sign in sign up
<<
Home , Greater Antilles

C.N. DUBELAAR

PETROGLYPHS IN THE U.S. VIRGIN : A SURVEY

HISTORY OF PETROGLYPH INVESTIGATION IN THE U.S.

Petroglyphs in the U.S. Virgin Islands have been reported from St. John, Congo Cay, and St. Croix. They have been mentioned and described in various publications. The first investigator to mention them in the literature was the Dane H. West (see, however, De Booy, below), in the late 18th century. West reported the Reef Bay (there called 'Rif Bay') engravings in St. John, and, in conformity with the general practice in the at the time, ascribed them to the Caribs (West 1793:327). Half a century afterwards, this same petroglyph site is again reported by John P. Knox, Pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in St. Thomas (Knox 1852:17). He called the bay 'Kip Bay'. The first person to supply a description of the Reef Bay (now spelled Rifbay) site, with a drawing showing the greater part of the inscriptions, was H.S. Lund, the Danish physician in St. John, who wrote a report to the Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord, Copenhagen. The inhabitants of the told him that the Caribs were the makers of the engravings (Lund 1850-1860). Alphonse Pinart, A French traveller studying aboriginal American cultures, visited several of the Greater and Lesser , and reported their petroglyphs (Pinart 1890). On p. 8 he mentions the Reef Bay engravings of St. John, which in his opinion are similar to those of . His figs 2 and 4 on Planche 5 present most of the drawings; he has two more than Lund, whose report is referred to by Pinart. Coincidentally, two centuries earlier another Pinart, named John,, made several journeys to the Virgin Islands (Knox 1970:43). The American traveller Frederick Ober visited the Caribbean in 1877 and 1892; he made the latter journey in his capacity of 'Special Commissioner sent by the World's Columbian Exposition to the '. He describes and pictures most of the Reef Bay petroglyphs (Ober 1893:424; illustrations on 505). Contrary to Pinart, he sees no resemblance to the greater Antilles engravings (Ober 1893-1895:296-297). In 1916 the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, sent the archaeologist Theodoor de Booy to the (which became the U.S. Virgin Islands in March 1917), for an archaeological survey of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix (October 1916 to February 1917). De Booy wrote a report in 'Indian Notes and Monographs', the organ of the Museum (De Booy 1919). On pp. 48-55 he describes the Reef Bay site, St. John. He interprets one of the drawings, a framed cross, as a representation of the four cardinal points. On pp. 55-59 the inscriptions on Congo Cay (a bare rock N. of St. John) are described; De Booy was the first to report them. In the part of this report that deals with St. Croix he does not mention the engraved ballcourt slabs in this island. Prior to this report, the St. John and Congo Cay engravings were presented to the general public in the Presbyterian weekly 'Forward' (De Booy 1917a). This popular treatise contains an elaborate description of the beautiful site, with clear photographs of its petroglyphs. About the framed cross (our group C no. 1) he writes: "Why the cross? Perhaps the most ingenious explanation is one found in an eariy history of the Danish West Indies, in which the author states that

