New Book: Cuba, Archaeology and Historical Legacy

A new book on Cuban archaeology was presented this past January 25, in the old city of La Habana, Cuba. The event was sponsored by the city of Havana historian's office, the Montane Anthropological Museum and the Cultural Patrimony Council. The title of the work is "Cuba: Arqueología y Legacía Histórica" (Polymita).

This is an important contribution, which in the constellation of other recent works - which includes several important articles and full-length treaties on several themes – gathers some of the most significant minds of Cuban archaeology of the XX and XXI centuries.

The book includes a series of diverse articles touching upon current issues and problematica in the fields of archaeological and historical research in Cuba. There are sections on the interpretation of aboriginal or prehistoric burial practices, use of fauna, and applications of theoretical archaeology; plus, the interpretation of the chronicles penned by conquistadores during the first decades of the colonization. Moreover, it includes an array of classic works on physical anthropology, toolkits and technological usage of wood and mollusks. The contributions provided both by the young and the older, though distinguished, generations of archaeologists. Among them, some of the most renown names in Cuban and Caribbean archaeology.

Within the attendees were the city historians Eusebio Leal Spengler (La Habana) and Ercilio Vento Canosa (Matanzas), the conservator of the city of Matanzas, Leonel Perez Orozco, among other prominent Cuban archaeologists. Presenting were Jorge Garcell of the council of Cultural Patrimony and the photographer - wind beneath the wings of this publication- Julio Larramendi.

Please, join us in congratulating our friends and colleagues, those that made within and outside the covers, for this important contribution.


A complete list of the book’s content is here provided (in Spanish):

PRÓLOGO
José Barreiro

LOS ESTUDIOS SOBRE ARQUEOLOGÍA ABORIGEN EN CUBA: TEORÍAS Y APRECIACIONES
Armando Rangel Rivero
LAS COMUNIDADES ABORÍGENES DE CUBA. CENSO 2013
José Jiménez Santander, Liamne Torres La Paz, Dany Morales Valdés y Lisandra Jiménez Ortega

CRÓNICAS Y CRONISTAS DE INDIAS OCCIDENTALES
Ulises M. González Herrera

VIDA COTIDIANA Y ORGANIZACIÓN SOCIAL DE LAS COMUNIDADES ABORÍGENES DE CUBA
Lillián J. Moreira de Lima

POBLACIÓN ABORIGEN PRECOLOMBINA. DESCRIPCIÓN DE LAS CARACTERÍSTICAS CRANEALES Y LA ESTATURA
Manuel F. Rivero de la Calle

LA ALIMENTACIÓN DE LOS ABORÍGENES DE CUBA
Roberto Rodríguez Suárez y Yadira Chinique de Armas

EL ARTE COMO EXPRESIÓN SOCIAL DE LOS ABORÍGENES DE CUBA
Lourdes Sarah Domínguez González

ANIMALES EN EL ARTE ABORIGEN
Carlos Arredondo Antúnez y Rafael Borroto-Páez
PINTURAS Y GRABADOS RUPESTRES EN EL ARCHIPIÉLAGO CUBANO
Divaldo A. Gutiérrez Calvache y José B. González Tendero

MEDICINA DE LOS ABORÍGENES DE CUBA
Enrique Beldarraín Chaple

LOS BATEYES ABORÍGENES: JUEGO Y RITO EN EL ESPACIO COMUNAL
Daniel Torres Etayo

COSTUMBRES FUNERARIAS: LA MUERTE, EL ESPACIO Y EL TRATAMIENTO DEL CADÁVER EN LAS COMUNIDADES ORIGINARIAS DE CUBA
Jorge Fernando Garcell Domínguez

LOS ABORÍGENES Y EL USO DE LOS MOLUSCOS
Alina Lomba Garmendia y Daniel Torres Etayo

LAS INDUSTRIAS LÍTICAS DE LAS SOCIEDADES ABORÍGENES EN CUBA
Gerardo Izquierdo Díaz

LAS MADERAS EN LOS OBJETOS ABORÍGENES CUBANOS
Raquel Carreras Rivery
LA INDUSTRIA DE LA MADERA DE LOS ABORÍGENES DE CUBA
Gabino La Rosa Corzo

