c. AD 1200 – 1500 (Mortuary Practices): Late Ceramic Age burial patterns in the Caribbean reflect a complex relationship between the living and the dead, where ancestors continued to play an active…

c. AD 1200 – 1500 (Mortuary Practices): Late Ceramic Age burial patterns in the Caribbean reflect a complex relationship between the living and the dead, where ancestors continued to play an active role in community life. Individuals were often buried beneath house floors or in central village plazas, sometimes accompanied by grave goods like pottery, shell ornaments, or stone tools. The practice of secondary burial, where bones were exhumed, cleaned, and reinterred or kept in baskets, suggests that ancestral remains were viewed as powerful spiritual vessels. These rituals helped to reinforce lineage claims and the social authority of the community’s leading families.