The CGCAS monthly lectures have moved to a digital format, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. We are using the Zoom platform. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Zoom, here are PDF Instructions to help you set up Zoom and participate in the lecture. Please follow the steps prior to the meeting to be ready to view the lecture. The registration link will be provided with the Lecture Announcement or on our Facebook Event Page.

The CGCAS Archaeology Lecture series is sponsored by the Alliance for Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education (AWIARE).

SEPTEMBER 11, 2025

Tracing the Roots of Cultural Kinship: The Journey of Jaguar and Puma Tooth Pendants from Terra Firma to a Caribbean Island
Dr. Diane Wallman, Associate Professor, University of South Florida

IN PERSON at our new venue, the Roberts Recreation Center in St. Pete, 1246 50th Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33703, https://maps.app.goo.gl/SeJRTHX2efcdDQi98

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS SPEAKER

Big cats hold symbolic significance across cultures, especially in the Americas, where felids such as jaguars and pumas are revered and respected. In South American cultures, these cats are associated with traits such as strength, aggression, status, and supernatural protection. Their representations appear in various material forms. This paper traces the journey of modified canine teeth of three large felids – two jaguars (Panthera onca) and one puma (Puma concolor) - from Venezuela to the Caribbean island of Dominica between the 15th and 18th centuries. The tooth pendants were recovered from LaSoye, a 17th-18th-century Indigenous trading settlement on Dominica’s windward coast. The stories of these teeth are presented both archaeologically and through the words of Kalinago descendants of the bearers of the pendants. These objects symbolize the enduring ancestral connections between the Caribbean islands and South America, as well as the important relationship between humans and big cats.