Taino Celt
Age: 800 / 1300 AD
Specimen: Celt (Cutting Tool)
Discovered: The Caribbean
Measures: 12"
Notes: The Taino were the first Native American culture to encounter European explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, marking one of the most pivotal points in human history!
The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Taíno were the first "New World" peoples encountered by Christopher Columbus on the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) on October 12, 1492. The Taíno spoke a dialect of the Arawakan language group. The Taino lived in agricultural societies ruled by Caciques with fixed settlements and a matrilineal system of kinship and inheritance. Taíno religion centered on the worship of Zemís.
Some anthropologists argue that the historical Taíno peoples no longer exist and that they gradually blended into a shared identity including African and Spanish cultures. However, there are a number of people who identify as Taíno or claim Taíno descent. Most notably, in subsections of the Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban nationalities. Many Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans have Taíno mitochondrial DNA, showing that they are descendants through the direct female lines. While some communities claim an unbroken cultural heritage to the old Taíno peoples, others are revivalist communities who seek to incorporate Taíno culture into their lives.
Taino Celt
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