| Piedras del Padre Nazario | |
| Material: | Serpentinite |
| Size: | Varies |
| Writing: | 15 to 20 glyphs of unknown origin,[1] separated by lines, with a variance in order and arranged in grids. |
| Created: | c. 900 BC – 900 AD |
| Discovered Date: | c. 1870s |
| Location: | Institute of Puerto Rican Culture Museo de Arqueología, Historia y Epigrafía de Guayanilla University of Puerto Rico Smithsonian Institution Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology |
The Nazario Collection (Spanish; Castilian: Colección Nazario), also known as Agüeybaná's Library (Spanish; Castilian: Biblioteca de Agüeybaná|links=no), Father Nazario's Rocks (Spanish; Castilian: Piedras del Padre Nazario|links=no), and the Phoenician Rocks (Spanish; Castilian: Piedras Fenicias|links=no), are a cache of carved stones that originated at Guayanilla, Puerto Rico. According to contemporary accounts, the statuettes made of local serpentine rocks were first discovered by Catholic priest José María Nazario y Cancel during the 19th century, and feature unidentified petroglyphs that have been speculated to be connected to the Old World for over 130 years. Their original site was not far from Yauco and was underground, where it was hidden under a slate that concealed a tunnel. Overwhelmed with the quantity and difficulty of transporting a trove that totaled more than a ton, he opted to abandon his individual approach and recruited locals to aid in the moving of the rocks to his house, where he conducted the first research on them by comparing them to similar objects from other countries. Nazario would combine his research with his religious background, leading to the hypothesis that there might be some connection between them and the Ten Lost Tribes.
Due to the ramifications that their authentication would have on mainstream concepts of Pan-American history, the authenticity of the pieces has been in question from the onset, with researchers providing conflicting opinions. Despite this, several foreign archeologists traveled to Puerto Rico in order to study the pieces.[2] Among those that inquired on the matter was ethnographer Alphonse Pinart, who examined the pieces and concluded that they were "undoubtedly authentic".[2] The explorer also expressed concern that some people could try to falsify pieces to receive gifts in exchange from them.[2] Locally, historians took an interest in the matter while archeologists did not study them for decades. After the death of Nazario, most pieces were kept at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP), with others being kept by the UPR and foreign institutions in New York, Spain and Paris.[2] During the 1980s, the Collection attracted historian Aurelio Tío, who tried to recruit a variety of institutions to the cause of studying the pieces.
During the 2010s, the study of the pieces was led by archeologist Reniel Rodríguez Ramos of the University of Puerto Rico at Utuado in collaboration with experts from Universidad del Turabo, the University of Miami and University of Haifa, among others.[2] Radiocarbon dating of soot impregnated in the glyphs supported an ancient origin, with a date range of 900 BC – 900 AD. Geological studies concluded that the petroglyphs were carved in Puerto Rico and that the serpentine rocks were local.[2] Preliminary results using high power microscopes found that the technique used was unlike any those of the local native groups, while another from a use-wear laboratory concludes that stone tools were used.[2] Preliminary epigraphic studies found similarities between the petroglyphs and the Libyco-Berber alphabet as recorded in the Canary Islands and the Tartessian language of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]
The discovery of the rocks is attributed to Catholic priest José María Nazario y Cancel, a native of the municipality of Sabana Grande that had settled in Guayanilla and had received education at the University of Salamanca that included, among other things, the study of ancient languages.[2]