Shell Teeth Found in Cuban Province's Aboriginal Site

A stylized tortoise shell, to be embedded in a wooden idol, was found at the site of pottery farmers in Toma de Agua, in the municipality of La Sierpe, located in this central Cuban province, an expert confirmed today.

In an interview with Prensa Latina, the archaeologist Reinaldo Perez explained that during a visit last July to the aforementioned place to assess the damages caused by heavy rains, in the dragging of the waters towards the Zaza River, this piece was found.

Perez, who works in the Archeology Office Manuel Romero Falco, said that the denture has a rectangular shape with incision of perpendicular lines and another trace that crosses it longitudinally, in which the design of the teeth can be observed.

It is polished by all faces and is the first time a shell denture appears in that Aboriginal site, but in Pueblo Viejo we did find a similar, he said.

Toma de Agua is one of the most important archaeological sites in La Sierpe where several excavations have been made since the 80s, of the last century, until today, he said.

During this research, important superstructural objects were found, he added.

For example, a triangular gold earring and another rectangular shell, added the master of the Office of Monuments and Historical Sites of the Provincial Cultural Heritage Center, to which the Archeology Office Manuel Romero Falco belongs.

Toma de Agua is located on the right bank of the Zaza River and the first evidence related to the site dates back to 1984.

Meanwhile, the archaeological and historical investigations carried out in Pueblo Viejo give the certainty of its status as the founding site of Sancti Spiritus, in 1514, by the Spanish conquistadors.