The residents of Puerto Rico existed for thousands of years before the Ceramic Age, nevertheless, due to a deficiency of proof and research study, there is limited knowledge about these early citizens. In their study, Pestle and his team describe five adult people from burials at the Ortiz website in Cabo Rojo, southwestern Puerto Rico, representing a substantial contribution to the offered historical information about this time duration.
Radiocarbon dating of the remains yielded ages as old as 1800BC and as young as 800BC, hence including the earliest directly outdated human remains from Puerto Rico and representing as much as 1,000 years of burials at the Ortiz site.
The authors warn that it is tough to draw broad conclusions from limited proof, however these outcomes mean a long history of persistent and formalized use of a typical website over centuries. The earliest inhabitants of Puerto Rico have been generally analyzed in a simple style, but the results from this study and hopefully future studies clarified what was likely a more vibrant and varied cultural landscape than previously valued.
The authors add: “This research study assiduously documents the earliest dated burials from the island of Puerto Rico and offers in-depth clinical and cultural insights into the lives of a few of the earliest people to live in that island. We hope that this work contributes to the ongoing re-framing of our understanding of the deep past of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.”
Reference: “Reconsidering the lives of the earliest Puerto Ricans: Mortuary Archaeology and bioarchaeology of the Ortiz site” by William J. Pestle, Elizabeth M. Perez and Daniel Koski-Karell, 26 April 2023, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0284291.
The National Institute of Archaeology and the Anthropological Research Council both supplied funding to WJP. The principal of the National Institute of Archaeology (DKK) was associated with the data collection (excavation) of the materials presented in this research.
View across Boquerón Bay, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, with the Ortiz website in the range. Credit: William J. Pestle, CC-BY 4.0
The perseverance of burial practices throughout the centuries challenges simplistic presumptions about ancient culture.
A research study published on April 26, 2023 in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that the very first citizens of Puerto Rico may have used typical burial premises and funeral routines over a span of several centuries. The research study was carried out by William J. Pestle of the University of Miami, Florida and his colleagues.
The inhabitants of Puerto Rico existed for thousands of years prior to the Ceramic Age, however, due to a deficiency of evidence and research, there is restricted knowledge about these early citizens. Only 20 ancient people have been documented from this period. In their study, Pestle and his team describe five adult people from burials at the Ortiz website in Cabo Rojo, southwestern Puerto Rico, representing a significant contribution to the offered historical info about this time period.
Radiocarbon dating of the remains yielded ages as old as 1800BC and as young as 800BC, hence consisting of the earliest straight dated human remains from Puerto Rico and representing as much as 1,000 years of burials at the Ortiz website. The mortuary practices, consisting of the positioning of the bodies and the associated grave products, are similar to other early websites, suggesting standard burial practices over numerous centuries. In addition, Strontium isotope analysis also indicates that these buried people were born in various close-by geographical areas. Therefore, the Ortiz website may have held cultural significance as a typical mortuary area for various local communities.