944 the Spanish monks saw the other carvings on the rocks and deemed them to be the work of the devil ... The Friars carved the sign of the cross on the rocks, thereby neutralizing all other influences" (p. 138). The author rightly mocks the usual unfounded interpretations of Caribbean and South American petroglyph sites as places of human sacrifice, with blood receptacles, etc. He does not doubt that petroglyphs had some meaning, but in his opinion "posteriority will never know the true significance of these rock carvings" (for a similar opinion, see Dubelaar 1986, chapter 8: Interpretation). The Reef Bay engravings which are immediately above the water surface (our group A) are clearly mirrored; most probably this effect was intentionally sought after. This 'mirror" situation also occurs at the Big Spring fountain cave, (Dubelaar 1989). At this 21st International Congress of Americanists, The Hague, Netherlands, 1924, the Danish archaeologist Gudmund Hatt read a paper on the archaeology of the Virgin Islands. This was the first occasion on which petroglyphs were reported in St. Croix (Hatt 1924: 36-38; figs. 12-14). In 1941 he published his monumental study: 'Had West Indian rock carvings a religious significance' (Hatt 1941). The question in this title was convincingly answered in the affirmative. The article places his findings in St. John, Congo Cay, and St. Croix in a wider context: the archaeology, anthropology and history of the Greater and . At Reef Bay, St. John, he discerns three petroglyph groups: a: the drawings along the pool; b: those higher up, left of a; c: those still higher, above a on the same rock. He observes a difference in style between the first group, where the faces have ring-shaped eyes, and the other two groups, with 'flourishing" figures and faces with pit shaped eyes. Hatt sees a similarity between the b - and c. - groups and some petroglyphs of St. Vincent. He considers the engravings to have been made by Igneri. No settlement remains were found in the near vicinity. The spot was chosen because it was a natural phenomenon of great curiosity, with fresh water all the year round. Maybe the inscriptions fulfilled a function in rain ceremonies (1941:181-184; figs 5 and 6). On Congo Cay Hatt found six engraved faces on the eastern part of the rock. This point is well suited for line fishing. The drawings show a similarity to faces on figured pottery handles found in Taino culture settlements. He sees a connection with cranium cult in Taino culture (180; figs 3 and 4). In St. Croix Hatt found 9 slabs standing upright, four with engravings. The row of slabs was 8 meters long and faced an open space. Behind the row of stones was en elevation, which contained skeletons, pottery, carved heads of corral, and shells. Also three fragments of rock carvings were found, one of them shown in fig. 19. It represents a frog (190-191, figs 13, 16, 19). Hatt interprets the figure on the stone terminating the row on the Southwest as a picture of a pregnant woman: within the body is another figure with the head the opposite way (fig. 15). The last stone to the right (fig. 16) has a hole, which leads to a narrow channel, "about 1 mm. in diameter, passing deep into the stone and no doubt once connected with a funnel-shaped hole bored into the stone from the back" (figs. 17 and 18). It would be possible to pour water through from the back, which would trickle down the front (191-192). In 1960, Frederick W. Sleight, director of the William L Bryant Foundation, made an "Archaeological Reconnaissance of the island of St. John" (Sleight 1962). most ingenious explanation is one found in an early history of the Danish West Indies, in which the author states that the Spanish monks saw the other carvings on the rocks and deemed them to be the work of the devil ... The Friars carved the sign of the cross on the rocks, thereby neutralizing all other influences" (p. 138). The author rightly mocks the usual unfounded interpretations of Caribbean and South American petroglyph sites as places of human sacrifice, with blood receptacles, etc. He does not doubt that petroglyphs had some meaning, but in his opinion "posteriority will never know the true significance of these rock carvings" (for a similar opinion, see Dubelaar 1986, chapter 8: Interpretation). The Reef Bay engravings which are immediately above the water surface (our group A) are clearly mirrored; most probably this effect was intentionally sought after. This 'mirror' situation also occurs at the Big Spring fountain cave, Anguilla (Dubelaar 1989). At this 21st International Congress of Americanists, The Hague, Netherlands, 1924, the Danish archaeologist Gudmund Hatt read a paper on the archaeology of the Virgin Islands. This was the first occasion on which petroglyphs were reported in St. Croix (Hatt 1924: 36-38; figs. 12-14). In 1941 he published his monumental study: 'Had West Indian rock carvings a religious significance' (Hatt 1941). The question in this title was convincingly answered in the affirmative. The article places his findings in St. John, Congo Cay, and St. Croix in a wider context: the archaeology, anthropology»and history of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. At Reef Bay, St. John, he discerns three petroglyph groups: a: the drawings along the pool; b: those higher up, left of a; c: those still higher, above a on the same rock. He observes a difference in style between the first group, where the faces have ring-shaped eyes, and the other two groups, with 'flourishing" figures and faces with pit shaped eyes. Hatt sees a similarity between the b - and c. - groups and some petroglyphs of St. Vincent. He considers the engravings to have been made by Igneri. No settlement remains were found in the near vicinity. The spot was chosen because it was a natural phenomenon of great curiosity, with fresh water all the year round. Maybe the inscriptions fulfilled a function in rain ceremonies (1941:181-184; figs 5 and 6). On Congo Cay Hatt found six engraved faces on the eastern part of the rock. This point is well suited for line fishing. The drawings show a similarity to faces on figured pottery handles found in Taino culture settlements. He sees a connection with cranium cult in Taino culture (180; figs 3 and 4). In St. Croix Hatt found 9 slabs standing upright, four with engravings. The row of slabs was 8 meters long and faced an open space. Behind the row of stones was en elevation, which contained skeletons, pottery, carved heads of corral, and shells. Also three fragments of rock carvings were found, one of them shown in fig. 19. It represents a frog (190-191, figs 13, 16, 19). Hatt interprets the figure on the stone terminating the row on the Southwest as a picture of a pregnant woman: within the body is another figure with the head the opposite way (fig. 15). The last stone to the right (fig. 16) has a hole, which leads to a narrow channel, "about 1 mm. in diameter, passing deep into the stone and no doubt once connected with a funnel-shaped hole bored into the stone from the back" (figs. 17 and 18). It would be possible to pour water through from the back, which would trickle down the front (191-192). In 1960, Frederick W. Sleight, director of the William L. Bryant Foundation, made an "Archaeological Reconnaissance of the island of St. John" (Sleight 1962).

