History of Rock Art in the Caribbean

The Caribbean or West Indian archipelago swings outward from the Venezuelan coast of South America to near Florida at the southeastern tip of North America and to the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico in Central America. Found all through out the Caribbean, rock art can be traced back to 4000 B.C. and is located on every continent except Antarctica. Nuria Sanz of the World Heritage Centre believes that rock art bears testament to the close relationships that Amerindian peoples maintained with their natural environment, the sites holding both cultural and symbolic significance for the inhabitants of the Caribbean today (par. 3).



According to Hayward, Atkinson, and Cinquino, the Caribbean contains three categories of rock art: painted images (pictographs) and carved designs (petroglyphs) on rock and rock sculptures (2-3). Pictographs cover painted or drawn images that can also be referred to as rock paintings. Petroglyphs refer to carved, pecked, or ground designs.

There are many opinions on the meaning behind rock art, anywhere from astrological or religious significance to maps. Whatever it’s meaning, rock art was a form of communication. Everyday communication between past inhabitants, and future communication with present inhabitants on what the lives of those in the past was all about. Giving us a better understanding of where we came from and to help us understand where we are going.