c.

c. AD 1200 – 1500 (Theory): The integration of the northern Lesser Antilles into a “Taíno” ideological sphere is evidenced by the presence of small, portable shell masks and three-pointed cemí stones across multiple islands. These objects functioned as “icons of power” that signaled a community’s participation in a shared religious and political discourse centered in the Greater Antilles. Keegan and Hofman suggest that the spread of these icons represents a form of “cultural colonization” where local Lesser Antillean identities were slowly subsumed by the prestige of more powerful chiefdoms to the west. This process created a pan-regional “mindscape” that bridged the geographic gap between the Greater and Lesser Antilles.