HAVANA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Cuban archaeologists have found in the southeastern province of Guantanamo hundreds of stones engraved by the Taino natives in a calendar way, official daily Granma reported Monday.

The finding was made in the Protected Area Yara-Majayara of Guantanamo by Roberto Ordunez Fernandez, president of the Archaeological Society of Baracoa.

"The engravings represent the four lunar phases," which were their form of calendar, Ordunez Fernandez said.

He stressed that the finding will contribute novel ideas to the knowledge on stone engravings of the pre-Columbian culture, which was known only between the Incas and the Mayans before.

The stones were also carved with animal figures like crabs, grasshoppers, bees, iguanas, frogs and tortoises, which reflected mythological deities and beliefs of the Tainos, he added.

The municipality of Baracoa in Guantanamo has more than 200 archaeological sites, most of them rich in vestiges of ancient Cuban aboriginal cultures. Enditem

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