Late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth-century ships of discovery and exploration provided a primary focus for the INA efforts, at least partly in anticipation of the 1992 Quincentenary of Columbus’s voyages of exploration. Survey and testing were carried out in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Panamá.

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Crewmen on a commercial salvage expedition lift a bronze cannon, believed to be from the galleon Atocha. The Atocha, which sank in a hurricane in 1622, was believed to be carrying $100 million in gold and silver.

(© Bettmann/Corbis)

Programs of marine archaeology were begun in several non-Spanish areas of the Caribbean toward the end of the period between 1970 and 1990 (see Bequette 1991), offering a systematic basis for international comparisons of circum-Caribbean maritime technology and economy.

Transculturation, Adaptation, and the Euro-American Experience

The emphasis on culture contact and interaction exhibited by archaeologists during the period from 1970 to 1990 had strong roots in the previous period, particularly in the research of the Grupo Guamá and the work in the Florida missions. Unlike historical archaeology in the earlier period, however, research on European-American contact and interaction after 1970 was concerned with adaptations in Euro-American as well as in Native American society. This interest corresponded in the Caribbean to the increasing influence of nationalism that pervaded the Caribbean after World War II and particularly through the 1960s (see Sued Badillo 1996; Williams 1970, 463–478).

Long-term multidisciplinary programs of historical archaeology were undertaken in several Spanish-American town sites, building on work begun in the previous period. While the pre-1970 projects had been devoted primarily to the excavation and reconstruction of monumental remains, the later projects were intended to better understanding of the adaptive processes and resulting Creole cultural forms of post-Columbian America (see Deagan 1988), and were often carried out by interdisciplinary teams of researchers. These have included Santo Domingo (1502–present) and Concepción de la Vega (1498–1562) in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Real in Haiti (1503–1578), Havana, Cuba (1511–present), St. Augustine, Florida (1565–1763), and Sevilla Nueva, Jamaica (1510–1535).