Late prehistoric economy and society ofThe islands off the coast of Venezuela:a contextual interpretation of thenon-ceramic evidence

Archaeologists have portrayed north-central Venezuela as the seat of the Valencioid'chiefdom' (a.d. 900-1500) and assumed socio-cultural continuity between the Valencioid cultureand the historic Caraca Indians. These assumptions have neither been constructed nor tested onsocially meaningful archaeological contexts.My research formulates and tests the cognitive value of the non-ceramic evidence recoveredfrom socially meaningful archaeological contexts on the islands of the Central Coast of Venezuelaas sources for understanding the developmental trajectory of the Valencioid polity(ies).The data come from archaeological surveys and excavations on 55 offshore islands and at 47sites. Through horizontal excavation, off-site control units and statistical control over sample sizeit is established that the economic purpose for the occupation of a large Valencioid campsite atDos Mosquises Island (a.d. 1400-1500) was primarily to exploit Conch Shell (Strombus gigas) forfood and raw material. Other local resources, such as fishes, lobsters, turtles and birds, werecomplementary. The conceptual polarity food/artefact, often applied to the archaeofaunalanalyses, is replaced by contextual discrimination between food, non-food remains and naturalobjects, which leads to inferences on social group composition, labour division, specialisation,differential access to food and the exportation of shell raw material outside the islands.The results of the contextual analyses of allochthonous mammal and special purposeartefacts indicate the presence of prominent members of the society (chief, shaman and/orwarriors) and the ceremonial character of the core locus at the Dos Mosquises site. It is suggestedthat the organisation of the insular enterprise is most likely controlled from this core locus.From a macro-regional perspective, the resulting analyses challenge the notion of a 600 yearlongunilinear evolution toward social complexity of the Valencioid polity. The previous view ofa straightforward, hegemonic character of this polity is replaced by perspective of recurrent longand short-term changes in the nature and intensity of regional interactions between severalpolities. These interactions were based on a changing multilateral negotiations of power throughtrade, co-operativev entures,r esourcee xploitation, intermarriage,c eremonial assistancew, arfareand peace. The purported continuity between the insular Valencioids and the Caraca Indians isnot supported by the archaeological data.