c.
c. AD 600 – 1000: The emergence of “Ostionoid” traditions in Puerto Rico is viewed as an indigenous transformation that incorporated elements of the older Archaic Age heritage. This new cultural expression combined an increased reliance on pottery with traditional Archaic stone-tool industries and a dietary emphasis on marine mollusks. This hybrid identity emerged in concert with the arrival and eventual integration of Saladoid colonists into the local landscape. The resulting social environment was one of transculturation, where the descendants of the first islanders influenced the aesthetic and technological choices of later groups. This period of cultural blending created the diverse and complex social landscape that Europeans would later encounter in the Greater Antilles.