Material culture, colonialism, and identity in the Middle Orinoco, Venezuela

In the light of recent archaeological contributions of to the analysis of colonialism, consumption and identity in modern social theory and the roles of material culture in colonial processes, this study examines various lines of archaeological evidence that illustrate a long-term process of interaction, adaptation, and cultural innovation in the tropical lowlands of the Orinoco. Archaeological evidence derived from systematic surface collections and limited excavations at 15 archaeological sites allows me to establish a regional sequence spanning the late pre-contact period, through the colonial and republican periods (late 17th--early 20th centuries). The sites include indigenous settlements, missions, pueblos and the archaeological materials recovered provide excellent indicators of the changes in cultural response and variations in identity, which have defined the local groups over time.; As part of a broader interest in the contextualization of the indigenous societies within the process of Western expansion, the case under examination illustrates the initial involvement of indigenous societies with the European colonizers, and the resulting transformations following the collapse of the Spanish intervention and the initiation of a postcolonial period. To this end, I employ contrasting sources derived from both archaeological evidence and historical documents concerning mission life in this area for the analysis of the encounter and the active mediation of the contact situation. However, I emphasize the material record as my primary source for analyzing the multiple ways through which local indigenous societies entered into larger relations of economic and political power, and the socio-cultural transformations they experienced through time. A focus on exchange and commerce, the introduction and consumption of foreign manufactures and technologies, and the process of commoditization of native material products, services and labor, provides the background for the examination of indigenous long term historical process and native cultural responses in the face of different colonial and neocolonial circumstances. The insights gained through this study challenged me to transcend the common tendency to place excessive emphasis on the expansion of capitalism and industrial technology as the primary forces of change, with little attention to the role of native cultures as both historical product and agent.