Anthromorph Duho from Puerto Rico

Whilst rereading Joanna Ostapkowicz's "Taíno Wooden Sculpture: Duhos, Rulership and the Visual Arts in the 12th-16th Century" this week, we have been struck how interesting the different types of duhos truly can be. Her photographs of the various pieces are also stunning, although the thesis should be published with color photographs and updates for the stools that have been dated. Nonetheless, thanks to this dissertation, one can see different types of duhos less frequently discussed. The above case, found in a cave near Trujillo Alto in Puerto Rico, is one of the few wooden (the only?) duhos we have seen from Puerto Rico with a human figure at the top or tip of the back. What is surprising about it, however, is the piece's legs are clearly modeled on or similar to zoomorphic duhos with the head in between the front legs. The position of the legs and pose are suggestive of that, too. Does that mean the artist was initially intending to produce a zoomorphic duho but changed their mind? Or is there something here about the animal-human features? The human head's features seem to be a little distinct from similar duhos from Hispaniola, too. 

A Duho With No Head

 

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We were recently revisiting Ostapkowicz's dissertation on the duho and looking at images of the stools again. Somehow it escaped us how unusual and interesting the Hispaniola duho purchased in 1925 for the National Museum of the American Indian truly is. Despite bearing so many stylistic features common to duhos from the island of Hispaniola, including some rather famous pieces surviving in museums in Europe and the Dominican Republic, this particular one lacks a head between the front legs. The high-backed stool has the panel with the 3 circles and dots as well as a similar panel at the front, whoever carved this piece apparently did not include a head (anthropomorphic or zoomorphic). Nor can one find a head at the top of the duho, with a human or anthropomorphic head as a few examples found in eastern Hispaniola and Dominica show (although the Dominica find was likely from Hispaniola). 

While duhos without heads exist, one with the specific set of features like this, seems rather unusual. It would be intriguing to learn more about the piece's history, but all we can say with certainty is that it was purchased in Paris in the 1920s and supposedly came from the Dominican Republic. It would be interesting to know if it had any connection with the famous duho given to the Musée de l'Homme by a wealthy French collector. In the case of this more famous example of Taino masterpieces, the stool was allegedly from Haiti.

La Gonave Antiquities

Whilst taking another look at Fred Olsen's On the Trail of the Arawaks, we were reminded of 3 marvelous wooden pieces found in La Gonave included in his book. It's not entirely clear where they were found, but at least some of them were allegedly discovered in a cave on the island. Since they are likely at least 500 years old, we should be grateful they have survived at all. The first piece, a tray or platter of oval shape, has definitely borne some of the negative effects of its great age.

Another one of the La Gonave finds was a duho with an animal-shaped head. It too has not been very well preserved, but it's stylistically similar to other Hispaniola stools with zoomorphic figures. It's a pity Olsen's book did not include photographs from all angles of this fine duho.

Perhaps the finest of the La Gonave finds is the above duho (or votive altar?). One can detect symmetrical patterns and grooves in it that bring to mind some of the finest duho panels from the island of Hispaniola.

Hispaniola in Juan de la Cosa's Map

 

Although we can only make out a few of the words on Juan de la Cosa's map of Hispaniola, we were recently examining it again. We can just make out Isabela, Vega real and Cabo de San Miguel (Cabo Tiburón). Santo Domingo is possibly legible, too. Another site with clearer views of the place names on the map is still quite difficult to read. Unfortunately, the map doesn't use any indigenous toponyms although other islands in the Caribbean are portrayed with their indigenous names (Puerto Rico and Cuba, for instance). Some of the Lucayan islands also appear with their local names, too. Intriguingly, some of the names in that part of Juan de la Cosa's map are also regions of Hispaniola known under indigenous names. Baoruco, or Bahoruco, for instance, is in Hispaniola but the map seems to place it among the Lucayan islands north of the Tortuga region. One also can spot a place in the Lucayan archipelago called Haiti, which seems to be mistakenly applied to this region. But in his defense, Juan de la Cosa's map was finished about 8 years after the initial landing of Columbus in this region.

Descourtilz and Haitian Antiquities

Naturalist Descourtilz sketched some examples of figures he called cemis from what is today Haiti. Shown them by Desdunes-Lachicotte and presumably coming from the Artibonite region, one of the pieces ir rather remarkable. According to Descourtilz, a turtle cemi figure's shell included a Sun, Moon, and star depicted on it. Given the symbolic role of the turtle in some of the myths recorded by Pané, the turtle cemi figure may be connected to the cosmology of the indigenes.

