René Herrera Fritot

Archaeologist and anthropologist. He was a thorough researcher in scientific disciplines such as Botany, Geology, and Mineralogy, though he stood out especially in Indo-Antillean Archaeology and Physical Anthropology, to which he contributed important contributions both nationally and internationally.

He was born in Guanabacoa (a town located in the former province of La Habana, belonging to the current province of Ciudad de la Habana), Cuba.

He graduated as a Bachelor of Sciences and Letters in 1912; that same year he enrolled at the University of La Habana to pursue studies in Civil and Electrical Engineering, and later in Natural Sciences. Between 1915 and 1919 he held the position of Assistant in the Chair of Geology and Mineralogy.

From 1920 to 1922 he worked as a draftsman and designer in the National Navy and in the Sinclair Cuba Oil Company, where he designed various mechanical devices.

In 1923, he occupied the Assistant position in the Chair of Anthropology, and worked with the collections of the outstanding Physical Anthropologist and Archaeological Researcher: Luis Montané, who was the first Titular Professor of Anthropology at the University of La Habana. During this period he set up a large number of exhibitions, until he resigned from that position in 1924, with the objective of conducting specialized studies in the United States.

Already in New York, in addition to working in an industry to support his family, he accumulated notable knowledge about General Anthropology, Anthropology of America, Geology and Paleontology, delving into modern systems of classification and presentation of specimens in museum exhibitions.

He returned to Cuba in 1927, and undertook one of his important initial contributions to Cuban Anthropology and Archaeology, with the creation, organization, and preservation of the "Herrera Geological Museum," which was exhibited in his own home. That place became, in fact, the first analytical laboratory of the Museum of Mineralogy of the University of La Habana, where its organizer lectured about the samples and evidence he had treasured, which were properly classified and preserved.

Upon returning to the country, Herrera Fritot found the University of La Habana closed by dictator Gerardo Machado, who had ordered, by Decree of May 11, 1927, the partial suspension of university courses, due to student protests against the Rector and his own Government.

For this reason he worked as an Auxiliary Engineer in the Secretariat of Public Works, between 1928 and 1930, in charge of directing a section of the Central Highway, in the stretch from Santa Clara to Placetas, corresponding to the former province of Las Villas. During his free time he conducted important geological observations in that area.

During 1934 he obtained the degree of Doctor in Natural Sciences from the University of La Habana, and that same year was appointed graduated Assistant of the Faculty of Sciences at that same institution. Two years later he was promoted to Associate Professor of the Chair of Legal Anthropology, a position he shared with that of Preparator of the Montané Museum.

In the performance of this latter role, he carried out the transfer and complete reassembly of that Museum without causing any loss or deterioration to the specimens in the Collection; he also managed to enrich the exhibition through private donations and his own explorations throughout the national territory. He dedicated his life to Archaeology and Physical Anthropology, contributing to knowledge of the Culture of the first inhabitants of the Cuban archipelago, as well as those of the Dominican Republic. He is recognized as one of the masters in this subject in the Antillean area.

Among his works is "Report on an Archaeological Exploration at Punta del Este," Isle of Pines, conducted by the Montané Anthropological Museum of the University of La Habana.

He was a professor to brilliant Cuban and Dominican scientists. Founder of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba and its Department of Archaeology. His works on aboriginal art, strict in their scientific character, are indispensable for every artist. For this reason he advised sculptor Rita Longa, following the Triumph of the Revolution, in the creation of her sculptural ensemble "Aldea Taína," which is part of the "Guamá" tourist center. As well as other artists motivated by our aboriginal art.

His love for this science led him to create in his own home an important archaeological museum, where pieces collected by the scientific group "Guamá" that he directed until his death on January 14, 1968 in La Habana were gathered.

Between 1946 and 1948 he participated in a Cuban archaeological expedition that visited Jamaica, Haiti, Santo Domingo, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and also conducted research in Guatemala (Kaminal Juyú) and Honduras (Copán, Comayagua, and Lake Yojoa). He was designated Honorary Guest of the Government of the Republic of Honduras in August 1946, during his attendance at the First International Conference of Caribbean Archaeologists held in that country.

In 1947 he taught a course on General Anthropology for Graduates in Philosophy at the University of Santo Domingo, founded there the Institute for Anthropological Research, organized and classified the archaeological collections of its National Museum, and as a classifier and cataloger member of the Inter-American Board for the Restoration of "La Isabela" (the first city founded by Christopher Columbus in the New World), he conducted important research work on its location, which earned him the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus, with the rank of Officer, in August of that same year.

One of his most notable contributions to Archaeology in Cuba was his participation in the founding of the so-called Guamá Group, the first Archaeological Institution in Cuba during the republican period, together with Doctors Oswaldo Morales Patiño and Fernando Royo Guardia, of which he directed the Ethnological Museum, located in his own home, and where he strove to achieve the participation of some of the most outstanding scientists of that time, as well as many of his disciples.

During those years he began to interest himself in craniometric studies (Imbelloni System) of deformed skulls from the Antilles. Added to his earlier contributions is the large amount of evidence he left classified, as well as the specimens whose authenticity he determined.

At the Meeting of Caribbean Archaeologists held in La Habana from September 12 to 16, 1950, he presented a paper on a comparative work on the material typology of the three Indocuban cultural groups considered at that time, and on the corresponding cranial morphology, which had been the result of research conducted with Dr. Irving Rouse, a prominent American Archaeologist from Yale University, USA. As a result, the event agreed on three new designations for those groups: Complex I, or clay culture; Complex II, or stone culture; and Complex III, or clay culture or pottery.

Following the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 he was called to work for the National Commission of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba by its then President, Captain Antonio Núñez Jiménez, for which reason he abandoned the retirement he enjoyed as a former University Professor, and from then on he provided new and countless services, especially regarding the organization of the Department of Anthropology, in which he collaborated until his death, together with Doctors Ernesto Tabío Palma and Manuel Rivero de la Calle.

During this period he conducted new research and completed others, among which his works on deformed skulls stand out, the extensive Craniometric System, with the creation of new measurements and indexes, as well as new works on Archaeology and Osteology.

He also conducted some geological excursions in the provinces of La Habana and Pinar del Río, and gave numerous public lectures on the aboriginal peoples of Cuba, Santo Domingo, and the rest of the Antilles.

He published valuable works of dissemination in the Cuban newspapers Información and La Caleta, as well as in the Venezuelan newspapers El Farol and El Nacional. It is noteworthy that when the Academy of Sciences of Cuba was founded, he generously donated to it his entire specialized library, his collection of minerals as well as the pieces from the Guamá Museum and the reproduction workshop of archaeological pieces with all its equipment and molds of unique pieces.

Recognition
Knight of the National Order of Merit "Carlos Manuel de Céspedes".
Titular Member of the Cuban Society of Natural History "Felipe Poey", of the National Board of Archaeology and Ethnology, as well as of the Pan-American Columbist Society.
Technical Advisor to the Dominican Anthropological Institute.
Corresponding Member of the Anthropological Society of Santo Domingo, of the Florida Anthropological Society, of the National Geographic Society, of the Argentine Americanist Society and of the Society of Anthropologists of the Caribbean.
Member of the Cuban Society of Botany, of the Malacological Society "Carlos de la Torre" and of the Speleological Society of Cuba.
A room in the current Institute of Anthropology currently bears his name, as a tribute to his memory.