Caribbean Archaeology Association

Caribbean Archaeology Association
Name	Caribbean Archaeology Association
Formation	1960s
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Location	Caribbean
Region served	Caribbean Basin
Membership	Scholars, students, indigenous representatives
Leader title	President
Website	(official website)

Caribbean Archaeology Association is a regional scholarly association promoting archaeological research across the Caribbean Basin, including the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, Bahamas, and coastal zones of adjacent mainland states. It serves as a forum linking field archaeologists, museum curators, indigenous representatives, heritage managers, and academic institutions engaged with pre-Columbian, colonial, and postcolonial material culture. The association is central to debates involving heritage law, museum repatriation, and landscape archaeology in island contexts.

History

The association traces roots to postwar meetings that convened scholars from University of the West Indies, Smithsonian Institution, Royal Ontario Museum, British Museum, and Institut de France-affiliated researchers, evolving through workshops with participants from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti, and Dominican Republic. Early leaders included archaeologists associated with Yale University, University of Florida, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and McGill University, who coordinated salvage excavations after hurricanes and development projects linked to Pan American Highway expansions and Errol Barrow-era infrastructure initiatives. Conferences addressed prehistoric ceramic typologies, lithic analyses, and zooarchaeological sequences tied to sites like Banwari Trace and Tutu Archaeological Village Site, attracting specialists from National Museum of the American Indian, Peabody Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, Museo del Hombre Dominicano, and regional museums in Curaçao, Trinidad, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda.

Mission and Objectives

The association aims to foster interdisciplinary research aligning archaeologists at Rutgers University, University of Puerto Rico, Florida State University, University of the Virgin Islands, and Columbia University with stakeholders from UNESCO, International Council on Monuments and Sites, and national cultural agencies in Cuba, Bahamas, Belize, Suriname, and Guyana. Objectives include promoting ethical field practices in the wake of legal frameworks such as heritage statutes influenced by cases at International Court of Justice-adjoined tribunals, advocating repatriation dialogues following precedents set by Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act-style policies, and integrating methods from specialists at National Institutes of Health-linked labs, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and conservation units at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Membership and Organization

Membership spans professional archaeologists from University College London, Universidad de La Habana, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, graduate students from University of Toronto, curators from National Museum of Jamaica, indigenous community leaders from Taino descendant organizations, and governmental heritage officials from Ministry of Culture (Jamaica), Ministry of Tourism (Barbados), and counterpart agencies in Curaçao. The governance model draws on committee structures used by Society for American Archaeology, European Association of Archaeologists, and regional learned societies like Caribbean Studies Association and Latin American Studies Association, with standing committees on ethics, publications, and outreach involving partners such as IUCN and Inter-American Development Bank projects. Annual elections have featured presidents and secretaries affiliated with Florida Museum of Natural History, Peabody Institute, Institut National d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art (France), and university departments at University of Havana.

Conferences and Activities

The association organizes biennial conferences rotating among host cities such as Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo, Bridgetown, Kingston, and Paramaribo, often co-sponsored by institutions like Smithsonian Institution, Royal Society, National Endowment for the Humanities, Carnegie Corporation, and regional universities including University of the West Indies Mona Campus. Sessions address topics ranging from ceramic trade networks to maritime archaeology at wrecks like Whydah Gally-era sites, discussions on colonial plantation landscapes involving archives from British Library and Archivo General de Indias, and methodological workshops in aDNA led by teams from Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and Wellcome Sanger Institute. Field schools and training programs have been run in collaboration with Florida State University, Boston University, Yale University, and local museum partners including Museo del Hombre Dominicano and Barbados Museum & Historical Society.

Publications and Research Initiatives

The association publishes proceedings, monographs, and a peer-reviewed bulletin modeled after journals such as Latin American Antiquity, Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, and Antiquity, distributing work on ceramic seriation, bioarchaeology, and isotope studies by researchers from Columbia University, University of Chicago, Brown University, University of Miami, and Pennsylvania State University. Research initiatives have included collaborative projects on paleoclimate reconstruction using corals studied by teams at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, mangrove palaeoecology with scientists from University of South Florida, and landscape survey funded by agencies like National Science Foundation and European Research Council. Special issues have examined colonial enslavement sites, drawing on archival research from Duke University and forensic analyses from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-affiliated labs.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The association partners with international organizations such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, IUCN, World Monuments Fund, and regional bodies including Caribbean Community and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, as well as museums like British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Royal Ontario Museum, and Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico). Collaborative work links university centers—Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Institut Français d'Études Andines, Institute of Archaeology (UCL)—with NGOs such as Global Heritage Fund and heritage offices in Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia for capacity-building, disaster response, and repatriation dialogues influenced by precedents at British Museum-related controversies and bilateral agreements with France and Netherlands Antilles administrations.

Category:Archaeological organizations Category:Caribbean studies Category:Learned societies