Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

54 / Berman, Febles, and Gnivecki
logical societies. Each year the Provincial Speleological Committee (Comité
Espeleológicos Provinciales) produces scienti¤c papers with a section devoted
to archaeology (Fernández Leiva 1992:39). Archaeological discoveries are reported
in the newspapers Granma, Juventud Rebelde, and Bohemia and on radio
and television. In April 2002, for example, the discovery of artifacts from
Villa Clara (north central Cuba) was reported by Radio Havana (2002) and
posted on the Internet, thus expanding the means by which the of¤cial news
service is communicating archaeological information to Cuba and beyond.
Archaeology within the Government Administrative System
The various agencies that administer government policies are overseen by a
Board of Ministries. Archaeology is administered by the Ministry of Culture
and the Ministry of Science, Environment, and Technology. The Center of
Anthropology (Figure 3.5), along with the Center of Historical Sciences,
Institute of Linguistics, and other institutes of social and biological research,
is located administratively in the Ministry of Science, Environment, and
Technology. The Center of Anthropology consists of regionally based archaeology
departments in Havana and Holguín and the Department of Ethnology.
The Department of Archaeology (Havana) has of¤ces in Pinar del
Rio and Matanzas and collaborates with other institutions. The National
Commission of Patrimony, situated in the Ministry of Culture, grants permits
to conduct archaeological research (Fernández Leiva 1992:38). Archaeologists
must submit a report upon ¤nishing a project. The National Commission
oversees the laws that protect and preserve sites and the administration and
management of the 15 provincial museums. These museums were created as a
result of a 1966 law that provides that all the municipalities must have at least
one museum. There are over 100 municipal museums in addition to the provincial
counterparts. Many of both kinds of museums contain archaeological
collections and exhibits. Fernández Leiva (1992:39) notes that, as a result of
these efforts, today’s elementary schoolchild knows more about the prehistory
of Cuba than the majority of educated people did before 1959.
Museums devoted speci¤cally to archaeology also exist. Some notable examples
are the Montané Museum of the University of Havana (mentioned in
numerous contexts throughout this paper) and the University of Oriente’s
Museo Arqueológico in Santiago de Cuba. The Museo Indocubano in Banes
is famous for a thirteenth-century gold ¤gurine and for murals painted by the
noted muralist José Martínez depicting Taíno life. The Museum Chorro de
Maíta, situated on the site of Bani, is believed to be the largest aboriginal