Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

Three Stages in the History of Cuban Archaeology / 39
2.1. Work group translating and editing the book titled The Art and Archaeology of Pre-
Columbian Cuba by Dacal Moure and Rivero de la Calle: (left to right), Daniel Sandweiss,
Dave Watters, Ramón Dacal Moure, and Manuel Rivero de la Calle
April 19, 1963, the Junta was incorporated into the Comisión Nacional de la
Academia de Ciencias de la República de Cuba, taking over its activities. In
February 1976, the Constitution provided for the defense of Cuban cultural
identity and its protection through conservation of its cultural heritage, a
function delegated to the Ministry of Culture. In 1977, a law titled Protección
al Patrimonio Nacional and its regulations considered the products of archaeological
excavations and discoveries as commodities. Also that year, the law
Monumentos Nacionales y Locales created the Comisión Nacional y Provinciales
de Monumentos. Its regulations specify that the approval of the commission
must be obtained to conduct excavations and archaeological investigations
and that the results of such investigations have to be reported. It also
established that objects obtained in excavations conducted by of¤cial archaeological
institutions would be conserved by the institutions until the conclusion
of their study, after which the commission and the Dirección de Patrimonio
Cultural del Ministerio de Cultura determine their ¤nal location.
In 1987, the Penal Code was revised to state that a person who conducts
archaeological explorations by excavations, removal of soils, or other means
without the authorization of the pertinent state body incurs a sanction of