946 Though petroglyphs were "beyond the scope of our immediate interest" (31), he mentions them on pages 12, 25, and 28, and presents a photograph of the Reef Bay site (Plate 6) and of Congo Cay (Plate 7). Ripley P. Bullen, curator of the State Museum, Gainesville, who worked together with Sleight in the Virgin Islands, presented a paper on petroglyphs of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico at the Fourth Congress for the Study of the Pre-Columbian Cultures of the Lesser Antilles, St. Lucia 1971. Bullen sees similarities between the Congo Cay faces and faces in , St. Vincent and Puerto Rico. At Reef Bay, St. John, and in St. Croix he sees drawings of the 'swaddled infant' type. (On the notion 'swaddled', see Dubelaar 1986: 137-139). In 1971 a 'Guide to the Natural History of St. John' appeared in St. Thomas (Jadan 1971). The 1985 edition of this handbook shows the Reef Bay petroglyphs with a 'decipherment" by the epigrapher Barry Fell, who saw part of the carvings as belonging to the Tifinag branch of a medieval Libyan script used as early as the First Century and as late as the 13th Century. This would mean that the drawings were made by pre-Columbian Africans. Fell translates the text as follows: "Plunge in to cleanse and dissolve away impurity and trouble; this is water for ritual ablution before devotions" (Jadan 1971:32). Paul Baum, a teacher in Puerto Rico, in an article on petroglyphs in St. John and St. Kitts, provides line drawings of the Reef Bay drawings. He considers the possibility of a dual origin: Amerindian and African (Baum 1976). Philip and Margaret Caesar from St. John presented a paper on the petroglyphs of this island at the 10th International Congress for the Study of the Pre-Columbian Cultures of the Lesser Antilles, 1983. This paper supplies important new data. The rock species is chlorite. It is volcanic debris accumulated as sediment, contemporaneous with the vulcanism. Its hardness rate is 2.5 (one cleavage). An experiment by rubbing with a piece of dead coral produced a groove of about 5 mm. depth. 15-20 mm. width and 40-55 mm. length, in less than half an hour. Six cases of shape-conformity to other Antillean rock art are reported. Linda Sickler Robinson, Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A. found a new petroglyph on the East tip of Congo Cay; an elaborate face with ring shaped eyes and a mouth (Robinson 1985). The author studied the petroglyphs of St. John and Congo Cay in 1985, and the engraved stones of St. Croix in the National Museum, Copenhagen, in 1987.

PETROGLYPHS IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLAND. DESCRIPTION OF THE SITES.

Petroglyph site 1: Reef Bay. St. John

The relatively small island of St. John (14 x 8 km) is of great beauty. Two thirds of this territory belong to the Virgin Islands National Park, thanks to a donation by L. Rockefeller, nearly 40 years ago. The Reef Bay petroglyph site possesses more than its share of this beauty. It is situated up in the hills, in a long and rather steep valley giving on Reef Bay, and draining the water from the mountains on both sides. To the West is the Camelberg Peak (360 m.); to the East are the Bordeaux Mountains (highest peak 426 m.). A small stream runs down South, forming two small, high waterfalls. The lower one, c. 12 m. high, has formed

947 a small pool at its base. About 2 m. down another pool occurs, size 4 x 3 m. The pool water is very quiet and clear, and seems to be drinkable. The drawings are on the rocks adjoining this pool. Four groups can be discerned: A. The petroglyphs on the vertical part of the ledge North of the pool.They are immediately above the water surface, and are clearly mirrored by the water. B. The figures on the same rock mass, above A. This part consists of several rough blocks, some with petroglyphs. C. The engravings on the West side of the pool. D. The drawings South of the pool The majority of the lines have a depth of 0.50 to .75 cm.

Archaeological surveys of the island (De Booy, Hatt, Sleight, Bullen, Caesar) have yielded several pre-Columbian habitation sites, none near the Reef Bay petroglyphs. Hatt (1941:1883) writes: "Strangely enough, there was no settlement discernable in the vicinity". There is, in our opinion, no reason for his amazement; most petroglyph sites in and the Antilles are not near pre-Columbian settlements.

Petroglyph site 2: Congo Cay.

Congo Cay is an oblong, E.-W. - orientated rock mass, located c. 4 km. North of Cruz Bay, St. John, just behind Lovango Island. It has little or no vegetation, and is hard to land upon, the extreme Eastern point, facing Caraval Rock, consists of four blocks with nearly horizontal surfaces which are c. 10 meters above the sea. Six petroglyphs occur on the second block from the South, around a shallow natural cavity (c. 1.10 x 0.35 cm.; the seventh is on the perpendicular side above the water. The drawings are rather shallow. They are ground into the limy surface which is totally covered with birds droppings; this makes it hard to establish the exact shape of the figures. In agreement with the island's small size and its barren character, no traces of human settlement have been found. According to De Booy (1917b:377), habitation traces have been reported for nearby Lovango Island. The six drawings at the Eastern point are near horizontal; the seventh is orientated North. In previous publications drawing 1 has a kind of mouth piece, which makes it belong to the skull type drawings, like no. 2. However, the lower part of the rock surface is broken, which leaves the (incomplete?) figure as we picture it.

Petroglyph site 3: Salt river, St. Croix.

The engravings of this site are no longer in situ. The discoverer, Gudmund Hatt, who found them in 1923, transported the engraved slabs to the National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark. Our description is based on Hatt's two publications on this subject (Hatt 1923, 1941), and on the engraved slabs in the Copenhagen Museum. A paper by Birgit Faber Morse in this volume deals with the same subject (Faber Morse 1990). Hatt found a considerable prehistoric village site on a small peninsula, stretching Eastward to the mouth of the Salt River, North coast. The peninsula has a natural hill with remains of a 17th century fortifications, called Fort Salé. Within the

948 village area, N.W. of the fort, is a flat open space measuring 30 m. from N.E. to S.W.; 25 m. from N.W. to S.E. On the Northwest side the area is closed off by a ridge composed of kitchen midden material. At the foot of the mound, covered by the soil, a row of nine stones was standing on edge, stretching N.E.-S.W., with at two places a break, possibly removed stones, the row was eight meters long. Four of the slabs had petroglyphs facing the open space. One (no. 2) also had a drawing on its back. In the rubbish heap behind the row two fragments with rock carvings were found. One of them shows the greater part of a frog figure with a human face. A stone slab with an incised pictograph representing a face was found lying in the ridge. In 1987 we visited the Ethnographic department of the Danish National Museum. Mr. Berete Due, curator, enabled us to examine, measure, sketch, and photograph the engraved slabs from St. Croix, which we did with the help of Mr. Niels Nikolajsen, Museum assistant. We saw the slabs no. 1, 2, and 9, and the fragment with the frog figure. Besides, there was a triangular slab with various cup-shaped indentations and some vague line, which is probably the slab found in the ridge by Hatt. We did not find slab no. 3.

Slab no. 1.

Dimensions 52x31 cm.; thickness narrowing from 19 cm. (base) to 12 cm. (top). Literature: Hatt 1924:36 and fig. 12; Hatt 1941:191-192 and fig. 15; Faber Morse 1990 fig. 3-b. Hatt interprets the drawing as the representation of a pregnant woman, and sees a relation with the 'mother of the sky'-god.

Slab no. 2.

This slab has engravings on both sides. The dimensions of the slab are 55 x 36 cm; it is 15 cm. thick. Literature: Hatt 1941:191 (Hatt does not provide a picture of the front drawing, the back drawing is photographed in his fig. 14.); Faber Morse 1990 figs. 3-C and 3-D.

Slab no. 3.

Literature: Hatt 1941: 191. Hatt writes: "On the third stone from the left one can discern a face consisting of two eye pits and a mouth groove". He does not provide a picture of this figure.

Slab no. 9.

Dimensions: 39x33x13 cm. Dimensions of these drawing: 14x24 cm; of the cup- shaped cavity with central hole: 9.5x9 cm; of the oval cavity at the back: 7x9 cm. Literature: Hatt 1924: 36-37 and figs. 13-14; Hatt 1941:191-192 and figs. 16-18; Faber Morse 1990 fig. 4-d. Hatt 1941 writes: "On the right ... is a circular surface surrounded by a groove 10 cm. in diameter. In the middle of this circle are three places close together where a drill has been used. Two of the holes are of slight depth, but the third one, on the left, is a very thin channel, about 1 mm. in diameter, passing deep into the stone and no doubt once connected with a funnel-shaped hole bored into the stone from the back A short length of the passage is now closed, as the result of lime precipitation The funnel-shaped hole, opening in the form of a fine pore on the front of the stone, no doubt served some priestly purpose. For example, it would be possible to pour water through from the back so that it trickled down the front. With a trick of this sort the medicine man would be able to impress the crowd which presumably was assembled on the open space South of the row of stones. Devices of this kind were not foreign to West Indian medicine men".

The fragments in the rubbish heap behind the row.

A. The frog fragment. Dimensions: 19 x 26.5 x 6.5 cm. Dimensions of the drawing 16 x 25 cm. Literature: Hatt 1924:38 and fig. 17c, 1941 and fig. 19. Hatt 1924 writes: "This unusually well carved drawing .... is apparently intended to represent a frog with a human face. ... without doubt this anthropomorphous frog is a mythical figure ... Incomplete as our information on the mythology of the Taino is, there can be no doubt that the frog had some part in it. And as the frog everywhere in America is connected with rain and fertility, it seems reasonable that this connection existed in the Antilles".

