FEWKEsJ ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES 7V) 



It offers the only exact data by which the manners and customs of tlie 

 aborigines before the advent of Cohimbus can be interpreted. 



As the author has sought to indicate in the preceding pages the life of 

 the aboi'igines as shown by the historians, ih the following pages he will 

 try to supplement this account ])y descriptions of the prehistoric objects 

 preserved in the Smithsonian Institution, suggesting, when possible, 

 their use and meaning. As has been shown b}' the historical data 

 already presented, the aboriginal race which peopled the island of Porto 

 Rico was not confined to it but extended to the neighboring islands. 

 Indeed, much that we know through historical sources of the customs 

 and beliefs of the Borinqueiios is based on their resemblance to the 

 natives of Haiti, whose manner of life has been described by several 

 early writers. It is therefore legitimate in discussing the archeological 

 data bearing on the aboriginal culture of Porto Rico to introduce studies 

 of prehistoric objects from neighboring islands. From comparative 

 evidence of this kind our knowledge is greatly enlai'ged, liut it nuist 

 always be borne in mind that certain types of archeological oljjects are 

 peculiar to certain islands, and that each island has objects of human 

 make which are characteristic. Numbers of prehistoric Porto Rican 

 antiquities occur in three different places, namelj', in shell heaps, in 

 caves, and in or near inclosures called juegos de iola ("ball courts"), 

 also cercados de los Indlos {''''\n(\\Kn inclosures"). Excavations have 

 been made in all these sites but the field can not yet be said to have 

 been worked with any scientific completeness, and much material 

 awaits a more extended exploration. Indian objects are found also 

 scattered at random over the whole island, being met with in unex- 

 pected places. Men pick them up while plowing in the fields, digging 

 ditches, or making foundations for buildings. The amount of pre- 

 historic material awaiting discover}' must be great, for although no 

 systematic attempt has yet been made to bring it to light, collections 

 obtained by chance are comparatively large. 



Dance Plazas 



At various places on the islands of Porto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti 

 thei'e are found level spaces inclosed by rings of stones, called by 

 the natives juegos de hola or cercados de los Indios. In foi'mer 

 times these structures were much more numerous and more evident, 

 but many of them have been destroyed, so that only a few well-pre- 

 served examples now remain. These inclosures generally have a 

 rectangular shape andai'e ordinarily supposed to have been constructed 

 for ball games. Doctor Stahl mentions certain of these structures in 

 the mountainous districts near Utuado and at the sources of the Baya- 

 mon and Manati rivers, and calls attention to the probability that the 

 majority have been destroyed, their flat boundai'v stones having been 

 used for pavements or other purposes. Doctor Stahl writes also of 



