Fingers dig into the ground. They delicately dig into their entrails in search of palpating any foreign object in that environment. The beads of sweat run. The sun stings. They have been crouched for hours, so much so that their legs are numb. Someone yells. He pulls without much force and shows a fragment of a glass vessel.
“What time will it be?”
It is the question that surrounds those who circle the new piece that will be added to the list of findings from the Manuel Romero Falcó Archeology Cabinet, from the Office of the Curator of the City of Sancti Spíritus, in its five years of existence.
Then the other part of the process will come, as precious as digging: looking at the pieces with a magnifying glass to answer the question exactly.
It doesn’t matter how tired you accumulate in those days. Each result is a victory because it allows us to understand much more a past far removed from the present for years, but in force because it is responsible for how we are.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MINE
Sancti Spíritus has proven to be fertile ground for archaeological finds. Right here the aborigines found accommodation, who in 1514 lived through the complex process of transculturation. Hence, it is common for the team of archaeologists in the province to come face to face with pieces of aboriginal pottery and a fragment of a sword or petaloid axes and coins.
One of the richest places to go back to other centuries is the area drowned by the Zaza reservoir. In times of drought, when the withdrawal of its water leaves strategic points free, according to research, they take advantage of it to go there, even by bicycle, and remove every inch of the area.
More than 300 archaeological stations found has been the result shown by the Manuel Romero Falcó Archeology Cabinet in its searches in the belly of what could be when the great sea of fresh water of Cuba is full.
“This is a significant figure,” says Rolando Álvarez de la Paz, head of the group. The most important thing is that nine sites have to do with Indo-Hispanic contact and transculturation in Sancti Spíritus, and are directly related to the founding of the old town, precisely framed where historians say that the first settlement was founded after the arrival of the Spaniards to this region, between the El Fraile stream, now known as La Botella, and the Pueblo Viejo stream, currently Puente Palo ”.
Precisely that area —surrounded by undergrowth and with the presence of grazing animals—, located 6 kilometers east of the city of Sancti Spíritus, holds the declaration of a National Monument.
It has also been very beneficial to extend the searches to the municipality of La Sierpe, where some thirty aboriginal sites have been identified, mainly on the banks of the Zaza River, the South Jatibonico River, the Arroyo Naranjo and the Canta Rana lagoon.
In five years of constant work we can distinguish the conservation of fragments of majolica Columbia Liso and Caparra Azul, early style jugs, horse shoes, some nails, pieces of chains, sword and dagger, and an iron spearhead, unique from its type that is contextualized in the 16th century town of Espirituan.
Likewise, portions of burén (clay disk where cassava was cooked and meats were roasted), carved stone fishing net plungers, petaloid axes, polished green stone, a necklace bead have also been touched by the hands. made of milky quartz, flint hammers, scrapers, cores and blades, and pieces of Aboriginal pottery.
And although it may seem that discoveries are only possible in places far from the comings and goings of a greater number of people, the year 2014 showed that when it comes to discoveries there is no exact formula. When the old structure of the Serafín Sánchez Valdivia park collapsed due to bulldozers and backhoes, it allowed archaeologists from Spiritus and other guests to immerse themselves in the remains of the convent and the church of San Francisco.
Too much history in the place where in 1914 the Serafín Sánchez Valdivia park took shape on top of the remains of the place where the Veracruz hermitage was located in 1690, which from 1716 was accompanied by the religious building San Francisco. In 1911 it was decided to demolish the hermitage and the former convent, in order to offer work and modernize the town.
FRAGMENTS OF HISTORY
The human cord that after days and days watched over each find still remains fresh in the memory of this city: vessels, horseshoes, coins, door fittings and clay bricks of different thicknesses.
With a high degree of preservation, they made it possible for the first time to assess a large space in the center of the city.
Precisely, so that no one misses this fascinating dialogue with a time that preceded us, we opted to bring life back to the Ruinas del Parque Archaeological Interpretation Room, located at the back of the Provincial Museum of History.
There, in addition to the evidence, a model is displayed with the points where what was found was extracted.
“The proposal is that a tour be made throughout the park to explain its history in each gigantography and some archaeological traces exposed to everyone’s view,” explains Marta Barbarita Esquijarosa Escobar, director of the institution.
FOR MORE RICHES
The Cabinet has many other projects in its sights, in addition to the aforementioned Old Town, the Ruins of the Park and the Zaza dam. They put all their efforts in being able to scrutinize the sugar heritage and military fortifications.
The good news has been the return of specialists to the ruins of the former Jesús Nazareno church, located in the heart of the Popular Council of Jesús María.
There they look for details of the mural paintings that appear on its walls in order to protect them because it is a building in a deplorable state of construction. Together with the experts, the students of the Archeology Course of the recently launched Conrado Garau Gayá Restoration Trades School participate, a perfect way to sow love and dedication for a work for curious and passionate about the past, that time capable of allowing us to analyze the present thanks to the traces of what we are.
