Corrected Proofs RADIOCARBON AND STRATIGRAPHIC CHRONOLOGY OF CANÍMAR ABAJO, MATANZAS, CUBA Mirjana Roksandic 1,2 • William Mark Buhay 1 • Yadira Chinique de Armas 3 • Roberto Rodríguez Suárez 3 • Matthew C Peros 4 • Ivan Roksandic 1 • Stephanie Mowat 5 • Luis M Viera 3 • Carlos Arredondo 3 • Antonio Martínez Fuentes 3 • David Gray Smith 6 ABSTRACT. Twelve accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from the shell-matrix site of Canímar Abajo (Matanzas, Cuba) are reported. Eleven were obtained directly from human bone collagen in burials and one was obtained from charcoal recovered from a burial context. The site stratigraphy presents two episodes of burial activity separated by a shell midden layer. The AMS dates fall into two compact clusters that correlate remarkably well with the stratigraphy. The older burial dates to between 1380–800 cal BC (2σ) and the younger one to between cal AD 360–950 (2σ). The AMS dates are compared to eight conventional 14 C dates previously obtained on shell and charcoal. One of the conventional dates on charcoal (5480–5380 cal BC; 2σ) has been reported as the oldest 14 C date in the Caribbean region; its context and reliability are clariied. The suite of AMS dates provides one of the most reliable chronometric dating of a cultural context during this timeframe in Cuba. The correlation of 14 C and stratigraphy establishes a solid chronology for investigating the important economic and ritual features of Canímar Abajo. INTRODUCTION Canímar Abajo is a shell-matrix site in Matanzas Province, on the north-central coast of Cuba. The stratigraphy of the site presents two burial contexts separated by shell midden deposits. Among pre-contact burial sites in Cuba, Canímar Abajo is a rare example of a site that was subject to a large-scale excavation, with 36 continuous 1 × 1 m excavation units. As such, it offers a unique opportunity to pursue several important problems concerning the early inhabitants of the island, especially for establishing chronology and clarifying the subsistence regime. The site is located near the city of Matanzas (23°2′15.5″N; 81°29′49.1″E), on the western bank of the Canímar River, which discharges into the Bay of Matanzas (Figure 1). It is situated near the ancient beach of the estuary of the Canímar River, which is navigable to over 11 km from the estuary, reaching 12 m of depth in some areas. The estuary represents a very diverse ecosystem, characterized by intertidal change between freshwater and seawater, mangrove forest, evergreen forest—where trees have small leaves and supericial roots that brake and seep rocks—and abundant thorns and climbing plants (Martínez et al. 1993). Among animal resources, there are abundant sea, estuarine, and reef fauna including mollusks, ish, and turtles, as well as birds and manatees. Of terrestrial mammals, only different species of hutia were so far identiied. The site of Canímar Abajo was partially destroyed by construction of a campsite in the early 1980s and subsequently excavated by Ramón Dacal Moure from 1984–1987. Rivero de la Calle (1987) reported 51 burials from a limited excavation in the northwest corner of the undisturbed portion of the site. Since 2004, the site has been more intensively excavated by the Montane Museum of the University of Havana, directed by Roberto Rodríguez Suárez. The site can be divided into ive stratigraphic layers. From top to bottom, these are Layer 1, a su- pericial layer that contains recent soil intermixed with rock face; Layer 2, or the younger cemetery (YC), which is characterized by a mixture of soil and shell with human burials; Layer 3, represented by several strata of shell concentrations with charcoal lenses and ash, with sporadic and fragmented 1. University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue R3B2E9, Canada. 2. Corresponding author. Email: m.roksandic@uwinnipeg.ca. 3. University of Havana, Calle 25 #4553ntre JeI, Vedado Habana, C.P. 10400, Cuba. 4. Bishop’s University, 2600 Rue College, Sherbrooke, QC, J1M 0C8, Canada. 5. University of Manitoba, 727 McDermot Ave, MB, R3E 3T5, Canada. 6. University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada. Radiocarbon, Vol 57, Nr 5, 2015, p 1–9 DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18313 © 2015 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona