Archaeologists find major site of Caribbean tribe

The steep canyon walls echoed to the sounds of humans for nearly 1,000 years before Columbus arrived in the Americas. Those voices were lost after Europeans settled the Caribbean, however, as the Taino Indians were nearly wiped out by disease and enslavement.

Now, as a result of plans to build a flood control dam nearby, archaeologists have stumbled onto a major discovery that could help reconstruct the rhythms of life of those early Caribbean inhabitants.

An archaeology firm working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has uncovered the outlines of a very large Taino ball court and ceremonial site, complete with human graves, trash mounds, building imprints and a few carved petroglyphs that are among the most intricate and detailed ever discovered in the region.