B. The other fragment Hatt neither gives a description, nor a drawing or a photograph. Literature: Hatt 1924:38, 1941:191.

The triangular slab

Dimensions: 35 x 35 cm. Dimensions of the drawing (without the two pits to the right): 14 x 14 cm. We found this slab in the Copenhagen museum, but we are not sure whether this is slab no. 3 in the row, or one of the fragments found in the ridge. However, judged from the overall photograph of the row (Hatt 1924 figure 12, 1941 fig. 13), it is not a slab from the row. Hatt 1924: 38 writes: "A stone slab with an incised pictograph representing a face was lying in the ridge". Hatt 1941 does not mention it. A COMPARISON OF U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND ANTILLEAN PETROGLYPH MOTIFS

In the U.S.a Virgin Islands In the Lesser Antilles we we surveyed 42 petroglyphs: surveyed 703 petroglyphs (Dubelaar 1989):

Simple faces 10 Simple faces 261 Elaborate faces 11 Elaborate faces 202 Anthropomorphs 6 Anthropomorphs 94 Zoomorphs 1 Zoomorphs 5 Simple abstracts 3 Simple abstracts 60 Complex abstracts 11 Scrabble complexes 2

Total 42 Total 703

'Abstracts' means in this context that no pictorial interpretation could be made. 'Simple faces' consist of an outline and some pits and/or strokes. 'Elaborate faces' show more elements: ears, hair, etc. 'Anthropomorphs' have a head and a body. We consider the groups of simple faces, elaborate faces, and anthropomorphs as a subordinate group: anthropomorphical drawings. This means that 64% of the U.S. Virgin Islands petroglyphs and 80% of the Lesser Antilles petroglyphs are anthropomorphical. Conclusion: petroglyphs of the Lesser Antilles and the U.S. Virgin Islands are predominantly anthropomorphical. From the Greater Antilles no such data are available. We made some counts from Morbán Laucer 1970. This book contains pictures of 146 petroglyphs in the : 37 simple faces; 20 elaborate faces; 44 anthropomorphs; 6 zoomorphs; 11 simple abstracts: 28 complex abstracts. This means that 101 drawings are Anthropomorphical, i.e. 69%. Extended conclusion: petroglyphs of the Antilles and the U.S. Virgin Islands are predominantly anthropomorphical. From our study of South American petroglyphs (Dubelaar 1986b) it appears that the above is not the case on the . Exact data are not available, but our guess is that no mores than 30% of South American petroglyphs are anthropomorphical. Our survey of petroglyphs in (Dubelaar 1986a) shows that in this c. 40% of the petroglyphs are anthropomorphical.

OCCURRENCE OF PETROGLYPHS AND/OR ROCK PAINTINGS.

South America and the Greater Antilles have both petroglyphs and rock paintings. The Lesser Antilles and the U.S. virgin Islands have only petroglyphs. From the , no petroglyphs or rock paintings have been reported. , Curaçao, and , situated not far from the Venezuelan North coast, have, with very few exceptions, only rock paintings. Trinidad has one petroglyph. From the other islands in the region no petroglyphs or rock paintings have been reported.

951 SOME COMMENTS

The framed cross (Reef Bay, St. John, Group C no. 1).

Framed and unframed crosses occur in rock art throughout the world. The distribution of the framed cross motif in South America and the Antilles is shown in Dubelaar 1986b (102, 109, 135, 151-152, 155). Authors on rock art in this region often interpret it as a sign representing the four cardinal points, symbolizing the universe. Valid arguments, however, are lacking. The interpretation might sound convincing if the crosses were engraved into a (near) horizontal surface, with their legs pointing North, East, South and West, but this is not the case. For the greater part they are not in a horizontal position. And in the scarce cases where they are horizontal, the legs are not pointing to the cardinal points.

The ball court slab drawings (St. Croix)

Engraved ball court slabs also occur in Puerto Rico, , and . The figures on these slabs are for the greater part large, elaborate, intricate, and undoubtedly anthropomorphical; especially those of Utuado, Puerto Rico. They have often been reproduced in the relevant literature, for instance in Goyco 1984. The St. Croix figures, however, do not have this monumental character. Like the slabs themselves they are rater small, and do not differ significantly from the drawings on rocks which are in their natural environment. Strangely enough, the stone fragment found in the rubbish heap nearby, showing a stylized frog (see above) does show some features of the ball court figures mentioned above, though its size is rather small.

