The “top 100” list includes sites spread across 56 countries. Its publication begins an effort to designate geological sites around the world that are iconic and recognized by the entire geoscientific community by virtue of their impact on the understanding of the planet and its history.

The IUGS Executive Committee has endorsed these 100 sites as “the first and inspiring steps towards a broader program that will recognize those geosites with the highest scientific importance in the world.”

In the certificate of the International Union of Geological Sciences that includes the terraces of Maisí in the list of The First 100 Geological Heritage Sites of the IUGS, it is read that:

“An IUGS Geological Heritage Site is a key location with geological features and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences throughout history.”

More than 200 specialists from almost 40 nations and 10 international organizations, representing different disciplines of Earth sciences, have participated in the selection.

As part of the process, 181 candidate sites in 56 countries were proposed, then evaluated by 33 international experts who defined the IUGS Top 100 Geological Heritage Sites list.

On the IUGS website, the Maisí terraces are presented as “one of the best preserved sequences of elevated marine and coral terraces in the world due to the interaction of the global sea level and tectonics.”

It is considered that they are “an important source of information to reveal the tectonics of the Greater Antilles within the Caribbean geological domain during the Quaternary period (…) The marine terraces in Cuba can be correlated with global changes in sea level in the Quaternary.

“In addition to being in an area regularly hit by hurricanes, this area is important for studying wave energy during those weather events.”

The Maisí terraces share space on the world list with iconic places such as the Grand Canyon or the Yellowstone volcanic and hydrothermal system (USA), the Perito Moreno glacier (Argentina), the Iguazú falls (Argentina-Brazil), Torres del Paine (Chile), the caldera of Santorini (Greece), the inselberg or mount island Mount Uluru (Australia), the sea of ​​sand in the Namib desert (Namibia), the Victoria Falls (Zambia-Zimbabwe) or the Shilin Stone Forest (China).

There are also sites with some of the oldest rocks on Earth (South Africa), traces of primitive life from Australia and China, some of the best dinosaur fossil remains from Canada, the earliest evidence of early hominin development from Tanzania and the sea rocks of the top of the world (Mount Everest).

IUGS Top 100 Geological Heritage Sites List:

Interglacial coralline and raised marine terraces of the Quaternary of Maisí

Geological period:

Quaternary

Main geological interest:

Geomorphology and active geological processes

Stratigraphy and sedimentology

Location:

Punta de Maisi, Guantanamo province, Cuba

20° 08′ 10” N, 074° 13′ 59” W

In a note signed by the Geology Directorate of the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Institute of Geology and Paleontology of Cuba, it is highlighted that “the recognition of the IUGS gives visibility to these sites, identifies them as of maximum scientific value.

“These are sites that served to develop the science of geology, especially its early history. They are the world’s best demonstrations of geological features and processes. They are the places of fabulous discoveries of the Earth and its history”.

It is also recalled that the scientific community has long called for the establishment of a world program with global standards for the recognition of sites of great international importance.

“The IUGS Geological Heritage Sites project, approved by IUGS and UNESCO, has created the right conditions for collaboration towards this great milestone, which will inspire the work of this ambitious program in the near future.”

They also point out that many of the “top 100″ are well protected in national parks, geoparks, geosites and nature reserves, “but many are not.”

They add that “recognition and visibility of the IUGS Top 100 Geological Heritage Sites can lead to their increased appreciation, their use as educational resources and, most importantly, their preservation.”

On the left, shaded relief superimposed on a satellite image showing the terraces. On the right, topographic profile showing the inner edge of each terrace level in the Maisí area. Image: IUGS.

Currently, Maisí is a protected natural area. In the future, considering its internationally recognized geological value, it could become a geopark, as part of a process that began in 2021 with the Viñales Geopark.

According to specialists, due to its remarkable geological diversity, there is potential in Cuba for the creation of around 20 geoparks.

