Turey (and others interested in history), I thought of you when I read this story in today's Observer.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Archaeological-relics-slipping-out-of-Jamaic a_8162891

I am just curious,are the Tianos really our ancestors? Has any link been established in that regard, or are they our antecedents?

I agree with Mr Ivor Conolley that public education and the creation of a team of archaeologists with the appropriate resources will assist us in understanding and preserving the physical messages left by the Taino in Jamaica.

Any laws created should not discourage private collectors from ethically acquiring peices or retaining the ones they are caretakers of. The fear among some collectors is that there may be a move to confiscate their collection using recording of data as a foot in the door.

These things were made for us to read! Their loss by destruction or export diminishes our library.

I figured that the first offspring of a Taino with a European occured when Columbus was stranded for a year or so in St Ann with the Taino providing food and ?

Even if this happened a few years later, Taino DNA should have been an early entrant into our current gene pool. No swimming in that one CR, we are already being swept by it's currents.

Our first Africans entered in the early 16th century, some that escaped slavery are said to have lived with Taino fleeing conversion by the Papacy and/or slavery on a Spanish plantation. Thus further blending and the evolution of our Maroons.

My musing aside, a study of the DNA of our people would reveal any connection with the Taino. I bucked up a Puerto Rican who had this reading done. He was 75% Taino. His grandparents had emphasised the Euro ancestry for social reasons.

To calculate the approximate number of your ancestors alive 500 years ago, count the number of generations in 500 years and multiply 2 by itself that number of times. Say 25 years per generation: 500 divided by 25 equal 20 generations in 500 years. Then multiply 2 by 2 = 4, 2 by 4 = 8, 2 by 8 = 16 and on.....= ?

Surprising sum. All your ggggg...grandparents from the time of the first encounter, approx. Which of them should we ignore/deny which should we honor?