Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

Introduction / 11
institutions in Havana. Ever since our meeting, he has periodically sent me
postcards, which often take several months to make it over the 90-mile stretch
between Cuba and Florida.
The list of names and phone numbers made for me by my Cienfuegos
friend became very important when I returned that same summer for a twomonth
stay to explore research possibilities. If I were to write an entry in an
archaeological travel guide to Cuba, I would emphasize the incredible hospitality
and generosity of our Cuban colleagues. I, a North American student
of unknown credentials, dropped in out of nowhere on archaeologists at the
Centro de Antropología (similar to the anthropology branch of the Smithsonian)
and the Gabinete de Arqueología in Havana, the city archaeology
of¤ce. At the Gabinete, Roger Arrazcaeta and his colleagues gave me a full
day’s tour of the center’s facilities and its active excavation sites. I was impressed.
Before traveling to Cuba, I had a lot of hubris—a typical American trait
and, I am afraid, a typical trait of American archaeologists. I had imagined
that because of the isolation of the embargo and the supposed “freezing” of
Cuban society in the Revolutionary moment of 1959, urban archaeology
would be unknown or underdeveloped on the island. Or I assumed that if it
were practiced, it was done without the advantages of zooarchaeology, ethnobotany,
or even updated ceramic typing. My intent was to propose a collaborative
effort where I would offer these technical aids (and training) in exchange
for access to sites and assistance in excavation.
Although I found Cubans themselves to be self-effacing about their ¤eld
methods and equipment, I was utterly humbled by what I saw in Havana. The
archaeology of New Orleans was primitive by comparison. We had nowhere
near the same staf¤ng or support; we had done nowhere near the same amount
of research or excavation on the city’s key historical sites. It didn’t really matter
that they used mechanical transits rather than fancy laser total stations.
Further, our archaeological projects had nowhere near the same visibility on
the public horizon. As Lourdes Domínguez describes in her paper for this
volume, archaeological investigations of Havana have been ongoing for several
decades in conjunction with historic preservation and renovation projects.
Archaeology and historic preservation play prominent roles in the national
identity of contemporary Cuba and in the civic reinvention of Havana as an
exhibition space for the best the Revolution has to offer. As a result, archaeologists
have the power to halt construction projects wherever they perceive a
threat to important deposits. Archaeologists are also seen as participants in