According to reports from the Minem Geology Directorate, in the first quarter of 2023 the geological-morphological study will be completed to assess the creation of a geopark in La Gran Piedra (Santiago de Cuba). Likewise, next year a similar study will begin in the Sierra de Cubitas (Camagüey).

Another study, with a start date in the last quarter of 2022, will have the same objective in the Guamuhaya massif, in the center of the Island.

The International Union of Geological Sciences is one of the largest scientific organizations in the world, with 121 national members, including Cuba, bringing together more than a million geoscientists.

Some information about the terraces of Maisí:

-The marine and coral terraces are formed by coral limestones with abundant fossil remains, ranging from the Upper Pleistocene Jaimanitas formation (marine isotope stage 5e, 122 ± 6,000 years. In short: about 122,000 years) and older units within the Pleistocene.

-Some 28 levels of terraces are observed, with an elevation of up to 560 m.

-Most of the terraces are very well preserved. Fossil tidal niches, caverns, and other karst features are found. These represent approximately two million years’ worth of sea level fluctuations.

-The zone is tectonically linked to the Oriente transform fault zone in eastern Cuba, which is the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates, where block uplifts of 0.33 mm/year are recorded.

-Geomorphologically, the area is a large ring about 75 km long that covers the eastern coastal zone of Cuba like a ladder that is narrow to the north and south, and wider in the eastern corner. The steps are cut by rivers that form gorges with large transverse outcrops. Due to tilting and folding, the same step changes altitude along the coast. The lower terrace has blocks overturned from the sea by hurricanes and features of landslides such as crowns are observed.

-This area of ​​Maisí, like other marine terraces on the coast of Cuba, is part of an international collaboration research project between the Institute of Geology and Paleontology (IGP) of Cuba and several French universities. Researchers take coral samples and carry out measurements in the field and analyzes in laboratories to determine in greater detail how and when the marine terraces of the archipelago formed.

(By: Deny Extremera San Martin/Cubadebate)

Founded on June 29, 1903, the museum is named after Luis Montané Darde – considered the father of Cuban scientific anthropology-, and has pieces that are unique in the region of the Caribbean.

One of the most outstanding pieces is the idol of Tobacco, a figure carved in Guayacán wood, Guayacum sp, dated around 1,110 years ago that belongs to the Taino culture and whose shape remind that on a Cuban cigar.

The carving has been studied by specialists of multiple disciplines in different moments in history. One study made in 1996 by Dr. Roberto Rodríguez and Dr. Alexis Vidal showed that the interior and the bottom of the idol contained rests of hallucinogenic substances and diverse fatty acids present in seeds, which made them presume it was probably used in religious ceremonies.

A curious fact about this carving is that on January 6, 1906, it was given to the President of the Republic Tomás Estrada Palma, and 26 days later he donated it to the Montané Anthropological Museum.

Another emblematic piece treasured in this place is the Idol of Bayamo, one of the biggest stone sculptures found in a state in Bayamo, in the Western region, in 1843.

Doctor in Historical Sciences Armando Rangel Rivero, director of the museum since 2012, told Granma newspapers that this piece has a high scientific, artistic and historic value and it was submitted by Spanish geographer Miguel Rodríguez to the then Felipe Poey Museum of Natural History. It remained there until the University Anthropological Museum opened in 1899, renamed Montané four years later.

From that moment on, the museum became the first and flagship facility within the school.

Built with greenish grey sandstone, there is a figure that is a mix of human and animal thought to be associated to a deity of the rivers and the seas, worshipped by the indigenous community it belonged to.

According to professor Rangel Rivero, the wide spectrum of archaeological pieces kept and displayed in the Montané Antrhopolical Museum is the result of over 115 years of fieldwork by several generations of Cuban and foreign anthropologists and archaeologists, making it the best exhibition on pre-Hispanic heritage available in the country.