EL ÁREA ARQUEOLÓGICA LOS BUCHILLONES: ZONA EXCEPCIONAL PARA EL CARIBE
Adrián García Lebroc y Jorge Calvera Rosés

EL CHORRO DE MAÍTA
Roberto Valcárcel Rojas

EL LEGADO ARUACO EN EL ESPAÑOL CUBANO
Sergio Valdés Bernal

DESCENDIENTES DE LOS ABORÍGENES CUBANOS
Manuel F. Rivero de la Calle

LA HUELLA ABORIGEN EN EL PATRIMONIO GENÉTICO DE LA NACIÓN CUBANA
Beatriz Marcheco Teruel

ENTREVISTA A ALEJANDRO HARTMAN, HISTORIADOR DE BARACOA Y DIRECTOR DEL MUSEO MATACHÍN

 

Photographs published here are courtesy of personnel of the Oficina del Historiador de La Habana. Most special thanks to Lisette Roura Alvarez (C).

Our New Book: Matanzas in the Viewfinder of Time!

With great pleasure and excitement, after prolonged anticipation, here I present our latest publication, our book “Matanzas en el Visor del Tiempo” or Matanzas in the Viewfinder of Time. It took several years of research to complete, from dream to reality, and it is now finally ready. We are proud that it will fill-in a gap in the history of our hometown, Matanzas city, Cuba. No doubt, the sacrifice and long wait it took to see it published was worthwhile. We hope it is as enjoyable to you as it is for us.

Concord Bridge, completed in 1878 by Spanish-born architect Pedro Celestino del Pandal y Sanchez

This book was written in Spanish by Leonel Pérez Orozco, Matanzas City Conservator, Luis R. González Arestuche, Matanzas-born architect and architecture historian, plus archaeologist Ricardo Viera Muñoz, and myself. Karell Bofill Bahamonde graced our work with his graphic design and modern photographic editing. And last but not least, the modern photographs of Jorge I. Rodríguez.



First leaf of Matanzas en el Visor del Tiempo (2017) Ed. Bolona.

Our book was idealized as a two-volume visual and historical compendium. We started it in 2012 and was completed by 2014, when it was tentatively published by the Felix Varela, publisher of the University of Havana. However, several reasons precluded it from being finally printed there. Finally, thanks to the help of the Office of the Conservator and city Historian of Matanzas, and Havana, specially Eusebio Leal Spengler, our book was published this month. It is a 725-page single volume with over 300 previously unedited and unpublished photographs, few as early as 1859 up to the present.



Matanzas's Cathedral of San Carlos de Borromeo,
patron saint of the city and one of its most emblematic locations.
View from early XX century and present.

This current edition (2017) outlines the architectural evolution and history of Matanzas city. Many of the photographs represent long-gone locations and buildings. It shows a full spectrum of lost patrimony, in the way of architecture and landscape design, that has characterized the changes of the last 100 years. It shows Cuban life as it was.

Some of the oldest photographs were taken by American photo-entrepreneurs, established in New York City, who sent their photographers to capture the “exotic” world of Spanish Cuba. Among them was E. Anthony and Co., who sent their photographer George N. Barnard to Cuba for their album “Cuban Views” (1860) and “American Views” (1870).


One of the oldest photographs known of Matanzas city. This one was taken in 1859 by G. N. Barnard
for E. Anthony and Co. "Cuban Views" stereoview album.

We take this opportunity to thank those friends and colleagues whose collaboration, patience, and insight made, no doubt, a large impression on the pages of our book and our experience.

Thank you so much.


Recommended citation: Pérez Orozco, L., L. R. Rodríguez Arestuche, J. Orihuela León, and R. A. Viera Muñoz (2017). Matanzas en el Visor del Tiempo. Editorial Boloña, La Habana.

See our upcoming publication for more details:

Orihuela, J. and R. A. Viera (2016). Fotografias historicas de la bateria de San Jose de la Vigia, Ciudad de Matanzas, Cuba. Revista Arqueologica Cuba Arqueologica, 9 (1): 1-9.