14 New Evidence of Two Different Migratory Waves in the Circum-Caribbean Area during the Pre-Columbian Period from the Analysis of Dental Morphological Traits Alfredo Coppa, Andrea Cucina, Menno L. P. Hoogland, Michaela Lucci, Fernando Luna Calderón, Raphaël G. A. M. Panhuysen, Glenis Tavarez María, Roberto Valcárcel Rojas, and Rita Vargiu Introduction The circum-Caribbean area is formed by the southeastern part of the Mesoameri- can continent, the northern part of South America, the archipelagos of the Ba- hamas, Florida, and the Greater and the Lesser Antilles (Figure 14.1). The ocean and the Caribbean Sea represented a way of communication, rather than a barrier, that allowed population movements and the interaction among the various groups (Watters 1997c; Watters and Rouse 1989). The early human migrations into the Caribbean, documented so far only by the archaeological evidence, started around the fourth millennium b.c. (Rouse 1992; Rouse and Allaire 1978) and are thought to have originated from the Meso- american realm along the coasts of Belize (Veloz Maggiolo 1980; Veloz Maggiolo and Ortega 1976; Wilson et al. 1998). The first migratory waves from South America led the aceramic Ortoiroids into the area around the second millennium b.c. (Veloz Maggiolo and Ortega 1976). Later, the Saladoids (the name comes from the site of Saladero in Vene- zuela; Siegel 1989) migrating from the Orinoco Valley introduced pottery and ag- riculture around 500 b.c.. This population rapidly expanded northward through the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico up to Hispaniola. The process lasted about You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Copyright 2008. University Alabama Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 12/16/2020 9:04 PM via UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN AN: 279773 ; Corinne L. Hofman, Menno L. P. Hoogland, Annelou L. van Gijn.; Crossing the Borders : New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials From the Caribbean Account: s2985883.main.ehost