052 ISA053 ISA054 ISA055 ISA056 ISA057 ISA058 ISA059 ISA060 ISA061 ISA062 ISA063 ISA064 ISA065 ISA066 ISA067 ISA068 ISA069 ISA070 ISA071 ISA072 ISA073 ISA074 ISA075 ISA076 ISA077 ISA078 ISA079 ISA080 ISA081 ISA082 ISA083 ISA084 ISA085 ISA086 ISA087
Melado Melado Melado Melado Melado Melado Melado Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware
Context FS-0660 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-1886 FS-1853 FS-1853 FS-1853 FS-1853 FS-1853 FS-1849 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-0661 FS-5033 FS-5033 FS-5033 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0694 FS-1826 FS-5316 FS-5316 FS-1904 FS-0659 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0654 FS-0660 FS-0660 FS-0657
.
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ID No.
Artifact Description
ISA088 ISA089 ISA090 ISA091 ISA092 ISA093 ISA094 ISA095 ISA096 ISA097 ISA098 ISA099 ISA100 ISA101 ISA102 ISA103 ISA104 ISA105 ISA106 ISA107 ISA108 ISAC01 ISAC02 ISACQ3 ISAC04 ISAC05
Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware Kiln Fragment Roof tile (teja) “Spanish earthenware” Fine earthenware Fine earthenware Roof tile (teja) Roof tile (teja) Roof tile (teja) Roof tile (teja) Fine earthenware Coarse earthenware Coarse earthenware La Brena clay sample La Brena clay sample La Brena clay sample El Tamarindo clay sample El Tamarindo clay sample
Context FS-0657 FS-0657 FS-1826 FS-1814 FS-1832 FS-1832 FS-1832 FS-0661 FS-0661 Horno Las Coles Tam. Horno Las Coles Tam. Horno Las Coles Tam. Horno Las Coles Tam. Horno Las Coles Tam. Casa de Colón Almacen Almacen Diegito Diegito Diegito Diegito La Breña La Breña La Breña El Tamarindo El Tamarindo
.
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Preliminary Comments on the Glass Bracelets from La Isabela Robert Brill Research Scientist Corning Museum of Glass 7 February 1992
Samples Analyzed ID#
Context
Description
4190
ISAFS729
Bracelet fragment. Greenish-aqua, with double thin spirals of white opaque glass. Little or no weathering. Apparent original diameter 5 centimeters; thickness 3.7 millimeters. Sample is of aqua glass.
4191
ISAFS729
Sample is of the white glass from the spirals on # 4190. Opaque white glass with major contamination of green glass.
4192
ISAFS615
Bracelet fragment. Black glass with double thin spirals of white opaque and finer overall structure of very thin spirals on surface, lightly weathered. Apparent original diameter 7 centimeters; thickness 3.5 millimeters. Sample is of black glass.
4193
ISAFS615
Sample is of the white glass from the spirals on # 4192. Opaque white glass with major contamination of black glass.
X-ray diffraction of samples 4191 and 4193 showed that the white opacifier is SnO2
Composition Published in Brill 1999:422 M = sum of the seven minor and major oxides used to characterize most glass SiO2d = 100 percent minus the value of M Entries with * asterisk are percentages of individual oxide components in the reduced M composition Blank entries indicate “sought but not found”
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#4190
#4192
SiO2d Na2O CaO K2 O MgO Al2O3 Fe2O3 TiO2 Sb2O5 MnO CuO SnO2 CoO Ag2O PbO BaO SrO Li2O Rb2O B2O3 V2O5 Cr2O3 NiO ZnO ZrO2 Bi2O3 P2O5 As2O5
61.27 17.4 5.49 2.94 3.67 5.24 1.92 0.25
59.31 20.1 4.85 3.94 3.62 4.82 1.75 0.2
0.64 0.01 0.05
0.32 0.01 0.01
0.001 0.1 0.05 0.03 0.03
0.001 0.40 0.05 0.05 0.05
0.02 0.005
0.02 0.005
0.05 0.01
0.07
0.82
0.001 0.42
Total 100-T= d M
38.726 61.274 97.934
40.678 59.313 98.393
SiO2*d Na2O* CaO* K2O* MgO* Al2O3* Fe2O3* T* (Na+K)* (Ca+Mg)* (Si+Al+Fe)* (Na/K) (Ca/Mg)
62.57 17.77 5.61 3.00 3.75 5.35 1.96 100.00 20.77 9.35 69.88 5.92 1.50
60.28 20.43 4.93 4.00 3.68 4.90 1.78 100.00 24.43 8.61 66.96 5.10 1.34
.
