Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

El Chorro de Maíta / 139
symbolic objects. Vega (1979), in an extensive revision of historic Antillean
metal use, stresses the especially valuable character of the objects elaborated
from the alloy of gold, copper, and silver called guanín. The guaníns constituted
rare high-status objects that had to be imported from South America
(Vega 1979:54). According to Oliver (2000:213–215), they represented a metaphor
of the divine and celestial that was supported by diverse myths and gave
the cacique his/her sacred nature. Because of its similarity to guanín, the latón
or brass (copper-zinc alloy) brought by Europeans acquired the same sociocultural
value and symbolic connotation. The gold was used in body ornaments
and in the decorations of ceremonial objects to give them special powers
(Oliver 2000:215). Some symbols of command were also detailed with this
metal (Alegría 1980:11), and the names of several important caciques or chiefs
from Hispaniola include a version of this term (Vega 1979:52, 55).
The four laminar pendants and the bell found with burial 57 (see Figure
7.4) present a proportion of gold, copper, silver, and silicon (Guarch Delmonte
1996:24) in agreement with the ranges identi¤ed by Siegel and Severin
(1993:76) to estimate the presence of guanín. The possibility that other pieces
containing gold, copper, and silver, but not analyzed quantitatively, could represent
guaníns should not be ruled out.
In addition to the metals, the probable coral, pearl, and resin beads and the
earspool made of resin must have been highly esteemed. Their forms, materials,
and dimensions required a complex manufacturing process and a careful
process of extraction. As evidence, we can point to microbeads found in
burial no. 57 that originally were thought to be made of shell (Guarch Delmonte
1996:22). It has since been determined that they are made of quartzite.
These pieces are exceptionally small, with a diameter of 1.5 mm and a thickness
of 1 mm, and they were produced from a very hard material. These beads
exemplify the degree of complexity that the producers had to face and their
level of technical skills.
The objects associated with burials are also signi¤cant for their rarity. The
resin beads and ear spools, the pearl beads, and the possible coral beads have
not been discovered on any other site in Cuba, nor have quartzite beads of
such small size been found. The metal pieces have appeared only in four places
in Banes, and they always consist of a single object (Valcárcel 1999:89). This
dearth of ornaments holds true for the rest of Cuba (Guarch Delmonte
1996:24). In El Chorro de Maíta, however, there are 9 objects of gold or gold
alloyed with copper and silver, a metallic disk in burial no. 25, and 28 metallic
tubular objects between the complete and broken pieces (Valcárcel 2002b).