Rock Art of the Ceremonial Center of Tibes, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Summary

Located near the south-central coast of Puerto Rico, the site of Tibes is the earliest known civic-ceremonial center in the Greater Antilles. Systematic mapping, nighttime photography and 2-dimensional drawing, during the 2010 field season, revealed a total of seventeen petroglyph panels, displaying anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric and abstract imagery. All of the rock art panels that remain in situ are integrated with several of the ceremonial plazas, which characterize the site. They are located on a variety of rock types, display varying degrees of conservation and are generally oriented towards the plaza´s interior. It is still unknown if these inscriptions were created before, during, or after the construction of the plazas. However, these factors combine to suggest that these art works played a critical role in the site´s formation and redefinition. Specifically they indicate that the plan of Tibes may have changed through time, in that these structures were built, dismantled, and their parts were re-used in the construction of new structures. These associations of rock art, in a built environment, inspire new debates regarding the production and use of rock art, in terms of locational strategies, in the region, over time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Recent Research at the Ceremonial Center of Tibes, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Keywords

Spatial Coverage