248 ISLAND CULTURE AREA OF AMERICA [eth. ANN. 34 



have been amply described by anatomists, and are highly instruc- 

 tive in a consideration of the antiquity of man in Cuba, but I am 

 not yet ready to express myself fully on their significance. The 

 natural inference would be that these skulls support the theory of 

 ancient cave man in Cuba, of whom the Guanahatabe^'es were the 

 survivors in the fifteenth century; but West Indian caves were used 

 as burial places after the discovery, and no one has j-et satisfactorily 

 shown any great difference in the crania embedded in rock from 

 those found under usual conditions in the caves.^- 



Dr. Enrifjue Gomez Pianos, in his valuable work on prehistoric 

 Cuba,^^ mentions several caves on the island from which human 

 remains and pottery have been taken, and gives an interesting 

 resume of Cuban archeology without adding mi:ch that is new to the 

 subject. 



Another work containing considerable material on Cuban eth- 

 nology is that of Bachiller y IMorales," a most valuable compilation, 

 but very carelessly edited. It contains much information in regard 

 to the aborigines of the (ireater Antilles, but the title " Cuba Primi- 

 tiva " is somewhat misleading, for while it contains chapters on the 

 subject of primitive Cuba, the larger part of the book deals with 

 Haiti and Porto Kico. 



" AKCHEOLOGICAL 0B.TECTS 



The distribution of polished stone objects in Cuba may be said 

 to confirm the historical accounts of a difference in culture between 

 the inhabitants of the eastern and those of the western provinces. 

 Those of Santiago resemble objects from Haiti and Porto Rico, but 

 no similar implements are found in Pinar del Eio at the western end 

 of the island. 



There are two collections of Indian objects in Habana which 

 contain objects of interest to the archeologist. One of these, the 

 smaller, is in the museum of the Academia de Ciencias. on Calle de 

 Cuba ; the other is in the university near Vedado, a suburb of 

 the city. Both collections are under the directorship of Dr. Luis 

 Montane, who has conducted excavations in several caves of the 

 island and has in preparation a memoir on the subject. The collec- 

 tion at the university is particularly rich in crania from caves, and 



^ For an account of these i-pmaiiis see Anales <ie la Academia de Ciencias, vol. xxvil, 

 Habana. 1800. 



" Prehistoria de la Isla de Culia,. Anales de la Academia de Ciencias. vol. xxxvii. 

 Habana, August— December, 1900. 



" Cuba rriniitiva : Origen, Lenguas, Tradiciones e Historia de los Indios de las 

 Antillas Ma.voies y las Luca.vas, 2d edition, 18S3. In his paper on the Archeology of 

 Cuba (1898) Brinton thus refers to this valuable booli. fifteen years after its pulilication : 

 " The announcement of it, which is before me, dated ' Havana, 1881,' states that it will 

 discuss the antiquities of the island, and the traditions and languages of its early inhabi- 

 tants. Whether it was published or not I have not learned." 