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Discussion The La Isabela glasses are soda-lime glasses made with soda derived from plant ash. We have not yet had time to compare thoroughly the two La Isabela analyses with those of other glasses we have on hand. However, we can suggest certain chemical similarities — but not close matches — with some glasses from some of the sites mentioned below. Specific chemical compositional data from these samples can be found in Brill 1999. 1. Islamic glasses in general (mostly Near Eastern). The La Isabela glasses tend to have higher soda (NaO) contents than most Near Eastern Islamic glasses. 2. Qsar es-Seghir, Morocco (Redman 1986). Fairly close, but not a good match for the two Seghir bracelets analyzed so far. 3. Venice. Inconclusive, but should be pursued further. Many (perhaps most) Venetian glasses were natron-based and therefore differ distinctly from the La Isabela bracelet. 4. Beniali (Eastern Spain), thirteenth to mid-sixteenth centuries. (Butzer and Butzer 1986). Four glass vessel fragments from this site were provided years ago by Karl Butzer of Chicago. These are a fairly close match for the La Isabela bracelet compositions. 5. En Bas Saline, Haiti (Deagan 1987). Although bracelets are very different from the glass vessel fragment found at Navidad (CMG 4091; Brill 1999:420), the chemical compositions are quite similar.
.
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Deagan2.18App7
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Artifact Distributions at Three Spanish Town Sites in Hispaniola
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7
Area excavated (In m2 ):
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro.
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro.
Majolica Bizcocho Caparra Blue Columbia Plain Columbia Plain/Blue Columbia Plain/Green Columbia Plain/Aqua Columbia Pl./Gunmet Cuerda seca Ligurian/Seville B/B Isabela Poly Lusterware Montelupo Poly Stodomingo B/W Yayal B/W Unidentified Aqua Unidentified B/B Unidentified Blue Unidentified B/W Unidentified Green Unidentified Gr/Wh Unidentified Italian Unidentified Morisco Unidentified Poly Unidentified White Unidentified Majolica Subtotal majolica
499 100 1,563 1 66 1 26 1
359 22 9,079 197
168 14 4 17 33 105
223
1 20 5 5 19 331 19 7 3 134 23 24 326 3,397
48 422 64 45
267 0.034
48,732
0.296
10,844
0.323
Glazed Wares Melado Vitreos (lead glazed) Green bacín Glazed olive jar Sgrafitto slipware Pisan slipware Slipped redware Porcelain Cologne stoneware Subtotal glazed
6,127 4,119 151
24,839 5,228 2,361
750 1,413 456 2,995
47 14
10,444
0.105
8 115 32,565
0.197
59 70 50 5,793
0.172
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro.
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro.
Unglazed European Wares Loza Común Unglazed olive jar Redware Subtotal unglazed Total Euro. ceramics
70,567
70,567 85,487
72,718 238 0.711 0.862
72,956 154,253
0.442 0.935
3,068 7,459 701 11,228 27,865
0.334 0.830
Household/Domestic Items Candleholder Candle snuffer Collander Copper cup Fork Handle Key Table knife Mortar (metal) Pestle Metal pot fragment Spoon Strikolite Mano Metate Oil lamp (metal) Syringe Subtotal kitchen
4
25
52 1 2
4 3 14 11 1 2 3
6 1 1 1 4 3 2
1 2
3 1 6
2 1
77
0.001
1 1 65
16
Furniture Clavo Copper tack Escutcheon Hardware Finial Handle Hinge Inlay Lock Subtotal household
1 2 3 1 2 1
1 7 1
13 2
5 3 1 91
0.001
3 82
31
0.001
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro.
