Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

El Chorro de Maíta / 137
Delmonte 1996:20). The tubular form allows the metal to be strung on thread
for use in necklaces, pendants, or other body ornaments. These metal tubes
appear located mostly near the neck, thorax, pelvis, and wrist of the skeletons.
In burial number 25, ¤ve of these tubular pieces were found together with a
metallic disk covered with a cotton textile (see Figure 7.4) placed under the
left knee (Guarch Delmonte 1996:20).
Until recently, it was assumed that these tubes were made of copper (Guarch
Delmonte 1996:20), but recent analysis of X-ray ®uorescence has determined
that one of the tubes from burial no. 60 and the one from burial no. 84 were
made of an alloy known as latón or brass (a copper-zinc alloy). One of the
tubes found with the medallion of burial no. 25 was produced from an alloy
with a high concentration of copper (Valcárcel 2002b).
Besides stone beads and metallic tubular pieces, three skeletons are accompanied
by several beads made of a material that could be coral (Guarch Delmonte
1996:22), another one by beads of vegetable resin, and two others with
ear spools (in one case made of vegetable resin and in the other of quartzite).
Another skeleton had a half-¤nished bead made of ¤sh vertebra, and two
others had three pearl beads. Some of the burials contained pieces made of
yet different materials. Burial 57 can be considered an exceptional case since
it included possible coral and quartzite beads, one metallic tubular pendant
and, unique in the cemetery, an ornitomorphic pendant elaborated from an
alloy of gold, copper, and silver, as well as four laminar pendants and a bell
made of the same alloy (see Figure 7.4), three pearl beads, two beads seemingly
manufactured from gold wire, and a hollow spherical bead that seems to
be made of an alloy of gold, copper, and silver (Guarch Delmonte 1996:21–22).
In addition to these objects, burials 47, 57, and 72 have small cloth remnants,
and next to burial 31 part of a human bone marked with incisions
(Guarch Delmonte 1996:21) was found. It is interesting that both burials 31
and 57 include metallic tubular pieces or other ornaments, suggesting a strong
concentration of metallic materials among a restricted number of individuals.
Excluding burials 72 and 47 that had only textile remains, all the objects mentioned
are concentrated on only 25 skeletons of the 110 extracted by the Departamento
Centro Oriental de Arqueología, that is to say 22.7 percent of the
total sample. A metal disc accompanied burial no. 25, the metallic tubular
pieces appear in 17 burials, and ornaments of gold, copper, and silver, as well
as the pearls, are all represented in single burials; the nonmetallic body ornaments
are located in 10 burials.
As with the stone beads, all these artifacts seem to be highly valued and