2013 – 2014: Modern research by archaeologists like Jorge Ulloa Hung has emphasized that the northwestern Dominican Republic was a zone of intense cultural h…

2013 – 2014: Modern research by archaeologists like Jorge Ulloa Hung has emphasized that the northwestern Dominican Republic was a zone of intense cultural hybridity rather than a single ethnic block. His work at sites like El Flaco demonstrates that Meillacoid, Chicoid, and Ostionoid pottery were often utilized simultaneously by the same communities. This finding contradicts older models that viewed these pottery styles as representing strictly separate and competing groups of people. Instead, the evidence suggests a more fluid social environment where different traditions were integrated through trade, marriage, and shared residency. This modern “archipelagic view” helps clarify the true complexity of indigenous social identities in the centuries leading up to European contact.