The digitization of thousands of archaeological pieces from the colonial period in Cienfuegos occupies specialists of the Provincial Center of Cultural Heritage in these times of COVID-19, waiting to resume excavations in old buildings of the capital city and the rest of the municipalities.

"Now we are working on the digitalization of the jars with inscriptions, as we did previously with all the ceramics found. These are identified with an inventory number associated with the site where they appeared: a house, a building under construction or a garbage dump," said Lester David Puntonet Toledo, leader of the colonial archaeology project "History under our feet", with almost fifteen years of impact in the Pearl of the South.

The researcher specified that although most of the elements date from the 19th century, some correspond to the first decades of the last century. To classify them," he said, "we maintain communication with foreign clubs that collect antique flasks. This has allowed us to recognize bottles of wine, beer, perfume and medicine from France, the United States and Germany".

To digitize each piece, the experts take photographs of them separately and, in specific cases, they have even managed to form archaeological lots, consisting of bags with material from the same building or place. According to Puntonet Toledo, this makes it possible to investigate  faster everything that has been found.

Although "La historia bajo nuestros pies" works mainly in areas of the Historic Urban Center of Cienfuegos, in recent years it has extended its activities to other municipalities such as Cruces, Rodas and Abreus. In 2020, it participated in the discovery of a cemetery in Cumanayagua, where human remains and other objects were found.

"If the epidemiological situation in the province improves, we will resume our work in buildings and houses in the city. This 2021 we plan to intervene in the old office of the English Cable, today headquarters of the Cuban Postal Company, to rescue what is under its floors, because, as we know, the filling of those old constructions used to be done with garbage," commented Puntonet Toledo.

Currently, the Provincial Cabinet of Colonial Archeology "Marcos Rodriguez Matamoros" is working on the creation of different types of collections. For example, the origin of the ceramics has already been identified, as well as the history of each manufacturer and importer. The same will be done with the flasks, once the digitization process is completed.

Taken from September 5th
English version Hector Hdez.