La Gonave Cohoba Tube

Whilst perusing once again L'art précolombien d'Haïti, we were struck by this marvelous object. Supposedly, it is a bifurcated snuff tube from from the indigenous peoples found in La Gonave, Haiti. The female wood carvers of La Gonave were famous for their skills at the time of contact with Europeans, leading one to wonder if this marvelous piece was an example of their work. When Peter Martyr d'Anghiera did allude to them, it was in the context of stools and wooden platters and other objects considered part of the treasure of Anacaona. 

A snuff tube likely used in cohoba rituals was almost certainly tied to the upper-crust of society, as the fine detail that went into this piece demonstrates. We are unsure what the figure depicted in the tube is (a kneeling figure with zoomorphic traits?), but the quality and level of detail in it are highly suggestive of an object used by the elites. Given the proximity of La Gonave to the center of the Xaragua cacicazgo, this object may have been used by caciques and indigenous elite groups tied to Xaragua. 

Indian Antiquities (Saint Domingue)

 

Whilst taking a second look at Nicolson's Essai sur l'histoire naturelle de Saint-Domingue. Avec figures en taille-douce, we realized that we did not note the origins of some of the indigenous artifacts illustrated in his book. Figure 1 was found in the Cul de Sac plain region, a likely contender for the political center of Xaragua. Stylistically, it is similar to some of the works of sculpture or statuary found in the "Taino" period. What we have not heard of before, however, is the inclusion of human faces on the arms or shoulders of such a figure. It is kneeling as Nicolson wrote, and the inclusion of the human faces bring to mind some of the trigonolito cemis featuring two faces on opposite sides. Unlike one of the most famous surviving examples of indigenous art from Hispaniola, the figure does not appear emaciated (though the sketch may not be entirely reliable). Figure 2 was found at a Leogane plantation (La Yaguana) and Figure 4 sketches were of artifacts found in Grand-Goave.

Indigenous Ancestry in Puerto Rico (2026)

 

Although each update of Ancestry DNA tends to raise new problems or recreate new ones, their algorithm seems to be on the right track with indigenous ancestry in Puerto Ricans. From our own results and those of close matches, it looks like the inflated estimates are a thing of the past. Our results are quite close to 23andMe now. The next move is for Ancestry to correct their description of the region and perhaps, like 23andMe, add historical samples from pre-Columbian Caribbean populations.

Hanyguayaba Mystery

Whilst randomly re-reading parts of Granberry and Vescelius's Languages of the Pre-Columbian Antilles, we noticed that the authors proposed defining ha or hai as the word for high in Taino. This makes sense given the name of Haiti itself, with the meaning of high or mountainous land. But what about Hanyguayaba, that poorly known chiefdom or cacicazgo in the Southwest of Haiti? Probably centered on the area of the Les Cayes plain, where the Spanish built a town after the conquest of that part of the island, the region was part of the "anus" of Hispaniola. Alternatively, we could read accept the hai in Haiti as tall or high and iti as upland or hills. 

But with the word Haniguayaba, Granberry and Vescelius's hä- (han) seems to fit (meaning uppermost). This is followed by a i could mean near or eastern. So uppermost of the near guayaba (guava). But another definition might be han+i+guaya (meaning furthest back)+ba (big, great, or large). Thus, Hanyguayaba or Haniguayaba could have meant something like the "the upper, big and nearest part of the farthest" section? If one views the island through the indigenous perspective with the "anus" being the Tiburon peninsula of today's Haiti, that "behind" was quite far from other parts of the island. Perhaps the Les Cayes plain was the base for the largest area or concentration of settlements and was considered the "upper" section for its proximity to the "anus" of the island? Alternatively, reading it simply as the uppermost guava is possible? The Spanish sources from the 1500s certainly suggest the rich areas of mamey trees. Perhaps the area closer to Haniguayaba had lots of guava trees in the hills above the plain? 

The guayaba reading seems more likely than our own tortured attempt at using Granberry and Vescelius, however. However, there's uncertainty about the toponym as Las Casas also presented it as Haniguayagua. Moreover, Martyr d'Anghiera did not include it among his cantons or districts in the "anus" of the island. Instead, he listed a place called Guabaqua (perhaps Guabagua?). This might have been the Haniguayagua of Las Casas? Or Zavana (or, savanna, where the Spanish settlement was built after the colonial conquest) could have been an alternative name for Haniguayaba?