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The country's museums and archeological sites intrigue adults and provide a historical lesson for children and adults alike. From jewelry to religious artifacts, castles to caves, each venue showcases a vastly different aspect of the island's colorful heritage.
The Dominican Republic also has a unique collection of Taino Indian Caves, natural rocks and gems that can only be found on the island. Near Barahona, a turquoise-blue pectolite stone known as larimar has been cultivated from the volcanic rock that once formed the island. The country's most popular gem, amber, is the result of tree sap that hardened millions of years ago, sometimes capturing small plants, animals and insects inside. These two geological imprints are used in jewelry, sometimes together and other times in single pieces.
This tour includes deep exploration of authentic Taino indian Caves. Come Explore prehistoric caves with altGreenGO! to get a full color tour of Tainos with a park ranger as a tour guide.. Caves played an important role in the lives of the Taino Indians. In fact, their creation myth is centered around a cave located on the island. Stories of the Taino interaction with various plants, animals, spirits and each other can be seen in the elaborate pictographs and stone carvings within the structures. Other Taino artifacts are housed at museums and even an excavated burial ground at a local beach.
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East Coast
Jose Maria Cave
Located far into the Parque Nacional del Este near La Romana, this limestone cave holds 1,200 Taino paintings depicting mythological events and a peace offering for the Spaniards in 1503. |
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Penon Gordo, Bayahibe
Penon Gordo is one of 200 caves in the Parque Nacional del Este. This cave displays a chiseled guardian figure at the entrance of the cave and several Taino paintings. |
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El Pomier Caves
Located north of San Cristobal, visitors can view the Caribbean's largest collection of Taino cave art. Scenes of spirits, rituals and objects of Taino belief are included in the drawings. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. |
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Cueva de las Maravillas
Located within San Pedro de Macoris, these caves contain nearly 500 Taino pictographs and petroglyphs. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. |
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Parque Submarino La Caleta
This national park reveals an excavated Taino burial ground with several skeletons on display at the beach. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. |
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Los Indios de Chacuey
Known as the Stonehenge of the Caribbean, a similar circular formation of rocks surrounding a stone slab indicates a possible Taino ceremonial center. |
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North Coast
La Isabela
This Taino museum illustrates the way these natives lived, ate, prepared food and sustained themselves day-to-day. Visitors can examine a mock thatched hut and sample crops. |
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National Park Jaragua, Barahona
This park contains some of the oldest Taino Indian sites on the island. Cave the Poza and the Mongó Cave, within the park, display pictographs and petroglyphs of their time. |
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Museo de Ambar
This two-story Victorian museum located in Puerto Plata is thought to contain a collection of the world's most transparent amber. Well-preserved plants, insects and animals that were captured in prehistoric tree sap are on display.
The Amber Museum contains the famous amber mosquito seen in the box-office hit, Jurassic Park. La Isabela Museum A new museum and educational center focusing on Christopher Columbus discovery of Hispaniola in 1492 are in the works and will be housed at La Isabela. The seaside village is the site of adventurer's first settlement in the new world.
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North East Coast
Parque Nacional Los Haitises
Accessible only by an organized boat trip due to the swamps and rocky terrain that surround them, these caves display drawings of various animals and human faces. A standard boat trip, on the Ruta Litoral takes tourists on a two-and-a-half hour boat tour that visits three main caves within the |
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South West Coast
Museo Prehispanico
A Taino museum, located in Santo Domingo, this museum showcases objects from daily life such as jewelry, pottery and ritual items are on display. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Las Caritas
Deep in the southwest corner of the country, on Lago Enriquillo, is Las Caritas. This cave is rumored to have hidden Taino leader Enriquillo from the Spanish during their conflict with the native people in the early 1500's. The cave also contains dozens of small chiseled faces into the rock walls that seem to come alive to all who enter it. |
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Museo de Larimar
Larimar is a blue pectolite, and a result of vulcanic activity, which ocurred many million years ago on the island of la "La Hispañola". Its crystallization took place when the volcanic lava was cooling off as columns in the tubular "chimneys", in which these pectolites, andesites, basalts and other minerals formed.
The Dominican Republic, Caribbean, owns the only Larimar Museum in the world. All you want to know about this wonderful blue Caribbean gem is found in the Dominican Republic. A travel to this museum and the actual the mines of Larimar is an extraordinay experience. The place appears after a long adventure ride on an off-road vehicle over dirty and stony roads, in a village that brings memories of centuries past long ago. |
