Before Columbus arrived in the West Indies, indigenous tribes had lived on Puerto Rico for at least 2,000 years. The Igneri were the oldest recorded inhabitants, followed by the Taino, and artifacts from both peoples have been found at the Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center, a settlement just outside of Ponce that flourished from roughly 400 C.E. to 1000 C.E. Many of the artifacts are on display at the on-site museum, and a replica Taino village shows how native Puerto Ricans lived in the pre-colonial era.
