Metallic encounters in Cuba: The technology, exchange and meaning of metals before and after Columbus

Metals held important symbolic and political values for the indigenous communities of the Caribbean islands. However, metal objects are not abundant in indigenous archaeological sites, and their study has hitherto been very limited. This paper presents the results of the first analytical programme focused on metal artifacts recovered in a range of Taíno sites in Cuba, chronologically covering the periods before and after contact with Europeans. Our aims were: (a) to identify metallurgical traditions related to a diversity of cultural or learning backgrounds; (b) to investigate the origins of different metal artifacts found in Cuba, as a proxy to reconstruct patterns of exchange and interaction among indigenous communities and between these and Europeans; and (c) to approach the meaning and symbolism of different metals by considering their contexts of appropriation and use. The techniques employed included optical microscopy, SEM–EDS, pXRF and PIXE. The results allow a diachronic picture of the procurement, transformation, use and symbolism of metals in Cuba with broader implications for Caribbean archaeology. We reveal culture-specific Taíno choices in their interaction with materials and value systems from continental America and Europe. We also discuss the selective appropriation, recontextualization and meaning of different metals in the indigenous cultures

Arqueología en un ambiente de ciencia en la periferia

The archeology practiced in Cuba can be considered as a marginal scientific discipline in terms of number of specialists, scientific production, academic interaction and recognition. The economic conditions of a poor country are important causes of this situation but the problem is also related with other aspects of the scientific, technological and sociocultural Cuban reality. This paper discuss this circumstances and proposes actions that could help to mitigate this problematic.La arqueología que se practica en Cuba puede considerarse una disciplina científica marginal con relación al número de especialistas, producción científica, interacción académica y nivel de reconocimiento, entre otros aspectos. Si bien las determinantes propias de un país pobre son fundamentales para definir esta situación, el problema se vincula también con otros aspectos del ámbito científico, tecnológico y sociocultural. En este artículo se discuten tales problemáticas. Además se proponen líneas de acción que podrían contribuir a atenuar esta situación

Vestir al otro en el Caribe. Ropas para indios y pobres

The indigenous nudity was faced from the project of evangelization and civilization develop by Spain in the New World. It was not only an alleged ethical and moral confrontation but an act of domination in which dressing the indigenous, served to attack their original identities and build a new being, the Indian. The use and trade of second-hand clothing functions several centuries later as a resource for signaling and exploitation of poverty. In this text I reflect on these two moments where clothing serves to build the identity and nature of subordinates, and to show the marginal location of the Caribbean in the designs of global power. Through the historical analysis on the use of clothing among indigenous people of the Greater Antilles, and the anthropological experience in commercial spaces of Santo Domingo city, Dominican Republic, it is verified the reiteration of the mechanisms of domination and the central role of material culture in these.La desnudes indígena fue enfrentada desde el proyecto de evangelización y civilización desplegado por España en el Nuevo Mundo. No solo se trató de una supuesta confrontación ética y moral sino de un acto de dominación en el que imponer la norma de vestir a los indígenas, servía para atacar sus identidades originarias y construir un nuevo ser, el indio. El uso y comercio de la ropa de segunda mano funciona varios siglos después como un recurso de señalización y explotación de la pobreza. En este texto reflexiono sobre estos dos momentos donde la ropa sirve para construir la identidad y naturaleza de los subordinados, y apuntar sobre la ubicación marginal del Caribe en los diseños de estructuración del poder global. A través del análisis histórico sobre manejo de ropa entre indígenas de las Antillas Mayores, y la vivencia antropológica en espacios comerciales de la ciudad de Santo Domingo, República Dominicana, se constata la reiteración de los mecanismos de dominio y el papel central de la cultura material en estos

Restos de cerdo en los contextos arqueológicos de El Chorro de Maíta, Holguín, Cuba