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro.
Glass Aqua Cobalt Latticinio Patinated brown Black Clear Decorated Dark green Green Olive green Red Unidentified Yellow Vials Subtotal glass
207
11 72 33
166 5 1457 449 1 81
575 4 8 302 3 2,087 1 8 3,361
0.034
9 832 2 26 2,978
735
1,006
0.018
1,741
0.052
Architectural Items Bolt Bolt nut Cuenca tile Door lock Estoperole Ceramic door pivot Round handle T- handle Hinge Iron object Latch Lead object Wrought nail Spike, UID Spike, wrought Staple Tack Washer Wire Subtotal architectural
32 29 2 33 3 1 3
4
15 9 1 7
38 8
1
307 23 4,486 114 733 36 47 19 35 5,900
2
9 1
10
6,466
2,258 499 1 32 4
0.059
6,510
0.039
2,855
0.085
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro.
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro.
Military Items Armor buckle Brigandine plate Chain mail Gun-barrel fragment Brass object Breechplug Cannon fragment Bolt head Dagger Escutcheon Iron object Lance Lead shot Shot core (iron) Iron shot Pike Rivet Scabbard tip Shackles Sword blade fragment Sword pommel Trigger Leadsprue Shot mold Subtotal military
10 670 47 5 1 1 26 9 1 3 307 3 27 103 2 14 8 15 41 2 4 18 1 1,318
3 7
13 4
1 3 1
2
4
3
5 1 5 1
5 2 2
8
2 0.013
46
0.000
26
0.001
Horse-Related Items Bit Harness buckle Tack hardware Bridle loop Horseshoe Horseshoe nail Spur Subtotal horse items
31 8 2 40 11 2 94
2 2
11 5 20 7 7
1 428
0.001
3 436
0.003
50
0.001
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro.
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro.
Clothing Items Aglet Bobbin (lace) Buckle Clasp Eye Fastener Grommet Needle Straight pin Scissors Thimble Strap end Subtotal clothing
24 31 2 2 8 2 1 9
14 100
22
0.001
287 1 16 1 1 2
18 32 5 5
293 4 4
82
615
8 1 2 1
36
Ornamentation Agate bead Glass bead Glass bracelet Brooch Chain Copper strip Earring Filigree Finger ring Pendant Jet fragment Brass star
2 11 1 3 2 1 13 17 4
3
2 1 6
Other Personal or Religious Items Crucifix Cross Shrine object Reliqary Bell Sculptured figures Cascabel Book hardware Seal
1 1 1 1
4 1 1
1 3 2 13 11 3
5 13 4
0.018
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
Coin Coin weight Cup weight Personal seal Red clay pipe Jaw harp Whizzer Game disc Total personal items
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro. 112 1 1
4 144
284 3 1 3 7
0.001
346
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro. 218
1
0.002
25 1 9 321
0.010
Tools and Implements Awl Ax Chisel File Hammer Knife Machete Punch Plumb bob Rule /scale Wedge Tool, UID Fishhook Harpoon Hoe Hook Hone Lead weight Copper tube Rivet Chainlink Loop Total tools
2 73 1 2 1
12 2 1 2 1
10 1 4 1 7
2 1
3 1
1 1 1
15 3 1
2 7
3 1
2 18
1 1
1 8 13 2 63
0.001
5 1 94
0.001
6 3 66
Metallurgy Crucible Galena Lead fragment Lead object
49 91 90 23
7
0.002
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
Iron rod Iron strap Iron fragment UID Iron object Copper sheet Copper strap Copper object Copper fragment Total metallurgy All European items
La Isabela La Vega 19,392 8,000 Frequency % Euro. Frequency % Euro. 1 8 1,876 367 8 2 57 74 2,646
10
0.027
99,204
Non-European Materials
Puerto Real 1,133 Frequency % Euro.
164,892 % NonEuro.
17
0.001
33,587
1.000
% NonEuro.
% NonEuro.
