Cerro Gordo 4 (Ca. 1621)

Country: Puerto Rico

Place: Cerro Gordo, Vega Alta

Type: Unknown

Identified: No

History of the Site

The site was found by fisherman between Cerro Gordo and the first submerged cay. In the 1970’s Richard Fontánez - President of the Sociedad Arqueológica Guacabó de Vega Alta -received two ceramic fragments coming from the site. They resembled the Spanish interior glazed Olive Jars, but they had conic mouths and two handles. The location of the site was not revealed to Mr. Fontanéz but he interviewed many potential informants that commented that the site was severely looted. He was finally told the location of the site, by Jesús Morales, who told him the site was excavated in 1987 by the north American diver Harry Hawk with his help. Hawk excavated the site until he uncovered a hull structure that was fastened using treenails and iron spikes. They also found a cannon. The structure was left uncovered by Hawk and his team after the excavation and most of the ballast composed of stones and bricks was removed. However, in 1995 when the site was revisited by Fontánez, the hull structure seemed in a fairly good state of preservation. There were futtocks, hull planking and ceiling planking

Description of the site

The site is submerged in about 25 feet of water on a sandy bottom, with certain patches of see weed including Siringodiun sp and Thalassia stadium. Many ballst stones covered with calc concretions. The site is on a moderate slope with southeastdirection. North of the site there is a rock formation, which as the submerged cay might be of coral origin. There are no strong currents and the visibility reaches 25 feet.

References

Fontánez, Richard. 1995. Resumen de Eventos Relacionados con el Sitio VI de Playa Cerro Gordo.