Virgin Islands Archeology with the NPS and Friends

2012-01-26T09:50:00.000-04:00

Hi all, my name is Savanna and this is my second year in St. John as an archaeology intern. I was pleasantly surprised to learn of all the projects that were finished in the year I was away. The biggest surprise was the museum at Cinnamon Bay. It’s been completely renovated since last year, and it’s looking really great. It is so inviting for visitors- beautiful display cases, new work tables and a slideshow that plays on a new TV. Another exciting change was the re-discovery of the lost petroglyph at Reef Bay. It’s hard to spot, but when pointed out it’s very interesting. The design is so different from the Taino petroglyphs on the other side of the pool.
Hassel Island is another place that changed so much over the past year. Last December, the trail system was at the very beginning stages of construction. I think we had gone up the day they put in the first trail with the bobcat. This year there are a number of different trails, with signs to inform visitors where to go and what they are looking at. The park is restoring various historic shop machines from the marine railway and the blacksmith shop that will eventually be part of an interpretive display, thanks to funding by Friends of the Park. While on the trails, we did some surface collections for VIIS 308, mostly in front of the leprosarium and the marine railway. We mostly found glass bottles and ceramics.
Ashley, the other intern, and I spent some time this year fixing up the campsite out here at Cinnamon. In addition to visiting Reef Bay and Hassel Island, we did a number of smaller projects. Trunk Bay won the prestigious Blue Flag award, and we went in to excavate the postholes for the sign, VIIS 309. The location is not far from the Taino burial site at Trunk Bay, so we did not know what to expect. In addition to some Taino polishing stones and pot sherds, we found a human tooth with the root attached. There were no other signs of human remains there however.
Ashley and I also did some trail maintenance with the “voluntourists” who meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We worked at Leinster Bay and on the Johnny Horn trail, and visited the old Murphy estate. It is believed that Mr. Murphy was an active Mason and held meetings in his great house, so the ruins could possibly be the site of the oldest Masonic temple on U.S soil.
Ashley and I accompanied Ken and Kourtney with mooring compliance over at Lameshur Bay. They dove and used a metal detector to look for anomalies around the moorings. Ashley was in charge of dive safety and I was in charge of maintaining boat operations. Ashley also had her first encounter with a barracuda- possibly the least friendly looking fish down here! Although Ken and Kourtney did not find any anomalies, Kourtney had one of the best dives of her life in front of White Cliffs.
I’m very grateful to both Ken and the Friends of the Park for having me down here for another 6-week archaeology internship. Although my internship is up, I will be on St. John until June and hope to volunteer and accompany the interns from time to time.

2011-08-05T16:40:00.005-04:00

Hey all,
I'm Megan. I'm from Wisconsin, and going to be getting my masters in Anthropology/Archaeology at UW Milwaukee. I just finished an internship here at VI Natl. Park, which lasted the month of June and was pretty much amazing. June was mosquito season on St. John (or do they swarm year-round? I'm skeptical that you could ever be mosquito free on the island), but despite that, I got to take part in some pretty interesting and unique projects, a summary of which follows:
Cinnamon Bay Reinternment
This project (for those who have not scrolled down further) is to reinter remains of those individuals that were enslaved here and have washed ashore. Since the topsoil on St. John is so rocky, most of these burials occurred on the beaches. Hurricanes and erosion, however, have played a large part in the unearthing some of these gravesites. The end result of this is that the park service has at least 30 individuals that have been eroded out.
The community members of St. John decided that the current site on Cinnamon Bay (right behind the lab) would be the best place to reinter these remains. There is, however, a lot of archaeology already in the spot; this is where the archaeology interns come in. Because the project has been ongoing, we started excavation 70 cm below ground surface. In one 10 cm level, we found numerous pot sherds, lithics, and marine shells dating to the Taino culture on the island roughly 1000 BP.
Hassel Island:
Hassel Island is on the south side of St. Thomas and home to a number of historic ruins. The ones I got to see were the old army barracks at the top of the main hill, and Creque Marine Railway; Creque Marine is the site of the longest running steam powered marine railway in the world.
The park service is putting a trail in on Hassel, and our job was to find the barracks that would be by the trail. We bushwhacked our way through cactus, thorny vines, Christmas bush (a relative of poison ivy) and wild pineapple (also thorny) to enter in the GPS coordinates of the ruins. Once that was accomplished, we set out to enter in more coordinates of the path. Later, heavy machinery would use the coordinates we entered to clear the path and take out the vegetation that proved to be more than a match for our machetes.

