Before the arrival of the Europeans at the end of the 15th century, the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean valued metals very differently from what we would expect today. A great example of this is the metal assemblage that has been found at the cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta in the Banes area of eastern Cuba.
We think of gold as one of the most valuable metals today. Before the European invasion, it was a readily available material for the people that inhabited El Chorro de Maíta. They called it coana and would find it in rivers that are close to El Chorro de Maíta. A much more highly valued metal was guanín, an alloy that was created from melting and mixing gold, silver, and copper. It was imported all the way from today's Colombia and its name was associated with an idea of the exotic. This can also be seen in the use of this word to describe other objects of similarly high esteem, such as rare feathers, stones, or plants.
The high value Indigenous peoples placed on these metals was exploited by the Europeans, who were primarily seeking gold. They would for example trade 1 guanín for 200 coana. Furthermore, Europeans also introduced brass, common for them, but an unknown metal to the Indigenous population. This material would be exchanged extensively for the desired gold as it was seen as turey “a thing from the skies of sacred properties”. The turey at El Chorro de Maíta was also produced in Europe, most probably in the city of Nuremberg in today’s Germany. As a result, the most common metal found at El Chorro de Maíta comes from Europe.
Text by Georg Müller, based on original published research (see further reading).
Photo: guanín finds from El Chorro de Maíta (photo courtesy of Martinón-Torres et al. 2007).
Cooper, J., M. Martinón-Torres & R.V. Rojas, 2008. American Gold and European Brass, in Crossing the Borders, eds. C.L. Hofman, M. Hoogland & A.L. van Gijn. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 34–42.
Martinón-Torres, M., R.V. Rojas, J. Cooper & T. Rehren, 2007. Metals, microanalysis and meaning: a study of metal objects excavated from the indigenous cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba, Journal of Archaeological Science 34(2), 194–204.
Valcárcel Rojas, R., 2016. Archaeology of Early Colonial Interaction at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.