The concept of a "pan-Caribbean" culture area refers to recent proposals by an international group of

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s to the effect that contacts among Pre-Columbian peoples of the Yucatán Peninsula, the Antilles, Central America, and northern South America may have been more extensive than heretofore acknowledged. A pan-Caribbean perspective seeks to emphasize the importance of considering information from the a broad area, one characterized as "the American Mediterranean," in evaluating issues of mobility, exchange, linguistics, ideology, art, material culture, and identity. The pan-Caribbean area was one whose peoples interacted regularly with those of Mesoamerica, the

Isthmo-Colombian The Isthmo-Colombian Area is defined as a cultural area encompassing those territories occupied predominantly by speakers of the Chibchan languages at the time of European contact. It includes portions of the Central American isthmus like eastern ...

area, and the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

, creating a context that had significant effects on culture change throughout a large portion of

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. The culture of the Caribbean people as practiced and experienced among the islands of the Caribbean sea, that stretch from the Bahamas in the north to the mainland shores of the Guianas in the south. Caribbean anthropologist, like their colleagues in sociology, history, geography, political science, are increasingly expanding the frontiers of their respective disciplines to overlap and encompass previous academic boundaries in their quest to effectively represent and interpret the heterogeneity of the Caribbean experience. In terms of the social context of Caribbean people, an increasingly important issue archeologists are addressing relates to the identification of culture diversity. In recent years, a growing body of indigenous voices in Caribbean archeology is expressing disdain for and resistance to the hegemony of colonialist interpretations of Caribbean pre-Columbian history. As such, new historical frameworks and visions of past dynamics have become centers of active scholarship in Caribbean archeology.Skelton, Tracey. Introduction to the Pan-Caribbean. London: Arnold, 2004. Print.

References

{{reflist Pre-Columbian cultural areas Archaeology of the Americas Cultural geography Caribbean studies History of the Caribbean Archaeology of the Caribbean