Mapping:
There are a number of plantation ruins on St. John, and the park service needs to map them. This is so it knows what condition they are in and what types of buildings they consist of. This was probably the most fun project because we got to hike through the woods and find the ruins we needed to map that day. Mapping the site would take a few hours, even with the handy laser measurer; there were just so many components. At one site, there were at least 10 structures: an animal mill (to mill sugarcane), the sugar factory, a retaining wall, an ox pen, a bake oven, a kitchen, a main house, and a few quarters for those enslaved here - plus all the unidentified structures that were mostly rubble.

All in all, it was a productive internship. I am so glad I got to experience what it's like to work on St. John, and I am especially grateful to the Friends of the Park, who made it possible for me to be there, and to Ken and Kourtney for letting me work with them.

2011-05-10T15:33:00.003-04:00

VIIS Cultural Resource Project Updates -- 5/10/2011. The following projects were made possible either in part or whole through funding provided by the Friends of the Park.

Heritage education station and archaeology laboratory -- The work to restore and prepare the Cinnamon Bay warehouse/great house for the new heritage education station and archaeology laboratory began April 26. The archaeology lab has moved out of the historic structure and into a freight container at Cinnamon Bay. The public may still find folks out there a few days a week working out of the container as the park continues to excavate and analyze and catalog artifacts.
Work to be completed before the exhibit cases are installed is extensive. The concrete floor will be taken out and all electrical wiring will be installed in a new lime floor for the museum cases and lab tables. The windows and doors will be replaced with 18th century period construction techniques using hardwood and hand forged hardware. The walls will be lime plastered where needed and lime washed. A new security system will be installed along with phone lines and internet for research. The contract also includes the construction of discovery drawers for education purposes and a 60 inch indoor / outdoor tv screen for educational presentations. Accessibility will be provided everyone as a concrete sidewalk and a ramp into the building will also be built.

Accessibility Trail -- Investigations and monitoring of the accessibility trail at the Cinnamon Bay factory area is complete. In the process the investigations documented several surface remains and features that have helped the park define the village for those that were enslaved at this plantation. Friend’s archaeology funds were used to remove the plywood over the doors and windows of one of the historic structures along the walk. Using the archaeological information derived from the work done for the trail and using the guidelines for historic restoration, the shutters, doors and hand forged hardware were restored as defined for 18th century construction.

Cinnamon Bay Reburial -- This year the completion of the excavation unit at Cinnamon Bay for the reburial of the human remains is a high priority. In the last 10 centimeters excavated, eye inlays for wooden zemi statues were recovered along with beads used to make a chiefdoms belt and a three pointed zemi stone. The park is also intent on analyzing and cataloging many of the prehistoric items from this site. So far this year we are averaging approximately a thousand objects a month.

Artifact Research -- Speaking of prehistoric stone artifacts last month her Majesty’s Master and Commander and one of our favourite Danish interns Casper Toftgaard joined us again with new discoveries from the Danish National Museum. Casper is researching stone axes in the Danish collections that were excavated from St. John and taken to Copenhagen. In so doing he has found a complete stone ball belt from here (the implications of which are very significant) and has also provided the park with excellent photographs of the ball court stones from St. Croix’s Salt River Bay site and many other artifacts from here and across the region.

We also hoisted another Caribbean lithic researcher, Professor Sebastiaan Knippenberg of Leiden University, Netherlands who is the leading expert studying island stone sources to determine where stone tools originate from within the Caribbean. Sebastiaan completed his field research here in November. His report will help us sort our stone tools and determine what island they came from.