Ceramics Indigenous decorated Indigenous plain Rims/bases Unidentified Chican decorated Colono Subtotal ceramics
5,285 66,558 28 384 25 72,380
1,250 69,037 6,137
0.0003 0.968
28904 105,328
155 12,916
0.274 0.998
13 9825 22,909
Tools and Implements Burén (ceramic) Burén (stone) Grater Metate Grinding stone Ax Blade Celt Chisel Fishhook Hammer stone Punch Polishing stone Scraper Point
335 3 1 1 15 1 16 2 3 1 1
146 10
129
2 5 2
1 1
1 1
2 1
0.426 0.993
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7 (Continued )
Area excavated (In m2 ):
La Isabela 19,392
Non-European Materials
Frequency
Fishnet weight Tool, UID Chert core Debitage Flake Total tools
186 15 1 1556 3 2143
Stone Bowl
La Vega 8,000
% Non% NonEuro. Frequency Euro.
Puerto Real 1,133
Frequency
% NonEuro.
16
0.029
9 176
0.002
4 151
0.007
4
Ornamental/Ritual Items Bead Bead preform Shell bead Stone bead Cuenta colár Earplug Gorget Labret Pendant Stamp Stone ball Jadeite celt Pipe Phallus Shell plaque Zemi Carved coral Carved stone Carved shell Carved bone Total ornamental
7 1 37 26 119 3 3 1 17 1 4 1 4 2 3 12 1 5 5 1 248
1 2
1
1
2 2 5 0.003
14
% All Total non-Euro. items Tot. Euro. items Total all items
74,838 99,204 174,041
1
0.430 0.570
0.000
1
% All 105518 164,892 270,985
0.389 0.608
% All 23,061 33,587 56,648
0.407 0.593
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Deagan2.19ref
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The letter ( f) following a page number means figure African influence, 291, 293, 294–96 Africans, 3, 273, 290 Agate, 196, 199 Agencia Española de Cooperación International, 14, 97, 122 Aglets, 188–89, 190(f ), 196 Aguado, Juan de, 9 Al-Mina slipware, 159 Albarelos, 155, 208, 209(f ) Alcazar of Seville, 99 Alhóndiga,, 87, 93, 95, 123–28, 234, 236, 251, 259 Almadén, Spain, 260 Amber, 195 Amulets, 40, 41, 42, 43 Anafres, 167, 170, 291 Analysis methods, 81–83, 281 Andalusia, 53, 97, 138, 183, 206
Animals, European, 5, 140, 291. See also individual animals Animals, American, 139, 140, 142, 185, 291 Arcaduce, 55–57 Architectural hardware, 98, 103–4, 105(f ), 106. See also Nails Armor, 297; brigandine, 193, 243, 244 (f ); body, 243; chain mail, 243, 245 (f ); fastenings, 243, 246 Arquebus, 229, 232 Arrom, José, 42 Artifact looting, 61 Artillery, 231–32. See also individual weapons Avila, Spain, 216 Bacín, 166, 205–6, 206(f ) Bahamas, 282 Bajabonico site, 19, 45 Bats, 34
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Bayahá, Haiti, 283 Beads, 17; stone 21, 40, 44, 195; shell, 40; glass, 196, 298; carnelian, 199(f ) Behiques, 42 Bells, 117, 120, 201 Benialí, Spain, 200 Bizcocho, 149, 155, 159(f ) Blacksmiths, 251, 282 Blancas, 216 Boca Chica site, 16 Bodoque, 233. See also Dados Bohíos, 6, 78, 133, 202 Bombardeta, 231(f ) Books, 221–22 Bracelets, glass, 198, 199(f ) Braudel, Fernand, 202 Bread: wheat, 141, 182; manioc, 170–71, 182, 185 Brill, Robert, 200 Buckles, 190(f ), 193(f ), 246 Buil, Fray Bernaldo, 5, 9 Burén, 37, 171, 173(f ), 292 Burials 7, 63, 115, 145, 214, 215(f ) Cádiz, Spain, 4 Calderón, Fernando Luna, 7, 10, 145 Calzado, 121, 128, 131 Canary Islands, 5, 9 Candleholders, 202, 285, 287(f ) Cannon, 229, 231 Cántaro, 163, 167, 176, 179(f ), 291, 292 Cantimplora, 155, 177–79, 181(f ) Cantisano, Rafael, 10, 241 Caonabo, 4 Carmona, Spain, 99 Carpentry, 5, 97–98, 255 Carreta Podrida site, 19 Casa de Cólon, 87, 93, 96, 98; construction of, 100–01, 108–13; tower, 110(f ), 111, 112; nails, 253 Casa del Cordón, Santo Domingo, 294 Casas, Bartolomé de las, 5, 119, 276 Cassava. See Manioc Catholic Church, 211, 298 Cattle, 143, 283, 274, 282, 294
Cayabo, 19 Cemeteries, 93, 115, 214, 283, 298 Ceramic classification, 27, 149–52, 160–63 Cerámica Indo-Hispano, 294, 295(f ) Ceutil, 216 Chanca, Dr. Alvarez, 5, 51 Charcoal, 247, 297 Chican Ostionoid tradition, 19, 27–28, 119, 292 Children, 2, 200, 214, 289, 290 Christophe Plain pottery, 294–95 Church furnishings, 119–20, 212 Church of La Isabela. See Iglesia Cibao, 7–8, 48, 213 Ciguayo, 16, 18, 19 Cistern, 128, 130(f ), 131, 205 Clothing, 188–95, 297 Cohoba, 42 Coins, 94, 15, 283, 289. See also individual denominations Colanders, 169 Colón, Bartolomé, 9 Colón, Diego, 5, 8 Colono-ware, 293, 294 Columbian Quincentenary, 3 Columbian Exposition of 1892, 10, 120 Columbus, Christopher: problems at La Isabela, 6–8; tribute to, 17; colonization strategy, 49; supply requests, 7, 141; literacy, 221; gifts to Taínos,195; first voyage, 2, 4, 212 Colvocoresses, G. P., 10–12, 90, 121 Concepción fortress, 10, 275–78 Concepción de la Vega, 120, 144, 212, 274–81, 284–96 Contraband trade, 274, 282, 283 Coppa, Alejandro, 19 Copper mines, 282 Cordillera Septentrional, 49 Córdoba, Spain, 99, 266 Corn, 292 Corning Museum of Glass, 200 Coronel, Pedro Fernández, 10 Corsairs, 282
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Cosa, Juan de la, 5 Criollo society 273 Crossbows, 226, 243, 278 Crucibles, 260–61 Crucifix, 212, 298 Cuba, 12, 293 Cuisine, Spanish, 170, 291, 296 Curacao, 294 Cutlery, 178, 181(f ) Dados, 233, 235(f ). See also Bodoque Daggers, 236, 237(f ) Deetz, James, 61 Defense walls, 89–91, 96, 113–14 Dirección Nacional de Parques of the Dominican Republic 3, 14, 59, 122, 277 Disease and epidemics, 6, 8, 9, 17, 208 Dobal, Carlos, 10, 104, 115 Dock of La Isabela, 94, 121 Dogs, 5, 9 Drinking vessels, 176 Earthquake, 277 El Castillo, 48, 51, 66 El Tamarindo, 52, 265 El Perenal site, 19, 45 Electrum, 259 Emmanuel Point shipwreck, 257 En Bas Saline site, Haiti, 45, 200 Escudillas, 155, 157, 163, 176, 177(f ) Espingardas, 226, 229, 243 Excavation methods and controls, 62– 63, 68–69 Factorías, 4, 121, 288 Falconeta, 231 Famine, 9, 17 Farmers, 5 Faunal remains, 70, 143–46, 182, 298; invertebrate, 147–48, 261, 290, 291 Ferdinand and Isabela: support of Columbus, 4; jewelry, 198, 200; coinage, 216–18; Indian policy, 293; reconquista, 285
