El Flaco and El Carril lie at the foot of a mountain ridge in the Dominican Republic, which offers them protection from the elements. What is quite special about these two sites is the way the people living there altered their landscape to fit their daily living needs. Both these alterations and the effects of people living in the area resulted in a manmade shape of the landscape, consisting of several leveled areas, on which the inhabitants built their houses, and mounds. The mounds consisted of daily living waste materials, as well as the soil that was displaced in the construction of the leveled areas. The waste material, combined with waste material from living their daily lives, formed characteristic ridges or rings around the living spaces, possibly functioning as protective walls. The image below shows how the settlement looked at El Carril.
A map of El Carril (Fieldwork report on El Flaco and El Carril, map created my T. F. Sonnemann for the NEXUS1492 project).
The past years in archaeology have seen an incredible increase in digital programs used to research sites. This can be done for example by using drones or laser techniques. Because of these changes in the techniques researchers can apply, a lot of sites have been revisited and previously conducted research has been updated with results from new research. This is the case for El Flaco as well as El Carril. On surveys with the older techniques, a leveled area would sometimes show as a mound because there was a small bush or some other materials on it. Now however, using the new techniques, we can distinguish those bushes from actual raised ground, resulting in a better understanding of how the site looks. These two sites are very good examples of how important new techniques can be in archaeology, and this shows us why it is very important to keep researching and developing new methods in the field.
El Flaco is located in the Dominican Republic, just on the southern flank of the mountain range, or Cordillera Septentrional, which is commonly called the Northern Range. The total surface across which the site spans is about 2680m2. The site was occupied probably from 990 to around 1452 AD. El Flaco was first explored in 1980, by researchers Fernando Luna Calderón and Glenis Tavarez. For the NEXUS1492 project, new investigations were conducted between 2013 and 2016, which built on this previous research. The new research, as mentioned before, used new techniques. These new techniques meant that results that were previously unknown could be now uncovered.
El Carril is located about 2 kilometers to the west of El Flaco. The settlements look very much alike, as both are composed of mounds and leveled areas. It is also located in the southern foothills of the Cordillera Septentrional, at about 200 meters above sea level. Although it shows similarities with El Flaco, El Carril is a lot bigger, spanning around 43000m2. The time of occupation, however, was shorter, probably ranging from 1097 until 1262 AD. El Carril was first investigated in 1950 by Emile de Boyrie Moya. In 1970 the site was revisited by Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Elpidio Ortega, Plinio Pina and Bernardo Vega. After that, the site was newly investigated between 2016 and 2019 by researchers of the NEXUS1492 project. This long timeline of research shows a long existing interest in El Carril.
Text by Koen van Rijn, based on original published research (see further reading).
Ali, Z., Hofman, C. L., Pagán-Jiménez, J. R. and Santiago-Marrero, C. G. Plantscapes of dwelling: Precolonial household mounds, phytocultural dynamics and the ensuing human ecosystems at El Flaco and El Carril (cal. AD 990–1450), northern Dominican Republic in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 274(2020).
Ernst, M., Hofman, C. L., Hoogland, M. L. P. and Pagán-Jiménez, J. R. 2016. Informe de Trabajo de Campo de 2016, NEXUS 1492.
Hofman, C. L., Hung, J. U. and Sonnemann, T. F. Mapping indigenous settlement topography in the Caribbean using drones.