c.

c. AD 500 – 1000 (Theory): Anthropologist Arie Boomert has compared the material wealth and social organization of Early Ceramic Age Caribbean societies to the “Big Man” societies of Melanesia. In this model, public ceremonies and the exchange of prestige goods were used by ambitious individuals to build social capital and political influence. Leaders likely organized large-scale feasts and gift-giving events to solidify alliances and mobilize communal labor for projects like canoe building. The presence of rare materials like gold and guanín (a gold-copper alloy) from the Isthmo-Colombian region further supports the idea of a highly competitive social landscape. This “Big Man” framework provides a useful lens for understanding how social hierarchy emerged in the islands prior to the development of hereditary chiefdoms.