Finger rings, 195, 196–98, 197(f ) Fire, 8, 9, 20, 75, 89 Firearms, 226–30, 297. See also individual weapons Fishing, 37, 40, 44, 142, 148, 185 Fishnet weights, 37–39, 40, 45, 148 Floors, 103, 113, 116, 118, 126, 253 Floral remains, 70, 143, 144–45, 147, 182, 298 Florida Museum of Natural History, 63, 144 Florida missions, 114 Food rations at La Isabela, 141–42 Food-preparation technology, Spanish, 167–73, 176–82, 183, 285, 291, 296 Food procurement, 148, 291, 298. See also Fishing Forge, 93, 126, 251 Fortaleza de Ozama, 294 Franciscans, 5, 198 Ft. Jesus, Kenya, 200 Fuel, 56, 271 Fuentes, 176, 177(f ), 291 Furniture, 202, 204(f ), 251 Galena, 260, 262 Gambling, 222 Gargoyle, 120 Gibbs, William, 133 Glassware, 179, 286(f ) Gold: exploration for, 7, 9; influence on site location, 48; metallurgy, 259–62; mines, 274, 277, 283, 294 Gold rush, 274, 276 Goggin, John M., 178, 229 Grid-plan city, 85–87, 281, 284 Guacanagarí, 4, 19, 195, 213, 282 Guadalupe, island of, 171 Guarionex, 19, 275 Guerrero, José, 7, 10, 48 Hacabuche, 226, 229, 230(f ), 232 Hanging, 7, 214 Harpoon, 148 Hawk’s bells, 17, 196, 201, 298
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Hearths, 75, 76, 78, 88, 94, 96, 133, 136, 261 Heneken, Stanley, 133 Henry IV of Castile, coinage of, 216 Hodges, William, 283 Hojeda, Antonio de, 7, 9 Horse gear, 93, 195, 239–42, 285 Horses, 5, 6, 8, 9, 277 Hospital, 208, 276 Hurricane, 9, 257 Hygiene, 202, 204–6 Ibero-American urban planning, 85 Iglesia, La Isabela, 87, 96, 114–20, 253 Intermarriage, 273, 277, 282 Islamic material influence, 297; water technology, 55, 202; architecture, 97, 98, 138; ceramics, 153, 155, 159–60, 176, 208, 266, 285; medicine, 169; adornment, 195, 198; hygiene, 204; horse equipment, 241 Jarros and Jarritos, 176, 179–80, 291 Jesuits, 198 Karcheski, Walter, 229 Killick, David, 259 Kiln, pottery, 48, 53, 55, 101, 166, 183, 265–71 La Breña, 52–53 La Isabela: historical research on, 1; establishment of, 5; abandonment of, 8; modern disturbances to, 11–13, 20, 61,70, 93, 133, 143; physical setting, 47–52; topography of, 66–68; town plan, 86–89; conservation, 97, 122 La Navidad, 4, 7, 9, 17, 45, 47, 89, 200, 213 La Unión site, 44, 45 La Vega, 120, 275, 277 Ladrillos, 102, 111, 113, 123, 266, 285 Lanzas de Jinetas, 211, 241 Las Coles: establishment of, 48–49;
archaeology at, 52, 56, 57; pottery production at, 101, 166, 183, 265 Lead smelting, 236, 259, 264–65 Lead-glazed pottery, 160–66, 176 Lebrillos, 166, 204–6(f ) Leisure activities, 221–22 León, Juan Ponce de, 5 Lime burning, 247 Loma del Candelón, 19, 45 Loza común, 149, 166–68 Luperón, Dominican Republic, 51 Lyon, Eugene, 251 Macoríx, 16, 18 Maggiolo, Marcio Veloz, 19, 48 Majolica, 149, 152–55, 286(f ) Manioc, 16, 142, 148, 182, 291, 292 Manos and metates, 292 Maravedí, 289 Margarit, Mosen Pedro, 211 Marién, 18, 201 Markets and merchants, 121, 215, 283, 288–89, 297 Marta, Ciudad