Last Updated on June 6, 2019 by PowersToTravel
El Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes is located a short distance northwest of Ponce and a visit there includes a museum, movie and a guided visit through the entire open-air archaeological site. It is the largest ceremonial center in the Antilles.
When we first arrived, we paid the small entrance fee of $3 each, and were escorted to explore the museum on our own for a while, before the scheduled movie and guided tour of the site. The museum is quite good. It has excellent dioramas, excavated objects, and educational placards in both Spanish and English. I found myself learning a lot, and wanting to learn more. I was glad to have the introduction prior to the tour, to have a framework in which to insert the guide’s stories.
I was fascinated to discover that there have been several distinct civilizations occupying Puerto Rico through the years – the Igneri, who originally immigrated to Puerto Rico from what is now Venezuela during the middle of the first century AD, the Pre-Tainos who succeeded the Igneri around 600 AD, and the Tainos who emerged around 1000 AD. The Tainos were on the verge of war with the next threatening civilization, the Caribes, when the Spanish arrived. I didn’t realize that the Caribes were cannibals.
The movie gave an excellent overview, and the guided tour was well done. Not only did we learn about the Igneri and Taino culture and artifacts, but also about the medicinal trees throughout the property. We learned how a hurricane in 1975 flooded the adjacent river, removed earth and exposed stone and artifacts, and led to the large scale excavation.
Especially fascinating was the story of the large ball court, and the fourteen skeletons which had been excavated from the field – how one was of a wife of a cacique (chief), and another her ill-fated lover, whose body parts were found buried in the four corners of the field. Betrayal of the chief did not end well at all. I wonder how they analyzed the remains to develop such stories.
We saw apparent astronomy aids, carved petroglyphs, and a sacrificial altar. We entered reconstructed huts built on the earlier excavated foundations, some round and one square. Apparently the cacique merited the square one. I was surprised to learn how complex the political system of caciques had developed before the Spanish engulfed it.
While the tour was long (over an hour) and the weather hot, there was a lot of shade throughout.
Diabetic Hints
As always, be sure to bring plenty of water and juice. There is none for sale.
Related Links
Wikipedia article on el Centro
Intraamerican University of Puerto Rico at Ponce article (in English)
Puerto Rico Day Trip’s article (they are a great source of information on so many activities in Puerto Rico.)
