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Study of Pre-Hispanic Metallic Objects Found in Cuba

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Alberto A. Tagle
Alberto A. Tagle*
Affiliation:
The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware 19735
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Abstract

A study of 12 pre-Hispanic metal objects found in Cuba has been made using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis. Certain of these objects may represent evidence of pre-Columbian trade between cultures in eastern Cuba and the Central American region; others bear testimony to early Spanish-American contacts. The objects were found near the sea in the provinces of Holguàn, Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba. The objects found at the southern sites were found to be native gold, brass and a gold-silver-copper alloy (guanàn or tumbaga). The brass objects, worked and shaped in traditional Indian forms, are evidence of early Spanish-American contacts. A plate with an unusual nickel enriched surface was also found among the objects from the southern coast. The more elaborate objects found at the site near Holguàn are tumbagas (guanàn) which are stylistically similar to Central American examples. They are evidence of trade between Cuba and Mesoamerica before or shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 779
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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