, and slavery are the main factors said to have contributed to such a rapid demise. The Dictionary of the Taino Language A Acu' = n : Eye. Since different dialects of Taino interchangedl,n, andrsounds, when Columbus heard the name of the Caribe in Cuba, it sounded like "Caniba." Ycahu and Attabeira, as well as other lesser gods associated with natural forces, were worshiped in the form of, Tano artist, Zem, c. 1000 C.E., wood and shell, from the Dominican Republic (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), While the Tano were matrilineal, meaning that the mother determined name and rank, their society was not matriarchal. Like many other aborigines, the Tanos primarily lived off the land and by fishing. Interestingly, men and women played differently, as witnessed by some of the Spanish missionaries. When they were first encountered by Europeans, the Taino practiced a high-yielding form of shifting agriculture to grow their staple foods, cassava and yams. This book is a must for anyone interested in learning how to speak, read, and write in the Taino language. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. ", Petroglyphs:prehistoric rock carving, also referred to as rock art. Ashninka, );Library of Congress, ExhibitsColumbus and theTaino;Barbecue: a history; Oxford English Dictionary Online;New Oxford American Dictionary, (2nd ed. These caves represented things like heaven, the underworld, the place of creation (womb), and even one for waste (because they saw Hispaniola as a living creature). Deciding the meaning behind these inscriptions is only but a fragment of their actual civilization. Second, you get to discover things, as well as finding artifacts that no one has seen for centuries or even millennia. What does this mean? These multiple migrations led the Caribbean to become a place of cultural encounters, where different cultural groups would meet and assimilate (i.e., become more similar), and then diverge and differentiate. Put another shrimp on the barbi! The word "savannah"meaning an open plain of long grass, frequently with scattered drought-resistant treesmay bring East Africa to mind, but such grasslands also exist in the tropical West Indies. They were considered as priests and led all rituals. The Tanos were without a doubt the cultural group that reached the highest levels of political organization in the Caribbean. They would burn the forest or scrub and then heap the ashes and soil into mounds that could be easily planted, tended, and irrigated. English got bothcayandkeyfrom Spanishcayo. Additionally, they also share a similar layout with regards to ceremonial plazas. They cannot be described as having a single specific structure, because it varied depending on the reason for having one. Quickly thereafter, exploratory missions took place throughout the Caribbean, with the, The dramatic collapse of the Tano populationlike that of other, Common objects produced by the Tano include, Archeologists have discovered hundreds of three-pointer stones, suggesting they were common among the Tano. Many images often had babies being carried with ropes tied around them. Characterized by their redware ceramics. MAIZE. Cem (cemes, plural; sometimes also written as zem and zemes): Tano sculptures usually depicting anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures representing their gods and deities.