On land and sea : Native American uses of biological resources in the West Indies

Newsom, Lee A. (Author). Wing, Elizabeth S. (Added Author).

Summary: On Land and Sea examines the condition of biosystems on Caribbean islands at the time of colonization, human interactions with those systems through time, and the current state of biological resources in the West Indies. Drawing on a massive data set collected from long-term archaeological research, the study reconstructs past lifeways on these small tropical islands. The work presents a wide range of information, including types of fuel and construction timber used by inhabitants, cooking techniques for various shellfish, availability and use of medicinal and ritual plants, the effects on native plants and animals of cultivation and domestication, and diet and nutrition of native populations.--

Record details

ISBN: 0817313141 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 081731315X (pbk. : alk. paper)
Physical Description: print
xviii, 323 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Publisher: Tuscaloosa, AL : University of Alabama Press, c2004.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-301) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

1. An Introduction to Native American Uses of Biological Resources in the West Indies -- 2. Environmental Setting -- 3. Human Colonization of the West Indies -- 4. Sources of Plant and Animal Samples and Methods Used to Study Them -- 5. Southern Caribbean Region -- 6. Lesser Antilles -- 7. Greater Antilles and the Virgin Islands -- 8. Bahamas Archipelago -- 9. Toward a Synthetic Caribbean Paleoethnobiology.