c.

c. AD 1200 – 1500 (Landscape): The construction of large-scale earthworks, including mounds and raised causeways, was a defining feature of the Late Ceramic Age in the Greater Antilles. These features were most prominent in the central valleys of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, where they were used to define ceremonial plazas and facilitate movement between settlements. Keegan and Hofman argue that these labor-intensive projects were not merely functional but served as “monuments of power” that reinforced the social hierarchy and coordinated the collective identity of the community. The presence of these earthworks is a primary indicator of the emergence of hereditary chiefdoms capable of mobilizing significant communal labor.