c.

c. AD 1200 – 1500 (Theory): The concept of “Taínoness” is increasingly viewed by researchers not as a single ethnic identity, but as a shared “prestige economy” and ideological system that spanned the Greater Antilles. This system was materialized through the pan-Antillean distribution of specific ceremonial objects, such as three-pointed stones (cemís) and elaborate vomit spatulas used in ritual purification. The spread of these icons indicates that diverse local groups were participating in a unified religious and political discourse. Keegan and Hofman argue that this shared “mindscape” allowed for the integration of distant islands into a cohesive cultural sphere despite geographic separation.