Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

Rock Art Research in Cuba / 91
tween the motifs depicted and other known cultural artifacts or on the proximity
of the images to archaeological deposits.
In some cases, multiple lines of evidence may suggest a cultural af¤liation.
For example, the cultural context for the production of the pictographs of the
Cueva No. 1, Punta del Este site, was ultimately established when Ramón
Dacal Moure recovered from the cave stone bowls (a type of artifact associated
with the early, nonagricultural inhabitants) that retained pigment residues
consistent with those used in the production of the pictographs on the
cave walls. From this evidence, researchers infer that preceramic, preagricultural
people(s) created the images found on the walls of the cave (Dacal
Moure and Rivero de la Calle 1996:36). Elements of style and spatial proximity
have helped to establish the cultural relationship between this cave and
Cueva No. 4 from the same area. In turn, dates provided by radiometric analysis
of bone collagen recovered from human burials excavated in Cueva No. 4
suggest that the Punta del Este caves date to 1100 ± 130 b.p. (L-CH-1106)
(Tabío and Rey 1979:209). Of the 16 sites in Table 5.1 that are associated with
absolute dates, 12 (75 percent) are pictographic sites located on Isla de Pinos
(Núñez Jiménez 1975:507). For each of these 12, either the pictographs or associated
cultural remains found at the site were deemed consistent with those
recovered from the Cueva No. 4 site.
The general dates provided for two petroglyphic sites listed in Table 5.1
are inferred estimates based on historical documents, iconographic and stylistic
analyses, and a radiocarbon date obtained in 1964 (Guarch Delmonte
1978:127) for the Laguna de los Limones habitation site, located in Baracoa,
Guantánamo, in an area concentrated with sites identi¤ed as Taíno (Harrington
1921; Núñez Jiménez 1975:507). A charcoal sample obtained at the site
from a hearth closely associated with Taíno cultural remains was analyzed at
the Smithsonian Institution (SI-348), providing a radiocarbon date of 640 ±
120 b.p. (Tabío and Rey 1979:211).
Although it has been suggested that neither relative dating nor stylistic seriation
have been emphasized in Cuba (Davis 1996:176), according to Guarch
Delmonte (1987), elements of style have dominated attempts to identify rock
art with distinct culture groups. The fact that many rock art sites in Cuba
lack associated archaeological remains has been a contributing factor. Research
in the Camagüey province helps to explain this reliance. Of the 300
caves and caverns located in the Sierra de Cubitas area, six have pictographs
(El Indio, located in the western zone, Matías, Las Mercedes, María Teresa,