Análisis de los Datos

There is a significant lack of grave goods found at the Peruvian site of Magdalena de Cao Viejo, which means that this chapter will focus primarily on the materials found in Cuba, at the site if El Chorro de Maita. These have been placed into the categories of 'Items within the Burials', which refers to any objects that were found where there was a burial, but does not necessarily mean that these items were placed there with any deliberation, or are meant to be thought of as directly in association with the individual who was found buried in that location. The category then of 'Items with the Human Remains' refers to any objects that are believed to have been deliberately placed with the buried individuals.

7.1 Magdalena de Cao Viejo

At the site of Magdalena de Cao Viejo, which finds itself in Peru, there were incredibly few grave goods found, especially when compared with the cemetery at the site of El Chorro de Maita.

One of the only things that could be found which could constitute as grave goods are the burial shrouds that were found, and further textile items that were also found with very few of the buried individuals.

The majority of the individuals who were found buried in the church were

extremely likely to have been shrouded in textiles (Ortiz et al. 2017, 394), as were those individuals who were found in the cemetery attached next to the church (Ortiz et al. 2017, 395).

Of the funerary shrouds that were worn by the individuals of this site, they were styled in an indigenous way, but they were made using European design, as well as using European technology (Ortiz et al. 2017, 396). This is important as it indicates a style of clothing, and clothes production that has incorporated both the indigenous and Colonial elements.

Clothing, and textiles, would have been exceedingly important during times such as these, as clothing could indicate identity and allegiance, and it is often seen that

33

men’s clothes tended to have been adapted to the new Spanish styles much faster than those of the women, likely because men tended to be more involved in public and political affairs. It is also the case that there were very few to no European women present at this site, and therefore a lack of reference clothing or patterns in this area (Quilter 2017, 74). Although it does not strictly count within the

definitions of grave goods, it is important to note that there were body parts, or at least bones, removed post-mortem from individuals at this site (Ortiz et al. 398).

7.2 El Chorro de Maita

Unlike at Magdalena de Cao Viejo, El Chorro de Maita did indeed have a wide array of grave goods, both indigenous, European, and in some cases, items that had entered the grave unintentionally, such as ceramics and faunal remains.

Items Within the Burials (found in the immediate surroundings of where there was a burial):

Ceramics: There were indigenous ceramics found with forty-one burials (Rojas

2016, 200). Of the 450 sherds that were found, absolutely none were complete, and neither were there any pieces that were around or over five centimetres, and it is thought that there were no complete vessels placed with the individuals either (Rojas 2016, 201).

There were also European ceramics found for 15 of the burials, and 32 sherds were found, and once again the majority of these pieces were below five centimetres (Rojas 2016, 203).

Faunal Remains: Unusually, there are a lot of burials that have animal remains

present at this site, among them were thirty-two taxa of both land and marine molluscs, crustaceans, salt-water fish, terrestrial amphibians, fluvial reptiles, and terrestrial mammals (Rojas 2016, 203).

Of the fifty-four burials who had animal remains, there were pig remains in forty- one of them, and none appear to have been found in any of the deeper burials (Rojas 2016, 205).

It is thought that, much like the ceramics, the faunal remains that were found to be present in the burials at this site were not placed there intentionally, but rather

34

found themselves there accidentally, possibly due to disturbance of the soil layers (Rojas 2016, 205).

Utilitarian Indigenous Artefacts: There were not too many practical artefacts

found, but from the twenty artefacts that were looked at, the majority were found to be chert (a type of silica rock) fragments, including an unused chert flake that was found in one of the burials (Rojas 2016, 202). There were also some scrapers made from bivalves, as well as s piece of coral that showed evidence of use-wear (Rojas 2016, 202).

Other Indigenous Materials: There are even fewer non-utilitarian indigenous

artefacts that were found. There was a little piece of a bead made out of quartzite, a nodule of apparently unused red ochre, and a piece of stone that was

traditionally used for indigenous engraving (Rojas 2016, 202).

Other Materials: There were found by some of the burials pieces of ferrous metal,

as well as little

pieces of charcoal, but both of these materials are too little or too new to provide any informational insights of real value or interest (Rojas 2016, 206).

Items with the Human Remains (deliberately placed with the remains):

Metal Tubular Artefacts: Out of the twenty-five metal tubular objects (Fig. 7) that

were found, there would seem to be only five complete, with the other twenty being only fragments (Rojas 2016, 92). Many have slight remains of cotton thread inside them, and while there are thought to have been around seventeen burials with these metal tubes, there was usually only one tube found per burial, with it being located by the neck area of the individuals (Rojas 2016, 92). Given the shape and cotton thread remains of theses tubes, it is incredibly likely that these were in fact aglets (Rojas 2016, 220), which would have been used at the ends of the cords that were used to lace together and close clothing, much like buttons or zips would function on clothing today, the metal aglets would help to stop the ends of the cords from fraying, and would also facilitate the threading of the cords through the fabric holes of the clothing (Rojas 2016, 219).

35

Fig. 7: Metal tubular artefacts (Rojas 2016, 93)

Metal Beads and Pendants: There were two cylindrical and one hollow spherical

metal bead found, as well as four laminar (meaning thinly plated) pendants, one hollow bird's head figurine (Fig. 8), and one bell (Rojas 2016, 90).

Fig. 8: Hollow bird head figurine (Rojas 2016, 213)

Non-Metal Beads: There were two beads made of pearl, eighteen of pink coral,

twenty three shell micro-beads, four calcite beads, one modified fish vertebra and four white lithic micro-beads (Rojas 2016, 84). The main majority of the beads were cylindrical, and none bigger than a centimetre in size (Rojas 2016, 84). There were also 114 pieces of quartzite beads associated with just three individuals (Rojas 2016, 225).

Earspools: There were four earspools (used for stretching and/or adorning

through the earlobe) found in total, two out of resin, and two that were made of quartzite (Fig . 9). The resin earspools, possibly amber, which are cylindrical in shape, and have a notch on one end (Rojas 2016, 88). These are brown in colour, and have a cracked surface effect (Rojas 2016, 88). The quartzite earspools are

36

shaped more like reels, meaning that they have something more like cylindrical outward flairs at either end (Rojas 2016, 88).

Fig. 9: Quartzite earspools (Rojas 2016, 89)

Cloth: There were only two very little fragments of cloth found at this site, and

both were found in the same burial, by the mandible of the individual (Rojas 2016, 89). This textile would appear to contain granules of some sort of black sediment (Rojas 2016, 90). One of the fragments of cloth looks to have been made with flax fibres, indicating that this was of a high quality European production (Rojas 2016, 227).

37