The row of pits (Reef Bay, St. John, Group A)

This conspicuous row of pits, just above the water surface, has given cause to speculations on pre-Columbian African visitors to St. John (see above: History of petroglyph investigation). Pre-Columbian contacts between and the are, in our opinion, only hypothetical; no valid arguments have been presented for such a presupposition. With various of these pits, a grouping in threes can be observed. Probably such groupings form the elementary representation of the 'simple faces' motif: eyes and a mouth without an outline. On many rock art sites throughout the Caribbean they occur, together with the 'normal' simple faces (i.e. pits in an outline); e.g. on nearby St. Martin and Anguilla.

The drilled stone (St. Croix, slab no. 9)

Hatt's comments on this 'trick device' sounds plausible; still, some objections can be made. The stone slabs are of moderate height; no assistant could hide behind them. The cup in the back is near vertical, it would not hold any water poured into it; some device would be necessary to get the water into the narrow channel. Only spectators immediately in front of the stone row would be able to see the water trickling out. The spot where the water is supposed to come out is only a hollow, not a drawing (e.g. a face). It is not certain that a (very narrow) channel runs from the back to the front of the slab all through; the lime precipitation Hatt mentions prevents experiments.

Faces without a nose

In none of the U.S. Virgin Islands rock drawings which can be interpreted as representations of faces, a nose appears. The show pit-shaped or ring-shaped eyes, a mouth, sometimes ears, but never a nose. Practically the same holds for the Lesser Antilles petroglyphs. From the total of 703 drawings we surveyed in these islands, 557 represent faces or anthropomorphs with faces, but faces with a nose are very scarce.

'Grabados finos'

In Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela petroglyphs occur which are formed by thin parallel or crossing lines, made with the help of a very sharp pointed implement. The Argentine archaeologist Gradin calls them 'grabados finos' (see Dubelaar 1986b:113). This technique can be perceived on the lower left side of the frog fragment, St. Croix. We did not encounter this technique in the Lesser Antilles.

Completeness

We cannot claim to be fully exhaustive in this survey. Cases occur where previous investigators reported drawings which we have not included. A reason for this difference could be erosion; 70 years ago particular drawings may have been more distinct. Another reason is that in cases of doubt, where we only found vague lines, we did not include the figure in our survey. And of course there is the possibility that we missed some cases, notwithstanding the fact that our investigations were conducted with care.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is indebted to Dr. Gijs Beynen, Ohio State University, Ohio, U.S.A.; Dr. Philip and Margareth Caesar, St. John.m U.S. Virgin Islands; Ms. Berete Due, National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark; Mrs. Birgit Faber Morse, Larchmont, U.S.A.; Dr. Jan Posthumus, Roden, Netherlands; and Handsgeorg Winkler, Veitshöchheim, Germany. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS PETROGLYPHS

Baum, Paul 1976 Petroglyphs and other discoveries in St. John and St. Kitts. Ohio Archaeologist 26(2):20-22. The Archaeological Society of Ohio. Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A..

Booy, Theodoor de. 1917a Indian petroglyphs in the Antilles. Forward 36(17), April 28: 130, and 36(18), May 5:138. Presbyterian Church Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work. Philadelphia, U.S.A.

1917b Archaeological notes on the Danish West Indies. The petroglyphs of the islands of St. John and of Congo Cay. Scientific American. Supplement no. 2189, Dec. 15:376-377. New York, U.S.A.

1917c The Virgin Islands of the . Geographical Review 4:359-373. New York U.S.A.

1919 Archaeology of the Virgin Islands. Indian Notes and Monographs 1(1):13-100. Museum of the American Indian. New York, U.S.A.

Bullen, Ripley C. 1971 Petroglyphs of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Proceedings of the Fourth International-Congress for the Study of the Pre-Columbian Cultures of the Lesser Antilles, St. Lucia: 13-16. St. Lucia Archaeological and Historical Society. Castries, St.. Lucia 1973.

Caesar, Philip, and Margareth Caesar 1983 On the petroglyphs of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress for the Study of the Pre-Columbian Cultures of the Lesser Antilles, Martinique: 449-454. Centre de Recherches Caraïbes, Montreal, Canada 1985.

Faber Morse, Birgit 1990 The ball and dance court at Salt River Site, St. Croix. Proceedings of the 13th International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology (this volume).

Hatt, Gudmund 1924 Archaeology of the Virgin Islands. Proceedings of the 221th International Congress of Americanists, The Hague, the Netherlands, and Goteborg, Sweden, p. 29-42.

1941 Had West Indian rock drawing a religious significance. In: Ethnographical Studies: 165-202. Nationalmuseets Skrifter, Etnografisk Raekke, vol. 1. Copenhagen, Denmark. Jadan, Doris 1971 A Guide to the Natural History of St. John. Virgin Islands Conservation Society. St. Thomas, V.I., U.S.A.. Reprint St. Thomas 1985.

Knox, John P. 1852 A Historical Account of St. Thomas, W.I. New York, U.S.A. Reprint New York.

