lEWKEsJ CULTURE AREAS IN THE WEST IIS^DIES 247 



he elsewhere describes and figures are also brought to the support 

 of this theory. There is nothing to show that this cave people dif- 

 fered in any respect from those to whom early writers allude as 

 living in the central and western parts of the island. All the 

 evidence appears to support the theory that some of the natives of 

 Cuba lived in caves at the time of the discovery, and the conclusion 

 is natural that they were the lineal descendants of the oldest race 

 which they resemble in l)odily and cultural characters. 



Sehor Rodriguez-Ferrer, in his valuable work,!" referring to the 

 letter of Las Casas and to other evidence published in the Docu- 

 mentos Ineditos del Archive de Indias (vol. viii, p. 34). points out 

 certain differences in the culture of the natives in different parts of 

 the island, which are practically the same as those indicated by 

 archeology. 



An important addition to our knowledge of Cuban archeology 

 was made by Don Eusebio Jimenez,^' who. in October, 1850, exca- 

 vated some mounds in the central part of the eastern end of the 

 island. According to J. de J. Q. Garcia these important remains 

 were found on the farm of D. Francisco Eodriguez, nearly 5 miles 

 southwest of Moron. Various utensils and objects made of hard- 

 wood, stone, and burnt clay were recovered from these mounds. The 

 description which Garcia gives of the excavations leaves no doubt 

 that these mounds, called caneys, were alwriginal burial places, and 

 they suggest the existence in the neighborhood of one of those dance 

 places called cercados de los Indios, or juegos de bola, which occur 

 in Santo Domingo and Porto Rico. One of. the best known of these 

 aboriginal inclosures in Cuba is the so-called Pueblo Viejo, situated 

 in the eastern end of the island, near Cape Maysi. Although this 

 inclosure has been described by several writers, no one has yet 

 called attention to its resemblance to the dance inclosures of the 

 neighboring islands. 



It is evident from the contents of the numerous caves that have 

 been excavated by Dr. Montane and others in Santiago and Puerto 

 Principe Provinces that cave men lived in those provinces after the 

 introduction of a higher culture from the neighboring islands. 



Although there is considerable literature on the somatology of 

 the Cuban Indians, especially on crania found in caves, a considera- 

 tion of this subject is foreign to the scope of the present article, 

 which is devoted mainly to the consideration of evidences of the 

 existence of a high and a low culture in Cuba at the time of its 

 discovery. The crania found embedded in calcareous rock in caves 

 near Cape Maysi and elsewhere on the eastern end of the island 



>» Naturaloz.i y Civilizacion (If la grandiosa Isla de Cuba, Parte Segunda — Civilizaclon. 

 Madrid, 18ST. pp. 142-144. 



•1 See EI Periodico de Puerto Principe, and Faro Industrial diarlo de la Marina. 



