Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

El Chorro de Maíta / 141
ability and the most important objects. It is possible that these features represent
either a family burial—a cacique with his wife and son—or a burial of
mother and child (Rodríguez Arce 1989:8). References to both situations occur
in the historic documents for Hispaniola, but archaeologically it is dif¤cult
to de¤ne the relationship in a more precise manner.
The presence of several children with objects suggests that the hereditary
transmission of status was not unusual but rather that it was a socially accepted
and institutionalized practice. The parity between men and women in
the use of metallic objects and the concentration of nonmetallic objects for
women, children, and adolescents seem to support this conjecture. Even when
it is admitted that some women achieved status through marriage (not ascribed),
these burials still include individuals from sex and age groups with
few possibilities of raising their status through personal deeds.
While most of the indigenous burials (n=93) and objects are located in
Unit 3, the rest of the excavations report only two burials with metallic objects
and three with nonmetallic objects. In Unit 3, the largest quantity of objects
and burials is clustered in its central part, designated Zone A (see Figure 7.3).
This zone includes 53 burials representing 56.9 percent of all human remains
recovered from Unit 3 and 48.1 percent for the whole sample unearthed during
excavations by the Departamento Centro Oriental de Arqueología. Zone A
also includes 93.3 percent of the burials from Unit 3 with metallic objects and
57.1 percent of the burials with nonmetallic objects. Regarding the total number
of burials with objects in the cemetery, Zone A represents 82.3 percent of
the burials with metallic ornaments and 40 percent of the burials with nonmetallic
ornaments. Undoubtedly the differentiated treatment received by
certain people in their burials goes well beyond the attribution of special objects.
It also includes their location in a particular area within the cemetery,
which seems to have been considered very important since it contains the
largest number of burials.
The chronology of the burials has not been established properly, and therefore
it is dif¤cult to understand the presence of the objects in a temporal sense.
Burial 25, which possesses a metal medallion and cloth, has been dated to 870
± 70 b.p. (Beta—148956; human bone; d 13c/12c = −19 percent). Burial 39,
with a metal tubular piece, is dated to 360 ± 80 b.p. (Beta—148955; human
bone; d 13c/12c = −19 percent), and burials 69 and 84 have tubes of latón that
date their interment to after 1492. These ¤ndings suggest a consistent tradition
in the employment of metals, a tradition that survived contact with Europeans
by adapting new raw materials. The ornitomorphic pendant of gold,