From Left to Right -- Intern Savanna, Leiden University Researcher Sebastiaan, park archaeologist Kourtney, Danish History student coordinator in Denmark and former Danish intern Jonas, and Kourtney's sister Carol

Historic Structures Preservation Projects -- The project to stabilize historic ruins at Catherineberg and the factory area at Cinnamon Bay has begun. The work is being completed by a local mason contractor and monitored by cultural resource staff. The mortar used in these types of preservation / stabilization efforts is key to long term preservation efforts. Therefore, mortar sample analysis was completed for this project. Bedding mortar and wall capping will be completed with Type S lime mortar with white cement and sand. All visible work and work around soft historic brick will consist of Virginia Lime Works Natural Hydraulic Lime (NHL) 3.5 and sand in the ratio determined by the mortar analysis. Most of the work to be completed consists of pointing and wall capping. However, in consultation with the VI Historic Preservation Office it was decided that the factory at Catherineberg should be restored as the photographic record depicts. At Cinnamon Bay the graves and the one fallen stone entrance column will be restored. Work is currently underway at the Catherineberg factory.

Historic Sites Research through the International Internship Program -- Currently two Danish history students from the University of Copenhagen, Lasse Rodewald and Aske Stick are here to help the park locate historic 18th century sites along the coast of Reef Bay. The students have spent several months researching in the archives in Denmark. After their month stay here they will return to spend several more months researching and writing up what they have found in the field. So far they have located what they believe is Rift Parret’s house. Rift had a wife, five children and three enslaved workers when he died in 1739. We were hoping to involve the community in this project more but unfortunately the areas we have had to survey are very steep, covered in Christmas bush, wild pineapple and catch and keep. Therefore we have been somewhat reluctant to invite the public.

Left to Right - Danish intern Aske, Beloit College intern Dave, Danish intern Lasse and Museum studies intern Christel at the Rift Parret ruins.

Maritime Research Projects -- Two underwater survey projects continue as time and resources allow. One project aims to complete the park’s efforts to install moorings for large boats. To complete this installation requires 106 compliance that insures that no significant resources will be damaged as a result of this action. The first half of this project; a magnetometer survey of the proposed site areas has been completed. Currently, the anomalies are being mapped so that ground truthing can be undertaken.

The other project is being completed in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The goal of this project is to locate cultural resources and abandoned and illegal traps in the Coral Reef National Monument. The project started with the use of Navy self guiding side scan sonar torpedo shaped devices that located and scanned possible targets. Since the majority of the survey area was completed in over 100 to 130 feet of water it was determined to be too time consuming to dive on the large number of targets identified. As a result NOAA’s research vessel the Nancy Foster was brought down in March and we used an ROV to basically fly to and video record each target. Two possible wreck sites were identified for further ground truthing investigations, as were illegal fish traps in the park and the documentation of several lion fish at 110 feet.

Hassel Island -- Work continues on Hassel Island. This last month we completed surface data recovery for a portion of the new trail to the Officers Quarters. Our work will continue as we map out the route from the Officers Quarters to Cowell Battery and complete data recovery as required to complete 106 compliance.

