University Press of Florida Archaeology of Early Colonial Interaction at El Chorro De Maita, Cuba (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P.Bullen Series)

Review "Shows how . . . identities were imposed, expropriated, and socially constructed by colonial influence and offers new insight to such studies and historical contexts. This book will be an enduring contribution for scholars of Cuban history and Caribbean archaeology alike."--Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology Product Description During Spanish colonization of the Greater Antilles, the islands' natives were forced into labor under the encomienda system. The indigenous people became ""Indios,"" their language, appearance, and identity transformed by the domination imposed by a foreign model that Christianized and ""civilized"" them. Yet El Chorro de Maíta retained many of its indigenous characteristics.In this volume-one of the first in English to examine and document an archaeological site in Cuba-Roberto Valcárcel Rojas analyzes the construction of colonial authority and the various attitudes and responses of natives and other ethnic groups. His pioneering study reveals the process of transculturation in which new individuals emerged-Indians, mestizos, criollos-and helps construct the vital link between the pre-Columbian world and the development of an integrated and new history. About the Author Roberto Valcárcel Rojas is a researcher for the Cuban Ministry of Science's Department of Central-Eastern Archaeology and a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, Netherlands.