Case file · Folklore / legend
Cacibajagua, the cave where people came from
In the Taíno origin story told to Pané, humankind first lived in two caves in a mountain of Hispaniola, Cacibajagua and Amayaúna, and the watchman Machochael was turned to stone for staying out past dawn.
1498 CE · 18.95, -70.40 · status: legend
The account
Other people who lingered outside were changed into trees, birds and frogs. Caves were sacred across the Greater Antilles, and their walls carry many petroglyphs and pictographs. The year is Pané's record; the story itself is much older.