In this volume, Ivan Roksandic and an international team of researchers trace population movement throughout the Caribbean, specifically to Cuba. Through analysis of early agriculture, burial customs, dental modification, pottery production, dietary patterns, and more, they present a new theory of mainland migration to Cuba and the Greater Antilles. The researchers tackle the complex early history of the region, deciphering patterns of migration, the interactions between island inhabitants, and the fate of indigenous groups after European contact. The multidisciplinary approach includes contributions from archaeology, physical anthropology, environmental archaeology, paleobotany, linguistics, and ethnohistory.

Adding to ongoing debates concerning migration and colonization, this volume examines the importance of landscape and seascape in shaping human experience; the role that contact and interaction between different groups play in building identity; and the contribution of native groups to the biological and cultural identity of post-contact and modern societies.