2011-04-18T17:10:00.000-04:00

Hello all! My name is Crystal and for the past 3 months I have been interning at the Archaeology Lab/Museum at Cinnamon Bay. Unlike most of the other individuals who come down to work at Cinnamon, however, I was not an Archaeology intern but a Museum Studies intern. This meant that my days were spent in the lab cataloging and analyzing artifacts, although I was allowed to help with the excavation occurring behind the lab a few times, which was very educational. It was interesting to see how methodical all of the archaeology interns had to be while digging and mapping the unit, as well as to see all the artifacts that I later washed and cataloged in situ or in context with each other. While I have a BA in Anthropology and have taken a few archaeology classes, I never attended a field school so it was fun to see this aspect of the work. As I mentioned earlier, the majority of my time was spent cataloging and doing preliminary analysis of artifacts within the lab’s collections, the majority of which were from an excavation at Cinnamon Bay that took place from 1998-2000, at a site that is believed to have been a Taino ceremonial center. While this was technically my main responsibility, I also spent a good deal of time talking to everyone that came into the lab, explaining what we were doing and answering questions about the history and prehistory of St. John. The most interesting project I was given, however, was when I was asked to design mobile displays for the St. John’s Arts Festival, which took place at the end of February. Not only did this allow me to tap into my artsy/designer side, it meant that I got to handle our more impressive artifacts that are often kept in storage, as they are usually too delicate to be put on display, such as the Taino offering of closed bivalves that was removed in one piece from the 1998-2000 excavation at Cinnamon Bay, and the multiple miniscule shell beads that would be in danger of being lost if left on the display cases currently in the lab. Being able to work with these artifacts, especially the ceramics, also meant that I learned quite a bit about the chronology of the cultures that inhabited the island. It is one thing to read about how the effigies that adorned the offering vessels changed over the centuries from being very anthropomorphic, or human-like, in appearance, to having bat noses and headdresses. It is quite another to see it all in a case in front of you, and to have the effigies matched up with other ceramics from the time period. It was very sad day when I had to put all of the artifacts back into storage and return to simply describing them to the museum’s visitors. It is also very depressing that I had to leave before the renovations on the lab finished, but all internships must eventually come to an end. With any luck I will return to St. John in the near future and be able to see these artifacts on permanent display, telling the long, long story of the history of St. John.

2011-04-18T17:03:00.002-04:00

WINTER 2011 ARCHAEOLOGY HAPPENINGS

Hello my name is Rachel Applefield and I am a Cultural Anthropology major from the University of North Carolina Asheville and the newest intern. In the fall of 2011 I will be attending grad school to pursue Marine Archaeology with an emphasis on the historic period of the Caribbean and technologies associated with submergence archaeology. Given my interests, the opportunity to be able to come down to the Virgin Islands and intern with the National Park Service seemed fitting, not to mention exciting.

MAGNETOMETER SURVEY
During my first week I, along with NPS archaeologists Ken Wild, Kourtney Donohue and magnetometer specialist Tim Smith from Denver, traversed seven of the bays around St. John pulling and learning about the ways of a magnetometer which reads magnetic fields. NPS wants to put in moorings that can accommodate larger vessels; the magnetometer will help us locate anomalies that could be shipwrecks before putting the moorings in place. Now that the readings have been taken and the data compiled, Ken and Kourtney can dive and discover the nature and composition of these anomalies.

NEW PETROGLYPH FOUND
On January 21st I was able to accompany Ken as he led a group of volunteers on a petroglyph hunt after a mysterious black and white photo of a previously unknown petroglyph in the Reef Bay area was brought to Ken’s attention. Armed with a copy of the photo the group searched around the petroglyph pool ; it was finally discovered by a couple of archaeology enthusiasts, Sue and Darrell Borger from Racine, WI. After studying the rock fissures in the photograph, Sue Borger was able to recognize and locate the rock face with the ancient glyph. The geometric glyph which has been found in other parts of the Lesser Antilles but not within the Virgin Islands is thought to predate the classic Taino period and could serve as evidence to an earlier pre-Taino culture’s existence on the island.
*The picture below is the original and had been chalked. In order to help preserve them, petroglyphs should never be chalked.

THE INTERNS AND WHAT WE ARE DOING
Joining me down here are recent grads Steve Jankiewicz from University of Illinois, Dave Simpson from Beloit College and Crystal Williams of Wake Forest. These interns are coming in with anthropology backgrounds and experience in CRM work and museum studies.
Dave and Steve are working on doing historic analysis of artifacts removed when an accessibility trail to the Cinnamon Bay factory and great house was put in. Crystal along with local intern Chela Thomas are busy in the archaeology lab doing museum curation and cataloging. As for me, I will be compiling a list of the plantation ruins on NPS land that are accessible to the public and putting together a brief history pamphlet that will be made available to visitors of the lab.
In addition to this Dave, Steve, Kourtney and I have been busy excavating the unit behind the lab for the burial of human remains from a historic period cemetery that had washed out because of beach erosion. We have also begun to look for and document new sub-sites at the L’Esperance plantation ruins.
Check back for more later!