The museum also has valuable collections of petaloid axes used by the indigenous people, rests of Taino pottery, stone mortars, percutidores and necklaces beads. Special mention to the Dujo de Santa Fe, a striking and curious carving made of well carved and sanded Guayacán wood, presumably used as a seat by the cacique (chief) and the behique (wizard) in religious ceremonies.

In addition to all the pieces collected in Cuba, the museum also has pre-Hispanic objects brought from Central and South America, Europe and other parts of the world such as shrunk heads and vases with a prodigious complexity in their design, just to mention a few.

SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS

Scientific research has been inherently linked to the Montané Anthropological Museum, which has become the longest-running and uninterrupted archaeological exhibition in Cuba.

Doctor Armando Rangel explained that specialists of the institution took part in the restoration of the age and diet of the fisher-harvester indigenous populations of the East and the center of Cuba, through the use of isotopes and Carbon 14 analysis, and in the description of the different sizes and shapes of the skull in indigenous communities by using geometrical morphometry.

Likewise, while the only Archaeometry Laboratory in Cuba was in operation during the 1980s, several studies on collagen and starch were carried out on different archaeological pieces existing in the country. These studies were later presented in degree thesis in higher education centers countrywide contributing with novel knowledge.

In 2004, researchers at the Montané Anthropological Museum, together with experts in Speleology and Archaeology at the Provincial Heritage Division in Matanzas and of the now Cuban Institute of Anthropology of the Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Environment (CITMA for the Spanish language), resume the studies in the area of Canímar Abajo, site of one of the most interesting precolombine settlements in Cuba.

After a decade of work, the researchers have been able to identify ways of life among those indigenous inhabitants that have never been described before such as the fact that they have small-scale crops and the presence of corn in their diet earlier than what has been previously estimated.

One of the recent discoveries includes the finding, through the use of advanced methods of molecular biology, including mytochondrial DNA test, that the embalmed body kept in the Montané Museum since 1975, has genes characteristic of the Guanche mummies from Canary Islands, ruling out its possible South American or ancient Peru origin.

Although the institution maintains its main functions of teaching, research and preservation of its collections, it has been assigned in the last few years with the task of giving priority to the outreach work of the university, which significantly increases the visibility of the museum beyond the limist of the University of Havana.

(Source: Granma)

The official recognition establishes the Cuban state and its institutions’ commitment to safeguarding, preserving, and especially disseminating his work

Directly involved with the valuable legacy of the illustrious intellectual are the José Martí National Library, the Institute of Literature and Linguistics, the House of Africa, the National Museum of Music, and the Fernando Ortiz Foundation, whose president, the poet and ethnologist Miguel Barnet, presented a vivid recollection of his teacher and described his contributions as the most extraordinary in the field of Cuban Social Sciences throughout the twentieth century.Barnet’s dedication to the study and dissemination of Don Fernando’s work was praised by Eusebio Leal, Havana City Historian and host of the event.Dr. Eduardo Torres-Cuevas also spoke highlighting the importance of Ortiz’s studies for young scientists and intellectuals, while Dr. Nuria Gregori described the work of librarians, technicians, and archivists, in both the Institute of Literature and Linguistics and the National Library, in the care and cataloging of tens of thousands of manuscripts and documents.

(Granma)

The only guerilla group of such significance which has not had a specific institution, of this type, will have the ideal headquarters: Santiago de Cuba’s City Hall, directly on centrally located Céspedes Park, from where Fidel announced the Rebel Army’s victory over the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, to Cubans and the world, January 1, 1959.

Maylín Santos Suárez, a sociocultural expert with a Masters in Museology and director of the institution, told Granma that the focus on the Rebel Army’s original front serves as a dignified tribute to all those who launched or joined Cuba’s definitive struggle in the mountains, under the undisputed leadership of the Comandante en Jefe.

