Keegan and Carlson's Talking Taino is an entertaining collection of essays exploring (Lucayan) Taino culture and civilization through language and natural history. The informal and occasionally humorous writing makes it quite a breeze to read. The authors both draw on their experience with archaeology of the Caribbean to give the reader a general overview of the Taino and Caribbean precolonial history. Sadly, some of the words they propose as Taino appear to be from other languages or, in the case of areito, misspelled. Nonetheless, their fun, easygoing approach covers the material culture, diet, agricultural and hunting practices, as well as religious and cultural practices of the Taino. It would be great to build on this with a more detailed study of Hispaniola, Cuba and Puerto Rico, where one has more written sources to use for reconstructing our pre-Hispanic past.
Deminán's Journey: Exploring the Indigenous Caribbean...one island at a time
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