Date of Award

Summer 8-16-2024

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Quaternary and Climate Studies

Advisor

Daniel Sandweiss

Second Committee Member

Kirk Maasch

Third Committee Member

Jiaze Wang

Additional Committee Members

Antonio Curet

Abstract

Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center represents a unique place for past Indigenous gatherings in the Caribbean. While it currently remains unknown what led to the site's abandonment, it is hypothesized that hurricanes could have played a significant role. The objectives of this research are to understand the impact of major hurricanes on cultural development by (1) identifying the significant features of the two most recent catastrophic hurricanes and (2) reconstructing a paleotempestological record for Tibes to interpret how the population could have adapted to hurricanes or how they led to the abandonment of the site. Overwash deposits preserved in sediments of coastal lakes and marshes are the most accurate and widely used methodology of paleotempestological research. Thus, the methods incorporated in this research were shovel test pits for sample collection and sediment cores near the Portugues River and the Tibes archaeological site. Additionally, a radiocarbon sample was collected from an eroding sea wall at La Guancha Beach at Ponce, Puerto Rico; the sea wall was also sampled and analyzed. Loss on ignition (LOI) and grain size analyses were conducted on all collected samples. From the Tibes and Portugues River samples, the LOI test did not provide substantial data or v was out of the norm regarding decaying organic matter over time. In terms of grain size analysis, the results were inconclusive but have the potential to provide valuable insights regarding the development of paleotempestology research. The radiocarbon date was less than 100 years old, and the two most recent hurricanes were not able to be identified. New research ideas are offered regarding how to study the relationship of past Indigenous populations in Tibes with hurricanes, and an assessment of how cultural material can be affected by climate change-induced events is provided.

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