c. AD 1200 – 1500: During the Late Ceramic Age, the northern Lesser Antilles underwent a significant shift in settlement function, transitioning from permanent villages to strategic outposts.

c. AD 1200 – 1500: During the Late Ceramic Age, the northern Lesser Antilles underwent a significant shift in settlement function, transitioning from permanent villages to strategic outposts. These islands were increasingly utilized as “ports of trade” and lookout posts situated at specific intervals to monitor maritime traffic. This reorganization was likely a response to the eastward expansion of powerful sociopolitical structures from the Greater Antilles. The abandonment of large, permanent communal sites in favor of these specialized stations reflects the absorption of the region into a larger, more dependent political sphere. This transition highlights the diminishing independence of local Lesser Antillean communities as they were integrated into the “Taíno” world.