Ecofact

As usual, the cultural resource team has been very busy. This morning, Ken and Susanna went to VIERS to welcome a group of Sierra Club members. This group has adopted the Yawzi Point Ruins and Lameshur Ruins and we are so thankful for their work to keep the ruins clear of vegetation. While on the south shore of St. John, the team also investigated an archaic(4oo b.c.) site with many ecofacts, or ecological remains such as conch, and whelk(citeriumPica) shell that would have been a food source for these early St. John inhabitants. In addition, there were shell edged pearlware fragments that my indicate a maroon site, or a place where escaped, captured Africans may have gone into hiding. It was a very interesting day, and aside from collecting data from the archaic site, the new gps was put into use. The terrain remains dry and hopefully, we will find time to do more exploring of little known sites such as Ramshead, pictured here, while the vegetation is a little less dense.

Yesterday, the team met with an Elderhostel group at Cinnamon which is adopting the Leinster Guardhouse ruins and also doing architectural drawings of the Rustenberg Ruins. Ken gave the group a brief talk about the history of the island and then they went on their way to cut vegetation. Like the Sierra Club, we are very thankful to have such dedicated volunteers. After the talk, Ken and Susanna pulled the two bottlenecks out of the Cinnamon Bay Kitchen site and put the final touches on the map and used the very big ladder to take some site photographs. They are waiting Amber's help later in the week to cover the site back up.

(Cinnamon Bay Excavation, Final Photo)

We are a couple weeks behind because Amber was off a week while her parents were visiting and the internet service has been inconsistent. During the previous weeks, Susanna did a lot of curating and Ken met with the Danish Professor, Niklas Thode Jensen from Copenhagen. Niklas and his students will be researching the Danish archives for us for the next few months, then the students will be making the journey to St. John to obtain first hand knowledge of the plantations, specifically, Lameshur. We are very excited to be working with Niklas and these students and eagerly await their arrival in May.

Niklas and Ken looking at Fort Willoby on Hassel Island