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Journal of Social Archaeology
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Memories of a world crisis

The archaeology of a former Soviet nuclear missile site in Cuba

Mats Burström

Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden, mats.burstrom{at}ark.su.se

Tomás Diez Acosta

Institute of History, Havana, Cuba, ihc{at}ns.cc.cu

Estrella González Noriega

Centre of Anthropology, Havana, Cuba, antropol{at}ceniai.inf.cu

Anders Gustafsson

Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, anders.gustafsson{at}archaeology.gu.se

Ismael Hernández

Institute of Scientific and Technological Information, Havana, Cuba, ismael{at}idict.cu

Håkan Karlsson

Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, hakan.karlsson{at}archaeology.gu.se

Jesús M. Pajón

Centre of Anthropology, Havana, Cuba, cauto{at}ceniai.inf.cu

Jesús Rafael Robaina Jaramillo

Centre of Anthropology, Havana, Cuba, antropol{at}ceniai.inf.cu

Bengt Westergaard

National Heritage Board, Mölndal, Sweden, bengt.westergaard{at}raa.se

Santa Cruz de los Pinos is a small town like most others in the Cuban countryside. But half a century ago it was the epicenter of the 1962 Missile Crisis. During that time it served as a Soviet base for middle-range nuclear missiles, and the US air reconnaissance photos of it were spread through media all around the world. The crisis was solved through negotiations without Cuban involvement, and as a result of this neglect the Missile Crisis has been an under-communicated part of history in Cuba. A Swedish—Cuban research project has now investigated what kinds of memories of the crisis remain today at the former missile base — in the ground as well as in people’s minds. Digging in the ground has proved to be an effective way to start a remembering process and to help disarm a politically loaded history and uncover stories other than those dominating ‘big history’.

Key Words: Cuba • material remains • memory • Missile Crisis • missile site • remembering process • reuse • under-communicated history

Journal of Social Archaeology, Vol. 9, No. 3, 295-318 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1469605309337884
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