Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center

A 1975 hurricane uncovered what had been hidden for centuries. When Hurricane Eloise flooded the river banks outside Ponce, it stripped away enough soil to reveal the oldest ceremonial and sports complex yet found in Puerto Rico — and, according to archaeologists, the oldest astronomical observatory in the Antilles. The site holds over 186 human burials, most from the Igneri culture, who first occupied the area around 25 AD. The Taíno followed. What the storm exposed, excavators are still working to understand.