In our journey to discover our Taíno heritage, I planned a few years ago a trip to Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center. The center is located in Ponce, Puerto Rico and it is one of the most important archaeological discoveries made in the Antilles.
The center has a museum that is located at the entrance. The museum houses artifacts, pictures, and skeletons as well. The museum is small and then a tour guide walks you out to a bridge that will take you to the Taíno village that has a ball field (batey) area, two ceremonial plazas and seven ball fields all surrounded by rocks. As seen in the pictures below.
It was really amazing to see how the Taínos lived. If you’re visiting Puerto Rico I highly recommend making a trip to Ponce. Our next trip will be to another archeological site located in Utuado, Puerto Rico the Caguana Ceremonial Ball Courts Site and the Cemí Museum located in Jayuya, Puerto Rico.
I wrote this post for Multicultural Kid Blogs on 10 Fun Facts about the Taíno Indians:
Boricua Kids has a lesson plan on Taínos. Click here for more information.
For older kids Teaching for Change has a great post with lesson plans, activities and more: Teaching About the Taínos, Columbus, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day in a Middle School English Language Learners Classroom
