A central aim of this research was to provide empirical data that can aid in interpreting the perspectives governing the treatment of dogs by Amerindians in Hispaniola. Regarding notions of reciprocity and egalitarianism that govern human-animal relations as is suggested by Amerindian perspectivism, this research has generated empirical evidence that would suggest that these ontological rationales did not affect the treatment of all types of dog the same.
Much of the ritual and religious knowledge of ‘Taíno’ culture is lost, and therefore there are no recordings from the ethnohistorical sources of rituals governing reciprocity in the predation of certain animals, or taboos against the eating of the dog specifically. The data generated in this research suggests that there were different modes of treatment affecting different types of dogs, with morphology perhaps permitting a hierarchical distinction within the cultural taxonomy of Amerindians in Hispaniola. A heightened perception of differences between types of dogs may have been particularly exaggerated given the lack of any other large mammals in Hispaniola from which to compare. As Peter Roe (1995) has suggested, the dog likely substituted for the jaguar as a powerful totem in Antillean cosmologies, being the only relatively large predator to exist within the region. The osteometric evidence suggests that a smaller type of dog, which may have been the animal designated as aon by Amerindians, was likely more highly revered and more susceptible to be ritually buried in Hispaniola, whereas the combined SIR data from both the Lesser and Greater Antilles may broadly indicate that dogs that were buried shared a closer dietary relationship with humans compared to dogs that were not. The disparate treatment of distinct breeds is exemplified in ethnographic analogies from northern South America, in which there are examples of differential treatment between well-bred hunting dogs in Trio, Waiwái and Wayana communities, who are often better cared for and fed higher quality diets compared to other dogs (Ahlbrink 1956, 46; Carlin 2017 pers. comm.). This difference in diet is broadly reflected in the isotopic results of this research, in that dogs that were buried were statistically less-varied in their diets, having possibly been conferred the same treatment as another person in terms of what they were given to eat. However, there is considerable overlap in the isotopic data and, so it is likely that dietary composition is not necessarily a good indicator of preferential treatment. More data is needed to further establish definitive statistical patterns that would suggest that higher degrees of homogeneity in C. familiaris diets is indicative of the preferential treatment of those individuals by humans.
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There were undoubtedly disparate historical ecologies affecting the subsistence strategies, cultural institutions and ontologies of indigenous peoples in the pre-colonial Greater Antilles compared to antecedent and contemporary Amerindian cultures of northern Amazonia and the Orinoquia. In northern South America, there are no ethnographic records or archaeological evidences of the consumption of dogs. Additionally, there is a multitude of Amerindian folklore stories that indicate that the consumption of dogs was taboo, such as stories of the judgement of the deceased according to how they have treated dogs during their lifetimes, told by such groups such as the Cariban speaking Yukpa, Kalina and Taulipang peoples, and Arawakan speaking Lokono (Paulsen 2017 pers. comm.;
Reichel-Dolmatoff and Reichel-Dolmatoff 1961, 380; Villamañán 1982, 19-20; Wilbert 1974, 6).
Unlike Amazonia, in Hispaniola and for much of the insular Caribbean, there were likely no taboos preventing the consumption of dogs in general, although there may have been culturally enforced taboos preventing the consumption of the smaller aon type. In this respect, the evidence from the insular Caribbean suggests that the consumption of dogs was not taboo, and the ontological rationale underlying the treatment of dogs may have been more akin to what is observed in pre-colonial Mesoamerica, if a broad analogy from the greater Americas region is needed. In Mesoamerica, there is no evidence of a utilitarian distinction between different breeds and their propensity to be sacrificed, eaten or ritually buried (Valadez Azúa et al. 2013, 558), this may indeed be the case for Hispaniola, however further morphological reconstructions of dogs uncovered from both burials and multifunctional mounds are needed to verify this.
