Hybrid Cultures

The Visibility of the European Invasion of Caribbean Honduras in the Sixteenth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID20070193
AuthorsRussell N Sheptak, R A Joyce (0000-0001-8064-1454)
Year2019
Pages221-237
Publication date2019-04-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueMaterial Encounters and Indigenous Transformations in the Early Colonial Americas (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789004273689_011
OpenAlexW2625090073
ISBN9789004273689
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited14

In this chapter, we emphasize the novel construction of defensive walls at Ticamaya, a precolumbian settlement in Caribbean Honduras that continued to be occupied into the nineteenth century, and at allied sites along the coast of the Gulf of Honduras, as likely material traces of innovations mediated by Spanish knowledge mobilized for indigenous resistance to Spanish colonization. Archaeological excavations at Ticamaya, described in 16th century Spanish documents as the seat of a leader of indigenous resistance, identified confirmed deposits from the period covering initial conflict with the Spanish, roughly 1520–1536. Yet these excavations produced no use of European goods until the late 18th c. Contemporary with Ticamaya, the site of Naco to the west hosted troops sent by Cortes, and at least one majolica vessel was discarded there. The contrast could lead to the conclusion that Ticamaya was unaffected by the Spanish encounter until it was incorporated into the colony. By considering apparently indigenous things as outcomes of tactical coping with Spanish invasion, we seek to blur line apparently firm lines between native and foreign materialities and define a third option of hybrid cultures

Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonization · Ethnology · Geography · Indigenous · Indigenous culture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Studies in Central America · History · Ecology

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Open DOIOpen Access