Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

Plants and Ceramic Griddles / 161
pared but also foods coming from other sources. It seemed that the multifunctionality
of the burén was not seen or documented clearly during the contact period
(ca. a.d. 1492–1550).
These previous studies planted the seed of doubt regarding the contribution of
varied vegetable foods to the diet, especially if the burén had been utilized solely
for the preparation of cassava. Since it is known that well- defined artifacts existed
for grating and mashing manioc and other plants and tubers, it could be
clearly conceived that this artifact could contain starch grains from other vegetable
sources. Following these new doubts, we designed this study with the intention
of starting to elucidate these and other problems of Cuban and Antillean archaeology.
The Macambo II Site
The site is located in San Antonio del Sur, Guantánamo province, in the southeastern
region of Cuba (Figure 12.1). It was discovered in 1987 and excavated by personnel
from the Centro de Antropología del Ministerio de Ciencia Tecnología y
Medio Ambiente. The excavations confirmed that the precolonial inhabitants who
settled there can be affiliated with a highly evolved late agro- ceramic cultural level
(e.g., ca. a.d. 1200–1600).
The Site of Laguna de Limones
This agro- ceramic site is located in the second terrace that forms the coastal plain
of Maisí, some 600 m south of the embankment that allows access to the town of
Maisí, also in the Guantánamo province (Figure 12.1). At approximately 1 km north
of the site the canyon of the Maya River opens up, which remains dry for the
greater part of the year. The location received its name from a small lagoon some
100 m from the archaeological site. Excavations in the lagoon itself took place under
the direction of the archaeologist Ernesto Tabío in 1964. A radiocarbon date
from this settlement showed a calibrated age of a.d. 1050–1613 [2σ] (a.d. 1150–1490
with 98 percent probability) (Guarch 1978).
Materials and Methods
The samples used in this study (~0.008 g each) come from dust obtained by dry
scraping of the work area of the fragments. The instrument used in this procedure
was a sterile scalpel blade. The protocol followed for the extraction of the
starch grains was that proposed by Pagán Jiménez (2005; see also Pagán Jiménez
and Oliver this volume). In order to compare morphologies and metrics of the
found starches and propose identifications we made use of previously published
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