As it stands, this research suggests that there was likely an ontological distinction between larger and smaller types of dogs which effected their treatment by humans in life and in death. It is possible that the smaller aon was considered consanguineous with humans, and therefore meriting ritual burial as is evidenced at sites in Hispaniola, including the buried individual uncovered at El Flaco. Larger types of dog were perhaps not worthy of this treatment and were therefore situated lower in the cultural taxonomy of Amerindians, and not regarded as consubstantial and metaphysically equivalent nonhuman person. This is in line with perspectival theory, in that not all animals are applied with the same notions of personhood or symbolic importance, whereas some are definitively considered as non- consubstantial prey (Descola 2005; Viveiros de Castro 1998; 2015, 204). A distinction was likely made between a pet that is not eaten—a practice which is well-documented in Amazonian ethnographic studies—and a morphologically distinct dog for which it was permitted to consume. It is also likely that these different types, like modern breeds, had different behavioural characteristics. The smaller aon may have been a more adequate and aggressive hunter or guard dog, as suggested by Las Casas (1929, 165), perhaps leading to higher regard being conferred on this type of dog in Hispaniola, as is reflected in their ritual treatment in death.
The dog as a species does not fit neatly into Amerindian perspectival theories. The limitations of Amerindian perspectivism lie in that to function as a viable interpretation of pan-Amerindian
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ontologies, the worldviews of the complex civilisations of Mesoamerica and the Andes must be considered as separate from that of hunter-gatherer and horticulturalist communities in Amazonia or elsewhere in the Americas. In this respect, the theory suffers from a selectiveness in what cultures it chooses to essentialise in providing a coherent and succinct overview of myriad Amerindian cultural rationales. The limitations of applying Amerindian perspectivism to the pre-colonial Antillean cultures is demonstrated in this research in trying to ascertain the role of dogs—a creature whose relationships with humans are undoubtedly nuanced, complex and archaic in origins—particularly due to the fact that the best archaeological analogies of human-canid relations come from regions that are purposefully excluded from Amerindian perspectivism, which however hold the richest archaeological evidence of the varied roles of dogs within the pre-colonial Americas.
The ritual treatment of larger dogs and smaller aon dogs with humans appears disparate according to the data. This would indicate that the smaller type was considered to have been worthy of the same rites that would normally be conferred to a person after death. The interred individual represented by the skull and innominates at El Flaco, due its proximal association with numerous human burials, is indicative that there was some ritual significance conferred on this animal. However, its incomplete nature suggests that it was not a burial like other instances that have been uncovered in the insular Caribbean. Elsewhere in the Americas, in particularly the Andes and Mesoamerica, select elements of dogs have been uncovered in association with human burials, likely signifying an offering of food for the deceased, or as totems to act as guides after death. For example, in the Andes the internment of C. familiaris cranial elements in human burials at Mochica sites indicates that the dog acted as a symbolic psychopomp (Goepfort 2012). Whereas in Mesoamerica, although the role of dogs varied from companion, to food source, to sacrificial victim, the multitude of isolated dog remains that have been uncovered in association with human burials have been interpreted as food offerings for the deceased (Valadez Azúa et al. 2013, 577-8).
For lack of more informative sources regarding the ritual practices of the ‘Taíno’ beyond what was recorded by Fray Ramon Pané, it can be deduced that the skull and innominates buried alongside humans at El Flaco represents a burial offering. Given the size of the animal, fitting into the average for dog burials in Hispaniola, suggests that this internment was possibly a purposefully selected offering to the deceased, made to assist with their passage to the island of the dead, Coabay. It is possible that the dog, or even the aon breed specifically, could in times act as the totemic embodiment of the guardian of the dead cemí, Opiyelguobirán, necessitating the burial of this animal alongside the recently deceased to act as a guardian and guide to the next life. This extends the role of the dog beyond companionship, beyond a food source, and to hold a pivotal role within the cosmological perspectives of the indigenous peoples of Hispaniola.