Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

80 / Linville
5.3. Manuel Rivero de la Calle delivering a speech to
the Sociedad Espeleológica de Cuba. Published with
permission from Daniel Rivero de la Calle.
on the Hicacos Peninsula, Varadero, Matanzas. 12 With 71 pictographic images,
this cave is among the most intensively decorated of all Cuban cave sites,
second only to Cueva No. 1, Punta del Este. Although the Cueva de Ambrosio
contained no deposits with which to establish a cultural association for the
images, Rivero de la Calle included his discussion of these pictographs in a
chapter titled “Non-ceramic Groups: Guanahatabeyes and Ciboneys” (Rivero
de la Calle 1966:67–99). He clearly favored their attribution to preceramic
peoples of Cuba, although he also suggested that some may be associated with
Arawakan (i.e., Taíno) creation myths about the sun and the sea (Rivero de
la Calle 1966:96). While the presence of the concentric circles motif led him
to relate these pictographs to images in the Punta del Este site, he also noted
that some of the images in the Cueva de Ambrosio were stylistically distinct
from any others known for the island (Rivero de la Calle 1966:98).
It has been suggested that during the ¤rst two decades following the Revo-