de, 51 Mary Rose shipwreck site, 234 Masons and masonry, 5, 37, 97, 104, 109, 117, 119, 123–24, 133, 271 Mass, Catholic, 5, 9, 211 Matchlock, 229 Mayabonex, 18 McEwan, Bonnie, 290 Medicine, 18, 169, 179, 208, 209 Meillacan Ostionoid tradition, 19, 27 Melado, 149, 160–66 Mercury, 260 Mestizaje, 292 Metallurgy, 78, 259–64 Milling, 48 Miners, 260 Molasses Reef shipwreck site, 232, 233, 234, 257 Monserrat, Spain, 5 Montesinos, Antonio, 276 Morisco ceramic tradition, 152–53, 155, 160, 176, 205, 208
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Mortero, 167, 170(f ), 266, 291, 292 Mortuary patterns, Spanish, 214–15, 283. See also Burials Moya, Emile Boyrie de, 10 Murcia, Spain, 200 Museé de Guahabá, 283 Museo del Hombre Dominicano, 14, 104, 214 Myers, Emlen, 166 Nails, 99, 103, 105(f ), 126, 251–55 National Conservation and Analytical Laboratory, 166 National Geographic Society, 14 National Endowment for the Humanities, 14 Needles, 190(f ), 256(f ) Newsom, Lee Ann, 144 Noria de Vuelo, 55 Nueva Cádiz, Venezuela, 120, 292 Nuremberg, Germany, 220, 285 Ober, Frederick, 10, 11 Occupations, 5, 247, 282, 297 Oil-lamps, 202, 205(f ), 291 Olin, Jacqueline, 166 Olive jars, 178, 288, 292 Ollas and Ollitas, 155, 167, 169, 170(f ) Ornaments and jewelry, Spanish, 195, 199(f ), 289. See also individual types Ornaments, Taíno, 21, 40, 43(f ), 190(f ) Ortega, Elpidio, 19, 149, 294 Ovando, Nicolás de, 276, 281, 284 Palm, Erwin, 10 Pané, Ramón, 5, 275 Pendants, 40, 198, 199(f ), 288 Peterson, Harold, 230 Phillips, Carla Rahn, 142 Physicians, 5 Pichél, 163, 176, 179(f ) Pillars, masonry, 119, 121–22, 123–24, 125(f ) Pins, 189, 190(f ), 193 Pisa, Bernal de, 7
Plants, American, 139, 140, 145, 185 Plants, European, 5, 6, 140 Plaster and mortar, 98, 116, 112–13, 118, 126 Platos, 155, 163, 167, 176, 177(f ) Plaza, 93, 96, 278, 281, 283, 284 Pole arms, 238–39, 238(f ) Polvorín, 87, 93, 122, 128, 129(f ), 131 Portuguese ceramics, 285 Post molds, 75, 76, 134–35(f ) Pottery production, 54, 265–71, 291, 294 Priests, 5, 211 Pucheros, 167, 169, 170–71(f ), 292 Puerto Plata, 10, 18, 44, 124 Puerto Real, Haiti, 114, 144, 196, 274, 281–84 Puig-Ortíz, José, 10 Qsar es-Seghir, Morocco, 178, 183, 198, 200 Quarry, stone, 86 Quicksilver shipwrecks, 260 Rats, 6 Rebellions and mutinies, 7, 8, 10 Refuse: disposal of, 2, 21, 92, 94, 96, 133, 136, 145; in pits, 21, 75, 76, 78, 175 Reitz, Elizabeth, 144, 290 Reliquary, 198, 199(f ), 212 Renaissance influence, 166, 285 Repartimientos, 276–77, 282 Ríos: Bajabonico, 40, 45, 48, 50; Camú, 277; Tablazo, 50; Unijica, 50; Yaque, 17; Riviére Fossé, 284 Rivers. See Ríos Roldán, Francisco, 8, 10, 274 Roman influence, 97, 193, 202, 211 Roofs, 98, 113, 114, 119, 128 Rosaries, 198, 212 Rouse, Irving, 18 Sabana Yegua site, 45, 201, 196 Salamanca, Spain, 277
