Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T22:15:48.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Preliminary Report on Petroglyphs in Puerto Rico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Monica Flaherty Frassetto
Monica Flaherty Frassetto*
Affiliation:
Virgin Islands Museum, Inc., St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Antillean petroglyphic art reached its highest development in the technical excellence and lively artistic expression of the many petroglyphs in Puerto Rico. This report is the beginning of a systematic study of Puerto Rican and Antillean petroglyphs which is intended to trace stylistic developments through the Antilles to South American points of origin. Sixty surface prints were made at 13 sites in three regions of Puerto Rico, but only those from Salto Arriba, Icacos, and Caonillas are discussed in detail. The simple and accurate, though time-consuming method of surface printing is fully explained. There are two distinct local types or styles of petroglyphs in addition to the simple curvilinear and abstract designs. The swaddled infant type appears at least as early as Rouse's Period III and represents the beginning of a local petroglyph style. The later Capá type reaches its final stage during Period IV. This study confirms Rouse's placement of the Puerto Rican petroglyphs in his Periods III and IV (A.D. 350-1584), and demonstrates the development of local petroglyph styles parallel to the development and spread of Taino culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , January 1960 , pp. 381 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boyrie De Moya, E. 1955 Monumento Megalitico y Petroglifos de Chacuey, República Dominicana. Publicaciones de la Universidad de Santo Domingo, Serie 7, Vol. 97, No. 1. Ciudad Trujillo.Google Scholar
Cruxent, J. M. and Rouse, Irving 1958 An Archeological Chronology of Venezuela, Vol. 1. Pan American Union, Social Science Monographs, No. 6. Washington.Google Scholar
Farabee, W. C. 1918 The Central Arawaks. University Museum Anthropological Publications, Vol. 9. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Fewkes, J .W. 1903-04 The Aborigines of Porto Rico and Neighboring Islands. Bureau of American Ethnology, 25th Annual Report. Washington.Google Scholar
Fewkes, J .W. 1912–13 A Prehistoric Island Culture Area of America. Bureau of American Ethnology, 34th Annual Report. Washington.Google Scholar
Goldman, Irving 1948 Tribes of the Uaupés-Caquetá Region. In “Handbook of South American Indians,” edited by Steward, J. H., Vol. 3, pp. 763–98. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143. Washington.Google Scholar
Hedden, Mark 1958 “Surface Printing” as a Means of Recording Petroglyphs. American Antiquity, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 435–9. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Herrera Fritot, René 1938 Informe sabre una Exploración Arqueológica a Punta del Este, Isla de Pinos. Localización y Estudio de una Cueva con Pictografias y restos de ajuar Aborígen. Revista Universidad de la Habana, Año 3, Nos. 20-21. Havana.Google Scholar
Hostos, Adolfo De 1941 Anthropological Papers. San Juan.Google Scholar
Huckerby, T. 1914 Petroglyphs of St. Vincent, British West Indies. American Anthropologist, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 238–44. Menasha.Google Scholar
Huckerby, T. 1921 Petroglyphs of Grenada and a Recently Discovered Petroglyph in St. Vincent. Indian Notes and Monographs, Vol. 1, No. 3. Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Hummelinck, P. W. 1953 Rotstekeningen van Curaçao, Aruba en Bonaire. Uitgaven van de “Natuurwetenschappelijke Werkgroep Nederlandse Antillen.” Curaçao. [Second edition, 1957.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Im Thurn, E. F. 1883 Among the Indians of Guiana. Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., London.Google Scholar
Koch-Grünberg, T. 1907 Sudamerikanische Felszeichnungen. Berlin.Google Scholar
Krieger, H. W. 1930 The Aborigines of the Ancient Island of Hispaniola. Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1929, pp. 473-506. Washington.Google Scholar
Mallery, Garrick 1888-89 Picture Writing of the American Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology, 10th Annual Report. Washington.Google Scholar
Mason, J. A. 1941 A Large Archaeological Site at Capá, Utuado, with Notes on other Porto Rico Sites Visited in 1914-1915. Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Vol. 18. Pt. 2. New York Academy of Sciences, New York.Google Scholar
Pinart, A. L. 1890 Notes sur les Pétroglyphes et Antiquites des Grandes et Petites Antilles. MS, copy at Department of Anthropology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan.Google Scholar
Roth, W. E. 1908-09 An Inquiry into the Animism and Folklore of the Guiana Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology, 30th Annual Report. Washington.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1948 The West Indies. In “Handbook of South American Indians,” edited by Steward, J. H., Vol. 4, pp. 495–564. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143. Washington.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1949 Petroglyphs. In “Handbook of South American Indians,” edited by Steward, J. H., Vol. 5, pp. 493–502. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143. Washington. Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1951 Areas and Periods of Culture in the Greater Antilles. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 248–65. Albuquerque.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1952 Porto Rican Prehistory. Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Vol. 18, Nos. 3-4. New York Academy of Sciences, New York.Google Scholar
Schomburgk, Robert 1841 Reisen in Guiana and am Orinoko. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1937 Petroglyphs of the United States. Annual Report Smithsonian Institution for 1936, pp. 405– 25. Washington.Google Scholar
Tavera-Acosta, Bartolomé 1956 Los Petroglifos de Venezuela. Instituto de Antropología e Historia Universidad Central de Venezuela. Caracas.Google Scholar