“The museum,” she said, “will have 12 halls for permanent exhibitions and one for temporary displays, with those located on the first level chronologically covering the history, featuring the Granma expeditionaries’ preparations in Mexico, the crossing, the landing, Alegría de Pío , the first victorious battles in the Sierra, and the contribution of the underground in the cities.

“The seven rooms on the second level will be dedicated to the development and consolidation of the (revolutionary) process through the active participation of women and campesinos, in justice, education, health, religion, workshops, and armories, propaganda; and, of course, the transcendence of the Front in the victory and the subsequent integration of combatants into the work of the Revolution.”

Historical objects to be displayed range from weapons, uniforms, and other equipment of the guerrillas, to fighters’ personal items, belongings of women who joined the Marianas, original documents, and rare photographs, with the main events revisited via advanced technology.”Surely,” emphasized Santos Suárez, “We will be in the presence of a new type of museum, characterized by a balance between the traditional and new technology that such facilities use in the world today, with screens, models, and smart tables featuring sound, colors, and smells that give visitors the sensation of being in the Sierra Maestra’s natural environment.”Participating in the project are specialists from the design team at the City of Havana Historian’s Office, while under the direction of the Santiago de Cuba Curator’s Office (OCC), numerous forces led by the Restoration and Conservation of Monuments Enterprise are in charge of re-conditioning the property and its surroundings.Ramon Cobas Avivar, deputy director of the OCC, explained, “Until a few months ago, the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power occupied this building, which as opposed to what many may think, given its colonial appearance, it is a solid, reinforced concrete building, constructed in 1954, which we must adapt to its new function ».

According to plans, the building will not cease to serve other traditional purposes, with the mayor’s office remaining here, with its Flag Room to receive distinguished guests, the council hall for the awarding of honors, etc, and the formal City Hall where special events are held, while the building will always be the site of Santiago’s traditional flag-raising to welcome in the New Year.

Among the actions projected in other areas, Cobas Avivar referred to the disassembly, treatment, and remounting of the huge Spanish door, of precious wood and metalwork; installation of glass doors and shutters needed to maintain the centralized air conditioning system to be installed; and renovation of sanitary, water, and electrical systems.

Likewise, the decorative Creole tiles on the concrete roof will be restored; an ornamental lighting system installed; and everything repainted. To enhance its surroundings, similar treatment will be afforded the Cathedral, the Diego Velázquez home, the Casa Granda Hotel, the old San Carlos Club, and other buildings on the park.

Intense work is now focused on Cespedes Park and adjacent streets, which have been closed to vehicles, to become pedestrian walkways. On the square, paved areas and sidewalks are being repaired; electrical and telephone cables placed underground; trees replanted; and benches, planters, and lamp posts refurbished, to be ready for the city’s celebrated Caribbean Festival, coming soon.

Its privileged location has made the area the perfect destination for circuit tourism, a modality in which Cuba is expanding, thanks to the variety of heritage cities throughout the country that can be visited.

Since its founding in 1514 as the Villa de la Santísima Trinidad, the region was an important center of the island’s sugar industry. Its plantations, mills, towers, boilers, mansions, and other constructions related to the sugar cane economy dotted the area, to become cultural and historical attractions today.

A JOINT EFFORT

This past year, according to Reiner Rendón Fernández, Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) representative in the province of Sancti Spíritus, 641,000 tourists visited the region, making for 1.85 million tourist-days considering both the state and private sectors together.

(Granma)

The exhibit, on display at the museum in front of Cespedes Park in the heart of the city, pays homage to the group, which in recent days reached its 156th anniversary.

Items shown includes members’ cards, costumes and necklaces of dancers, conga players and singers, musical instruments, certificates, furniture and written notes of the yubá singing.

According to sources from the Provincial Center of Heritage, during 2018 a program will be carried out to celebrate the 15 years as World Heritage and the 156th anniversary of the group, marked by tradition and patriotism since Cuban war for independence.