El Chorro de Maíta es un sitio arqueológico localizado al norte de la provincia de Holguín, Cuba, aproximadamente a cuatro km de la costa, en la cuesta de una colina conocida como Cerro de Yaguajay. En él se conservan los restos de unasentamiento de indígenas de filiación ¨agroalfarera¨, conocidos también como Taínos Occidentales.El sitio se conoce desde las primeras décadas del siglo XX aunque alcanza gran relevancia cuando un equipo de investigación dirigido por el Dr. José M. Guarch Delmonte descubre, en 1986, la existencia de un amplio cementerio. Desde el año 2005 se han reactivado los estudios en el lugar bajo la dirección de Roberto Valcárcel Rojas, estableciéndose que el sitio estuvo ocupado entre el siglo XIII DC y hasta mediados del siglo XVI DC. La fase de ocupación poscontacto muestra abundantes materiales hispanos y restos de cerdos, cuyo estudio se discute en este artículo. La presencia espacial, el número y nivel de manipulación de los cerdos, apuntan a un acceso indígena a este animal y su manejo dietario. La presencia de un canino perforado y acondicionado como pendiente, indica que también llegó a diversas prácticas culturales indígenas

Bernardo Vega y los estudios de arqueometalurgia en el Caribe

This article discusses the contributions of the archaeolo gist Bernardo Vega on issues of archaeometallurgy in the Caribbean, based on the analysis of his book, Metals and the Aborigines of Hispaniola. In it, he compiles the information known by the end of the 1970s, about many of metal objects found in indigenous archaeological sites of the Greater Antilles. It also includes reports on the chemical composition of some of these artifacts, which establish the use of gold, copper, bronze, and brass. From this analysis, he discusses the handling of metals among the indigenous people of the insular Caribbean, including the local manufacture of gold objects, and the use of metals obtained from Europeans. Vega incorpo rates the chemical study of metals as a research tool and demonstrates how the knowledge of the materiality con tribute to understand the meanings of the artifacts, and the social mechanisms related to the production, acquisi tion, and use of objects. His research gives importance to indigenous perspectives to explain issues that traditional ly were referred only from the European narratives. This paper summarizes the results of new studies, which cor roborate and expand some of the Vega’s hypotheses and demonstrate the validity of his researc

American gold and European brass:Metal objects and indigenous values in the cemetery of el chorro de maíta' Cuba

Gold was one of the most sought after resources for the Europeans arriving in the New World in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Ethnohistoric sources have long formed the basis for discussions regarding the use' availability' and role of metals among the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean (Szaszdi Nagy 1984). Early European interest in metals has left a second' less welcome' legacy' and that is the paucity of metal artifacts available for study today. There are only a handful of surviving examples of indigenous metalwork from the Caribbean dispersed among museums and private collections around the world (Oliver 2000) and the lack of archaeological sites where metal artifacts have been recovered has greatly restricted the opportunity for the use of new methods and techniques in the Caribbean (Oliver 2000; Vega 1979). However' research elsewhere in Latin America has shown how useful analytical instruments can be for determining the provenance of metals and investigating past technologies with important wider archaeological implications (Bray 1993; Fernández and Garita 2004; Gordus and Shimada 1995; Scott 1991; Silet al. 2004). For the present work' we have used some analytical techniques that are established in the fi eld of archaeometallurgy' but which had not previously been systematically applied to the study of Cuban materials. Namely' we have employed optical microscopy' X- ray fl uorescence and scanning electron microscopy' with microanalysis to investigate an excavated metal assemblage from El Chorro de Maíta cemetery in eastern Cuba. The analytical data reveal particulars of the morphology' microstructure' and chemical composition of these artifacts' which' in turn' will furnish precious information regarding their manufacture and likely origins. This information' when combined with ethnohistorical and archaeological data' provides an interesting insight into the supply' use' and value of different metals' to a level of detail that could not have been achieved without the application of scientific techniques. It is therefore hoped that this may serve as a stimulus for further applications of analytical methods to Caribbean material culture