Taíno ritual seat

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The '''Taíno ritual seat''' is a [[Pre-Columbian era|Pre-Columbian]] wooden seat made in the form of a man on all fours. It was made by the [[Taíno people|Taino]] people and found in a cave near the city of [[Santo Domingo]] in the Dominican Republic. The seat was made before [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in the [[Caribbean]] and is an important remnant of the Taino culture and [[civilisation]] that existed before the arrival of Europeans.

The '''Taíno ritual seat''' is a [[Pre-Columbian era|Pre-Columbian]] wooden seat made in the form of a man on all fours. It was made by the [[Taíno people|Taíno]] people and found in a cave near the city of [[Santo Domingo]] in the Dominican Republic. The seat was made before [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in the [[Caribbean]] and is an important remnant of the Taíno culture and [[civilisation]] that existed before the arrival of Europeans.

==Description==

==Description==

==Importance==

==Importance==

Duhos are carved seats found in the houses of Taino caciques or [[Paramount chief|chiefs]] throughout the [[Caribbean]] region. Duhos “figured prominently in the maintenance of Taino political and ideological systems . . . [and were] . . . literally seats of power, prestige, and ritual.” Duhos made of wood and stone have both been found, though those made of wood tend not to last as well as the stone chairs and are, therefore, much rarer.Conrad, Geoffrey W., John W. Foster, and Charles D. Beeker, “Organic artifacts from the Manantial de la Aleta, Dominican Republic: preliminary observations and interpretations”, ''Journal of Caribbean Archaeology''. 2:6, 2001. This seat is one of two Taíno seats called ''Duho'' in the British Museum that were originally found on the island of [[Hispaniola]]. The other is also modelled anthropomorphically on a man, but in that case the resemblance to a man on his stomach is more proportional.{{cite web|title=The Taíno of the West Indies|url=http://www.worldtimelines.org.uk/world/americas/central_meso/AD1000-1521/taino|work=World Tim Line|publisher=British Museum|accessdate=7 October 2010}}{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=664915&partId=1&place=11287&plaA=11287-3-1&page=1 British Museum Collection] There is another wooden duho in the collections of the [[British Museum]] that was found on the island of [[Eleuthera]] in the [[Bahamas]].[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=659469&partId=1&place=9650&plaA=9650-3-2&page=1 British Museum Collection]

Duhos are carved seats found in the houses of Taíno caciques or [[Paramount chief|chiefs]] throughout the [[Caribbean]] region. Duhos “figured prominently in the maintenance of Taino political and ideological systems . . . [and were] . . . literally seats of power, prestige, and ritual.” Duhos made of wood and stone have both been found, though those made of wood tend not to last as well as the stone chairs and are, therefore, much rarer.Conrad, Geoffrey W., John W. Foster, and Charles D. Beeker, “Organic artifacts from the Manantial de la Aleta, Dominican Republic: preliminary observations and interpretations”, ''Journal of Caribbean Archaeology''. 2:6, 2001. This seat is one of two Taíno seats called ''Duho'' in the British Museum that were originally found on the island of [[Hispaniola]]. The other is also modelled anthropomorphically on a man, but in that case the resemblance to a man on his stomach is more proportional.{{cite web|title=The Taíno of the West Indies|url=http://www.worldtimelines.org.uk/world/americas/central_meso/AD1000-1521/taino|work=World Tim Line|publisher=British Museum|accessdate=7 October 2010}}{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=664915&partId=1&place=11287&plaA=11287-3-1&page=1 British Museum Collection] There is another wooden duho in the collections of the [[British Museum]] that was found on the island of [[Eleuthera]] in the [[Bahamas]].[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=659469&partId=1&place=9650&plaA=9650-3-2&page=1 British Museum Collection]

==Purpose==

==Purpose==

[[File:Taino ritual seat at the British Museum.jpg|thumb|Closer view of the seat's carved figure.]]

[[File:Taino ritual seat at the British Museum.jpg|thumb|Closer view of the seat's carved figure.]]

Some of the first people that Christopher Columbus met in the American continent were the [[Taino]] people. Their 7,000-year-old civilisation did not benefit from pre-colonial contact as many were later enslaved or died of disease. It was noted by early explorers that some of their time the Taino people were using [[hallucinogenic]] drugs. The drug and the [[Smoking pipe|pipes]] that were used are called [[cohoba]]. It is likely that one of these chiefs used this seat to smoke these drugs. The British Museum's seat has a bowl above the figures head, which may have been used to hold [[cohoba]] during rituals involving the [[Zemi]] gods.[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/08/canc/ho_1979.206.380.htm "Deity Figure (Zemi) Dominican Republic; Taino (1979.206.380)"] In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 October 2006; retrieved 22 September 2009

Some of the first people that Christopher Columbus met in the American continent were the [[Taíno]] people. Their 7,000-year-old civilisation did not benefit from pre-colonial contact as many were later enslaved or died of disease. It was noted by early explorers that some of their time the Taíno people were using [[hallucinogenic]] drugs. The drug and the [[Smoking pipe|pipes]] that were used are called [[cohoba]]. It is likely that one of these chiefs used this seat to smoke these drugs. The British Museum's seat has a bowl above the figures head, which may have been used to hold [[cohoba]] during rituals involving the [[Zemi]] gods.[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/08/canc/ho_1979.206.380.htm "Deity Figure (Zemi) Dominican Republic; Taino (1979.206.380)"] In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 October 2006; retrieved 22 September 2009

==History of the World==

==History of the World==