Lund, H.S. 1850-1860 Report to the Société des Antiquaires du Nord. Mémoires de la Société, Royale des Antiquaires du Nord: 158-160. Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ober, Frederick A. 1893 In the Wake of Columbus. Boston, U.S.A.

1893-1895 Aborigines of the West Indies. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N.S. 9:270-313. worchester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Pinart, Alphonse Louis 1890 Note sur les Pétroglyphes et Antiquités des Grandes et Petites Antilles. MS. Paris, . Copy in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands, and in the Department of Anthropology, University of Puerto Rico. Translated into Spanish in the Revista del Museo de Antropología, Historia e Arte 1,1979:71-88. Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.A.

Robinson, Linda Sickler 1985 Information on Congo Cay petroglyphs (personal communication).

Sleight, Frederick W. 1962 Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Island of St. John, United States Virgin Islands. The William L Bryant Foundation,. American Studies, Report Number three, Reprint 1974.

West, H. 1793 Bidrag til Beskrivelse over St. Croix med en kort Udsigt over St. Thomas, St. Jean, Tórtola, Spanish Town og Crabeneiland. Copenhagen, Denmark. Translation into German Copenhagen 1794.

OTHER REFERENCES

Dubelaar, Cornells Nicolaas 1986a The Petroglyphs in and Adjacent Areas of Brazil and Venezuela; an Inventory. With a comprehensive Bibliography of South American and Antillean Petroglyphs. Series: 'Monumenta Archaeologica' 12. The Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

955 1986b South American and Caribbean Petroglyphs. Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology. Leiden, Netherlands. Caribbean Series No. 3. Distributed by Foris Publications, Dordrecht, Netherlands, and Providence, R.I., U.S.A.

1989 An Inventory of Lesser Antilles Petroglyphs. Centro de Investigaciones Indígenas de Puerto Rico. San Juan. Puerto Rico, U.S.A. (forthcoming).

Goyco, Osvaldo 1984 Influencias Mayas y Aztecas en los Tainos de las Antillas Mayores. Ediciones Xiabalbay. San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.A.

Morbán Laucer, Fernando A. 1970 Pintura Rupestre y Petroglifos en Santo Domingo. Universidad Autónomo de Santo Domingo, Vol. 147. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

956 1 Anegada». 1 1 St '9 n Gorda Thomas *ToS""r to la Angui lia J Puerto R ico > _^_ *^ St John Vieques O St Martin UL

St Croi x « ^st.Eustatius 0Barbuda N

st Kittig Ant, Nevis» /-v " Sea e 1 : 5.500.000

,66° |64° ^ .62

Fig. 1. Survey map of the region: Petroglyphs occur in St. John, Congo Cay, and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Other islands in the region where petroglyphs are to be found comprise : Puerto Rico, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Kitts, Barbuda. See Dubelaar 1989.The above map shows only the larger islands.

18"20

= roodf and tracks Rock 0 1 2 3 km

Fig. 2. Location of the petroglyphs in St. John and Congo Cay.

957 64 40

Fig. 3. Location of the petroglyphs in St. Croix.

PETROGLYPH SITE Is REEF BAY, ST. JOHN

UPPER PARTOF THE ROCK MASS

POOL

Fig. 4. Survey of Group A. Drawings immediately above the water surface. (From Fig. 1. to Fig. 13, c. 3 cm).

& *W 3©e 4Q

30x25 7(G)&,

26» 17 .(SGS) 24x16 14x8

6 7SxU

39x30 17x8 20x12 22X26 Fig. 5. The drawings of Group A. Dimensions in cms. Orientation: South.

958 s^fc^Sgl • £*%&&&• 9Émi

Fig. 6. Group A. Survey.

The drawing on the same rock mass, stretching up­ hill from the ledge along the pool.

Í®

Fig. 8. The drawings of Group B. Dimensions in Fig. 7. Survey of Group B. cms. Orientation of the rock facet

959 Fig. 9. Group B. Survey.

Fig. 10. Group B. nos. 2 and 3.

960 welir f tew

Fig. 11. Group B. no.6. Fig. 12. Survey of Group G. The drawings at the west side of the pool.

28x32 29x41 29* 69 co. 30x55

Fig. 13. The drawings of Group C. Orientation: 1: S.,2 : S.W., 3: E., 4: S.E., Dimensions in cms. Note 1: immediately to the right of drawing 11 some lines appear which we could not properly register.Note 2: drawing 4 was also not clear to us; we copied the figure from De Booy (1917a;138).

961 Fig. 14. Group C no. 1. Fig. 15. Group C no. 3.

Fig. 16. Group C no. 2.,

962 Fig. 17. Group D. Some scrabbles and pits on a flat rock at the South side of the pool, near the water surface. Orientation: N. (Nearly horizontal). Dimension :unknown.

