The Pilgrimage Concept in the Caribbean?

Abstract

Espenshade (2014) has argued that pre-Columbian major ballcourts/plazas on Puerto Rico, particularly with rock art, could be considered special religious places. He proposes that these precincts were being transformed from locations of communal social and ceremonial activities integrating diverse population segments to increasingly restricted-to-religious functions as shrines or pilgrimage centers serving a greatly reduced local population by the end of the pre-colonial period. The extent of incorporation of pre-colonial late phase plazas into a formal pilgrimage round for the Puerto Rico island will be examined employing archaeological data from both the Greater and Lesser Antilles. We conclude that while Espenshade’s particular argument for enclosures-as-pilgrimage sites may or may not be appropriate, simply raising the issue prompts a wider consideration of the region’s ritual structure involving rock art and non-rock art sites.