El Atajadizo is a Taíno site on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic.
The earliest occupations at El Atajadizo were found in an area located about one mile north of the main plaza, containing stone tools dating to an Archaic occupation, dating around 300 BC. This deposit contained flint and coral tools, ground stones, as well as conch picks.
The beginning of the ceramic period at El Atajadizo began around AD 800, and it seems to pertain to a local cultural tradition called Ostionoid.
Although the spatial organization of the settlement is not clear because of subsequent constructive phases, by 1300, in the middle of the Taíno florescence, El Atajadizo had developed into a large village, with a surface area of about 1450 sq. meters. At the center was a plaza, with buildings arranged around it. The plaza had a cobbled pavement and was surrounded by standing stones, an element typical of Taíno public plazas.
Archaeologists recovered at least two cobbled causeways at El Atajadizo, one leading from the plaza to the northeast sector of the site, and the second going from the plaza to the nearby river. A second, smaller plaza, called by the investigators Plaza B, is located about 150 m from the main plaza. This features another cobble pavement, covering a circular area, apparently not surrounded by standing slabs.
Around the plaza, some mounds 1-2 meters high have been interpreted as midden mounds, used as burial places in the last phases of the site. In previous phases, burials were located next to the interior walls of the houses.
The site of El Atajadizo shares some characteristics with other Taíno sites, such as Tibes and Caguana in Puerto Rico, although in smaller proportion. An important difference noticed by archaeologists, though, is that the lack of multiple rectangular ball courts at El Atajadizo seems to imply a local focus by elites more on smaller ceremonies, such as areitos, than on larger ball game-type events, as forms of power display.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Precolumbian Caribbean, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Saunders Nicholas J., 2005, The Peoples of the Caribbean. An Encyclopedia of Archaeology and Traditional Culture. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California.
Wilson, Samuel, 2007, The Archaeology of the Caribbean, Cambridge World Archaeology Series. Cambridge University Press, New York