The Caribbean was one of the last regions of the Americas to be settled by humans, but how, when, and from where they reached the islands remains unclear. We generated genome-wide data for 93 ancient Caribbean islanders dating between 3200-400 cal. BP and find evidence of at least three separate dispersals into the region, including two early dispersals into the Western Caribbean, one of which seems connected to radiation events in North America. This was followed by a later expansion from South America. We also detect genetic differences between the early settlers and the newcomers from South America with almost no evidence of admixture. Our results add to our understanding of the initial peopling of the Caribbean and the movements of Archaic Age peoples in the Americas.

Fewer than 200 radiocarbon (14C) dates with secure contextual information are available for Cuba, making it challenging to reconstruct Caribbean indigenous population dynamics, their identities and interactions. In this paper, we discussed 21 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates from two mounds (M1 and M2) at the Playa del Mango site (Granma province, Cuba), traditionally associated with the Banwaroid stone tool tradition. The ΔR calculated for the site was –132.0 ± 176 and –164.0 ± 68. The chronology of burials from the peripheral area of M2 suggested that the cemetery was continuously used from at least cal BC 116–AD 241 (2 σ). The domestic area of M2 was used at minimum between cal BC 55–AD 435 (2 σ), which encompasses the use of the funerary areas. An isolated human tooth from M1 [cal AD 125–435 (2 σ)] suggested that this funerary area is later than the one at the periphery of M2, and possibly contemporaneous with the later formation of the M2 shell midden. The archaeological assemblage of the “Banwaroid tradition” is widely distributed in Cuba, and mixed with other archaeological traditions, supporting that a complex web of human interactions took place in the Caribbean in precolonial times.

Food procurement and consumption practices represent an important aspect of a culture and the identity of its bearers. Indigenous communities used a wide variety of approaches for the collection, preparation and consumption of food, determined by an interplay of ancestral traditions, climate, and social relationships established by the ample mosaic of ethnic groups settled in the continental and insular territories. This chapter examines the ethnohistorical strategies, forms of food preparation and its consumption, as well as dietary preferences among Arawak Aboriginal communities in Cuba. It critically evaluates and systematizes the information provided by the early chroniclers in the West Indies (late 15th and early 16th centuries), in order to compare them with the data gathered through archaeological excavations, taking into consideration various paleodietary analyses, as well as the most recent census of faunal remains associated with the sites on the island. It also examines the contributions of the indigenous heritage in the shaping of contemporary Cuban culinary preferences.

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Este trabajo sistematiza la información relacionada con uno de los artefactos más singulares del registro arqueológico cubano. Singularidad marcada por su tipología, escasa presencia y carencia de estudios científicos sobre su uso en las poblaciones de baja escala productiva. El estudio revela un universo de estos objetos conservados en fondos o colecciones, sus detalles tecno-tipológicos, así como su contexto cultural y cronológico. Se realizaron estudios arqueométricos sobre una muestra de diecisiete objetos procedentes de asentamientos arqueológicos ubicados en la cuenca del río Cauto (Cuba), mediante la extracción de sedimentos y la posterior identificación de gránulos de almidón. Estos estudios revelaron que estas herramientas líticas participaban en actividades relacionadas con el procesamiento de alimentos y, posteriormente, fueron parte del ensamblaje de los llamados taladros de cordel.