Surprising colonists of La Isabela

Burials excavated at the earliest European settlement in the New World, established by Christopher Columbus in 1493, have surprised archaeologists by including women and children. It had been thought from documentary evidence that the settlers had all been men.

La Isabela, on the north coast of Hispaniola, in what is now the Dominican Republic, was founded by Columbus, pictured below, late in 1493 on his second voyage. The camp at La Navidad, now in Haiti, established on his first voyage in 1492, had been abandoned by the time he got back, and he moved eastwards along the coast of Hispaniola until he found a suitable location for a permanent settlement.

Substantial traces of La Isabela survive, including Columbus's own house and the foundations of a church, all enclosed within a defensive wall. Next to the church, consecrated in January 1494, was a small cemetery in which the casualties of confrontation with the Taino were buried, together with those who had died of famine, diseases and exhaustion.

New excavations in the cemetery by a team of Dominican, Italian and Mexican archaeologists and biological anthropologists have recovered nearly 50 skeletons. What surprised the investigators was that the burials included at least five children of different ages, as well as four women.

One woman was clearly European, while a second seems to have been a Taino, because of her culturally shaped skull, modified by cradle-boarding in childhood. Metabolic diseases, broken teeth and physical stress due to heavy labour were noted in the skeletons, but there was no sign of syphilis or yaws: if any of the settlers had acquired such diseases, they had not yet progressed enough to show in the bones.

There was also no sign of battle wounds, suggesting that relations with the Taino had not produced early casualties.

DNA analyses and isotopic studies of diet are in progress, and the team hopes to find out whether Columbus's crew included Africans: recent studies in Mexico have shown a surprisingly early African presence in early burial grounds in Yucatán.

Author: Norman Hammond
Source: The Times Online

New Study Confirms Taino Ancestry Among Dominicans

Dominican Republic (UCTP Taino News) - According to a new DNA study conducted in the Dominican Republic a large segment of the country’s population retains indigenous Taino ancestry through their mother’s bloodline. The study, conducted by the University of Puerto Rico, reveals that approximately 15-18% of Dominicans have Native American Mitochondrial DNA out of a population of nearly 10,000,000.

The research is based on 1200 DNA samples taken throughout the island with some test areas revealing 90% of the subjects with Native ancestry. While the percentages are lower than similar studies conducted on the neighboring island of Puerto Rico, the estimates defy “popular” accounts that the Indigenous Peoples were completely exterminated on that island.

“This study is a confirmation of what we have already known and promoted for years” stated Roberto Borrero, a representative of the United Confederation of Taino People. “Our people continue to exist within the multi-cultural mosaic that is the Caribbean despite the genocidal campaigns that began against us 516 years ago with the arrival of Columbus.”

One interesting aspect of the study is that individuals tested in the Cibao region seem to have a different DNA sequence than those tested in the southern part of the island. While both sequences are indigenous the variants could shed some light on ancient migrations. The study also reveals that the Taino descendants from the Cibao area could have been relatively “un-mixed racially” until more recent times.

UCTPTN 10.10.2008

More Evidence of Indigenous Ancestry in Puerto Rico...

Summary: Discovery of the Boricua Eve

"Six out of 10 Puertoricans have American Indian ancestors according to a recent study."

The simple vision of the tri-racial formula defining Puerto Ricans as a mixture of African, Spaniard and Taino could change due to a major scientific discovery involving 19 maternal indigenous lineages that could be defined as the Eve's of modern day Boriken (Puerto Rico).

This discovery is a new twist taken from a scientific investigation in 2003, in that it suggest that six out of 10 Puertoricans have a women ancestor of direct American Indian or of indigenous to American origina and that "indigenous women" have had a greater influence on Puerto Rican culture than previously admitted by academics.

According to investigative research done by genetic scientist specialising in molecular evolution, Juan Carlos Martinez cruzado and archeologist and anthropologist Juan Jose Ortiz Aguilu, the indigenous lineage is most common to the Puertorican of today than that of those with African lineage or Spaniard (European) descendance.

Review full article at: http://www.endi.com/XStatic/endi/template/nota.aspx?n=156387

Op-Ed: As Taino We Must Combat Misinformation

by Domingo Turey Hernandez

I viewed on a public access channel recently, a program called "Visions of Puerto Rico." Rita Moreno read the script which included mistakes like, "El Yunke in Taino means Land of the Happy Spirit." This "translation" is not even close! Ms. Moreno then goes on to read the Yunke was considered sacred land to the Tainos. So what about the daily ceremonies that still take place there? Not only by Taino but by people of all colors who are espiritistas, curanderos, Santeros etc. El Yunke is still sacred ceremonial land.

The script also said that the palm trees so abundant on the island were not native to Boriken but was brought over from the Canary islands. This is lazy, lazy research!

There are many varieties of palm trees. While there is debate over whether the coconut palm tree was native to the islands of the Americas, the royal palms which grow taller then the coconut palm tree are indigenous to the islands. The royal palm was used for building bohios, canoas, macanas and the giant pilons used for mashing corn.

These types of corrections may sound petty but misinformation like this has been quoted as truth to say the Taino is no more. We have all heard that it is written that when Taino slavery was abolished, the notice was read in a San Juan plaza and only 60 Indians were there in the whole island to benefit from it. It seems some have forgotten that back in the 1500s Puerto Rico was the name given to the small island that today we call "el viejo San Juan". The Island as a whole was called San Juan Bautista. It was later because of a map maker's mistake that the names were interchanged. The name San Juan was given to the small "isleta" where the walled city was built and Puerto Rico for the rest of the larger island. So what the historian is saying is that when the Taino were liberated, there were only 60 enslaved Indians on the isleta which was then called Puerto Rico. Due to this misunderstanding people today say there were only
60 Indians left in the whole of Puerto Rico in the late 1500s.

People read books or see programs like "Visions of Puerto Rico" and it becomes their truth. As Taino we must write, paint, sing and document our survival. We can not expect it to be done for us. We must watch everything written or created about us and give quick feedback so that our young ones are not misinformed.

For example two books that recently upset me are one that suggests the Taino are Chinese because of the possibility the Chinese ships may have visited 50 years before Colon and another that claims the Taino are African because of possible contact with Africans.

Why can't the Taino be just that? Why does some other group have to be given the credit for what our ancestors created? Even if my great grandmothers loved some Chinese or African sailors, they had a strong and powerful culture that could stand on its own.

Further, no matter who came, our people were the majority for many years after contact. That is what the DNA studies show, that even after 500 years of massive immigration to our island by people from all over the planet; the Native blood is still the majority.