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San Cristóbal, 9 San Juan de la Maguana, 45 Santa Hermandád, 211, 241 Santa Elena, South Carolina, 246, 251 Santa Fe de Granada, Spain, 285 Santiago, Order of, 211 Santo Domingo, 271, 274, 281, 294; establishment of, 10, 212; mint, 289 Santo Tomás, 8, 9, 17 Scabbard tips, 236, 238(f ) Schuyler, Robert, xxi Scissors, 285 Seals, 289(f ) Seville, Spain, 99, 152, 216, 266; excavations in, 169, 152, 183–84 Sewing, 193, 289 Sgraffito slipware, 149, 159, 160 Shipbuilding, 10, 94, 95, 252–53, 257–59, 265 Ships: 7, 173, 232; Santa María, 4; Cardera, 9, 257; San Juan, 9, 257; Santa Cruz, 9, 257; Niña, 257; India, 257 Shot molds, 234, 235(f ), 236(f ) Shot, 169, 232–36, 265 Silver 259, 262 Slavery, 275, 282, 292 Smith, Roger, 257 Soap, 204 Social class, 141, 187–88, 223, 225, 274 Soil flotation, 69, 143 Solar de las Américas, 13, 51–52, 59, 89 Spanish ceramic forms, 163, 167, 183, 188, 291 Spanish supplies, 5, 140, 182 Spurs, 241, 242(f ) Stahl, Alan, 215 Starvation, 139, 140, 142, 182, 208 Stirrups, 241, 242(f ) Strap tips, 193–95, 194(f ) Stratigraphy, 63–64, 69–70 Subsurface surveys, 66–67, 278–79 Sugar, 6, 276, 294 Swine, 6, 143 Swords, 236, 237(f ) Syphilis, 6
Taíno ceramics, 19, 27–28, l19; use by Spaniards, 173, 175–76, 183, 291, 292 Taínos: research on,15; descriptions of, 16; religion, 16; politics; 16, population figures, 17, 273, 292, 294; Spanish conflict, 17; tribute, 17, 21, 171, 218; at La Isabela, 17, 18, 20, 45, 298; language, 18; ornaments, 21, 40, 43(f ), 44,190(f ); religion and symbolism, 34, 36, 42, 45; trade with Spaniards, 17, 196, 201, 298 Taphonomy, 182, 296, 298 Tapia, 90, 98 99–100, 118, 276 Tazas, 155, 176 Tejas, 98, 101–3, 113, 119, 128, 135, 266 Texas A&M University, 51, 232 Thimbles, 193, 285, 287(f ) Tinajas, 177, 166, 206(f ), 292 Tinajones, 183 Tokens, 218, 219–20 Tools: stone, 38, 40; shell, 40; metal, 247, 255(f ), 257 Torres, Antonio de, 9, 141 Toys, 289 Trade, Spanish-Taíno, 17, 196, 201, 298 Trash. See Refuse Tribute, 17, 21, 171, 218, 275 Trujillo, Rafael, 10 Tudela Bueso, Juan Pérez de, 3 Turquoise, 196 Unicorn, 288 Universidad Nacional y Experimental Francisco de Miranda, 14 University of Arizona, 259 University of Florence, 14, 63, 214 University of Florida, 14, 52, 63, 66, 278, 283 University of Georgia, 283 University of Rome, 214 U.S.S.. Enterprise, 10 Valencia, Spain, 155 Vega Real, 9, 18. See also Cibao Verso, 232, 233
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Vessels, metal, 167 Vials, medicine, 208, 209(f ), 285 Virgin Mary, 197(f ), 212–13 Vitreos, 149,160–66 Watchtowers, 90, 93, 95,111, 121,131–33, 132(f ) Water bottles, Taíno, 36, 37, 38 Waterwheel, 55, 57. See also Noria Weights and measures, 121, 189, 220, 285, 289, 301
Wells, 94, 205 Wheat, 141, 167 Wine, 6, 140, 142 Wolf, Eric, xxi Women, 289, 291; Spanish, 5, 187, 200, 222, 277, 282; Indian, 214, 277, 282, 291, 292; African, 291 Womens’ activities, 290, 292, 296 Zemis, 21, 36, 40, 45
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