Fig. 18. Group D.

963 PKTHOGLTPH SITE 2. COHGO BAX

Fig. 19. Survey.

S®, 14X11 21 X16 "C§T 23 X20

4 <2KD 5 7 14x6 O d ¡m*n>ioni 25X25 25X24 u n k n own

Fig. 20. The drawings of Congo Cay.

964 Pig. 21. The Congo cay drawings in Hatt 1941.

Fig. 22. Congo Cay seen from the east point. Fig. 23. Ho. 2.

965 Fig. 24. No. 1. Pig. 25. No. 5.

Fig. 26. No. 7. Photograph Linda Stickler RobinBon.

966 PETROGLYPH SITB 3. SALT RIVBR, ST. CROIX

12 34567 8 9

Fig. 27. Survey of the row, after Hatt 1941 Fig. 13 and Fig. 16.

Fig. 28. Slab no. 1.

967 Fig. 29. Slab no. 2 (Front) Dimensions of the lower face: 14 x 16 cm. Lines c. 2 cm wide; c. J cm deep.

Fig. 30. Slab no. 2. Back., Dimensions of the larger face: 22 x 19 cm. Lines c. 1 cm. wide; c. j cm. deep.

968 Fig. 31. Slab no. 9 (Front). Fig. 32. Slab no. 9 (Back).

Fig. 33. The frog fragment. Fig. 34. The triangular Blab.

969 The frog fragment in Hatt 1941

970 .•••.•• •••••,••..• . ..••:.. ..••.•:.. :.•::...•••.••;•:••

Fig. 36. Slab no. 1, in Hatt 1941.

Fig. 37. The triangular slab. 971 «BH mm » M «life¡¡¡¡ 1 Il Hill mm IE

Fig. 38. Slab no. 2. Front.

liiííí'ííííS; •••' : '

Ï illË # WËÊm mmm Wà m^wm m 1 H

Fig. 39. Slab no. 2. Back, in Hatt 1941. 972 .jilÉ?''" .ií" *^ -.* T

^^*ISy¿^|^^P^R^|B :•• £1 iTpk y^^w^Jm i*?^^-^ a &T- WÉ i? •^W^'^MPM _JÍ-O«ÍÍE¿^¿^«¿/Í*^J^?|^WÍB Ï^Hïa^^K'' •*^Biii& ÈamSÊÊmÊSM ^^«ift^wi r; ^ w^y^^f,: ^^'r^^S^Éi Este J^^^^,^'*^^^1:^^^^^IÍ!'«S^^& : í v?& '...... flBB

': ^^TWV '^AKWUMBE' ' ^^IBBBïWirïflttËz ïïill^^w^ift&t^

: : a : ; ' iHS^^J™rfev^^ f «tiaOtffWr" ~ *' : x fW^M â|A ^C « «*1WPIËW ^^Ç^^îi^^^Jgl^^ il T^^jjifrrrS ^yp^fcjr ^?f »v «:• J&jgï *%**' ¿ ¿^aHBrag&aMare?.^is-BWwllfPIP^ ;m^SMMfcgji llöS L** • ¿^»Kià$vSM-^a^CT^^apaBKg v, ""^^Kfc» jasapy^W ¡

^RSRPSL: ^ BHBIHIÍÍE^SIJÍ^ *&'• ™?ffîaœ %!!èfr í^^fWwí ^N&^m B^w ^¿^¿^.-^^^•»: •S» "jfipSiï : % t&* •P^Ë»* '' «7 ^•áte-J^i^fíPs V^i WH it^tf ¡PPB C^B Hf ' : ' •' ^9BBË#^BBI

ƒ 01

«••^•••••iHMHBSHBMk^

. .. ;:: 1 1 : !

^I^^^BB^^fe^^^íá^^^^^^W-^aîÉ* • mr ^mÊzmm : . ••'•• , • , . • •;,:-.I¿¿!., BJ^**i5«¡É3is^fcw»-; : BKp^S(K> z^p'* t-%<^^^^S¡¿mí!;^*^^^^SBi /*%J£» •*» ^^'^tj^ í3f S&BSSC-M

O ><™WW» , • '¿WSf*BjE¡¡f **^v ^^«W^nH ate i • i^^&^L^^Sè^ ^:^^:a|k< , : S^J^TS**--.::*^- ««wí^f* Ptaai»^*^ Bk. ^- s '-^Mgy^^ (|t^¡^'¿, tl- iâ

1^fk&v ^ í, i. :3^£5BBÍ

'- :^Sjy^¿¿y PP^K^E^S. J ; ^^§âB| BB mmtbiíaH '^ ~^'^- '^••••' - :.JB

^iPIBBJBBJP^IS^^ *......

"*' ' 01 ft. 973