(Prensa Latina)

On this same canvas embroidered are the essential features of almost 60 years of Revolution that continues to think of a future for the forgotten of the earth. Thus Cuba closes a year, and launches another one glorified by 150 years of a nation painted with liberty and justice, celebrating the unity of its people.

(Granma)

A year later and with just a month to go before the celebrations for the National Day of Rebellion (July 26), the former barracks, today a school and museum, continues to undergo maintenance works, despite the care with which its 305 employees and 2,380 students have maintained the installation since repairs were carried out for the 60th anniversary of the assault.

Marlene Muguercia Marén, director of the emblematic institution, told Granma that both externally and internally the distinctive “barrack yellow” paint is being reapplied, and where necessary repairs are being undertaken to the woodwork in line with the style of the former fortress, while the electrical system and gardens are also being tended to.

Muguercia Marén added that all works are being carried out without interrupting the educational process and other day-to-day activities, with 273 different areas having been restored since January to date, including classrooms, laboratories, offices, kitchens, dining rooms, and the entire area corresponding to the Provincial Directorate for Education.

She acknowledged the support of the Party and local government in the province, while stressing the collective participation of workers in the sector from the Santiago municipalities as well as the voluntary work of the local community to ensure everything is completed on time.

Regarding the 26 of July Historical Museum, located in the same facility, director Leydis López Sola, noted that general maintenance is also being undertaken in all the rooms, with repairs to important air conditioning equipment.

According to recent information from the architect Omar López Rodríguez, director of the City Curator’s Office, in addition to the Moncada Barracks, the Abel Santamaría Museum and Park (former Saturnino Lora Hospital), the Palace of Justice and other facilities relating to the events of 26 July, 1953, are also being prepared for the celebrations.

Leal Spengler recognized the contribution made by several personalities from Remedios to the history of the Cuban nation, such as Francisco Carrillo and Alejandro García Caturla, among a host of patriots and intellectuals who have brought fame to this city, which is set to become a key attraction for both national and foreign tourism, he noted.

Prior to the event, Machado Ventura and Díaz-Canel, toured areas of the city which have undergone major renovation works in the lead up to the anniversary.

Among the places visited by the delegation, which also included Omar Ruiz Martín, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, Ulises Rosales del Toro, vice president of the Council of Ministers, as well as the highest political and government figures of Villa Clara, Julio Lima Corzo and Jorgelina Pestana Mederos, among others; were the Tres Reyes shop, dedicated to tobacco, coffee and rum; the expanded Hotel Mascotte, El Parrandero tavern, the Hotel Camino del Principe and a tobacco factory.

During the tour, Machado Ventura acknowledged the quality and beauty of the works undertaken to mark the occasion, and called for their care and conservation for present and future generations.

(Granma)

The text establishes the return of the relics stolen and smuggling shipped to museums and private collections since 1970, leaving out the pieces stolen during the European colonial phase as of the end of World War I in 1917.

Among the most notorious cases of cultural dispossession is the Ichtar Gate, also known as of Babylon, and exhibited at the Pergamum Museum in Berlin, capital of Germany.

The gate was one of the eight to the inner of that famous city, located about 95 kilometers south of Baghdad, the current Iraqi capital, has 14 meters high and 10 meters wide, and give access to the Markut Temple, the patrol deity from Mesopotamia.

One of the few remaining original monuments in the city, where the famous Hanging Gardens, one of the wonders of the ancient world, were located, is the basalt lion, a symbol of power, whose weight prevented move it and is in the place as a silent witness of dispossession.

The Iraqi cultural heritage was plundered again during the U.S.-led coalition military invasion in 2003, followed by a military occupation of a decade.

About 10 Arab countries, UNESCO Director-General, Bulgarian Irina Bokova, delegates from Non-Governmental Organizations, the Antiquities Coalition, and the Middle East Institute sponsored by the Ministry of Antiquities, attended the conference.

(Prensa Latina)