2011-02-17T12:09:00.000-04:00

As a part of our internship last semester, we had the wonderful opportunity to go to St. John. Out area of interest was the East End of the island, an area that we began to focus on in the archives in Copenhagen prior to our departure. The moist and hot air that “welcomed” us on our arrival the 21 of March would take some time to get used to, but we were soon acclimatized and heading into the jungle searching for potsherds and ruins. We made several trips out from our camp in Cinnamon Bay to the East End, accompanied by NPS Archaeologist Ken Wild, and at times other interns from the US Mainland. One of our earlier trips was to the ruins of Halover, an estate that had drawn our attention in the archives. According to the material found in the archives, this was one of the larger estates in the area which had up till 40 enslaved workers in the early nineteenth century. This, however, did not fit with the archeological findings at the site, which indicated that the site had most likely been abandoned in the 1790s. Later on, back in the archives, we found evidence, which combined with the archeological studies, suggested that the estate had moved to Turners Point, probably in the 1790s. This new piece of information would not have been possible to put together without the combination of archeological field work and archival studies. The trips out into the wilderness of the East End, the hours spend working with the American interns, as well as enjoying the free time with them, and the beautiful island itself, are just some of the fond memories that we have from our time on St. John.
- Signe Haubroe Flygare & Stig Søndergaard Rasmussen.

2010-2011 Projects

2010-10-26T10:18:00.005-04:00

Hi I’m Kourtney, I’ve been an archaeology intern with the park in the past and now I’m back, working through the Friends while awaiting my background check to clear so that I can become an official NPS archaeology employee…hoping any college loan defaults don’t affect my clearance :)

For interested interns that have not been to Cinnamon Bay below is a photo of the Lab at Cinnamon and we have attached a link to the Intern Survival Guide in the side bar.

I rushed back to the islands this September to assist in salvaging the resources threatened by the hurricanes this season. Our most crucial project involved addressing the beach erosion at Cinnamon Bay. Following Hurricane Earl, the erosion exposed a burial on the beach at Cinnamon. The skeleton was articulated and almost complete, excluding the cranium. Based on the elements present, the burial contained the remains of one young adult female. The burial was exhumed and will remain in a safe location until the forthcoming reinterment.

We are aware of the historic cemetery that has been inundated by the sea at Cinnamon Bay. However, this burial does not appear to be associated with that cemetery. Instead, the burial was located beneath a house structure, one that was most likely burnt down during the St. John Slave Revolt of 1733. We plan on mapping the area to confirm this but cannot do so until we first try to minimize the affects of the erosion. Our first plan of action involves applying matting and sandbags to the edge of the archaeological sites that are eroding. Following this, we are planning to reopen the Cinnamon Bay Prehistoric Site in order to salvage the archaeology in case of complete inundation.

We are now without our very valuable intern Chela :( who is gone until February. We are actively recruiting interns to help us with all the ongoing projects such as underwater surveys, excavation of units, site condition assessments, artifact analysis, and cataloging. Below is a more concise list of the current ongoing projects we are working on.

TYPE - PROJECT - DESCRIPTION

VIIS-352 - CINNAMON BAY ACCESSIBILITY TRAIL - Monitor construction of accessibility trail through the Cinnamon Bay Sugar Factory ruins. Complete archeological data recovery, analysis, cataloging and report.

FRIENDS - Install Historic Shutters and Doors - Contract and provide architectural info and oversee installation of replicated historic doors, blacksmith hardware and shutters on two historic structures at Mary Creek and a Cinnamon factory ruin

VIIS-351 - CINNAMON BAY EROSION STABILIZATION - Stabilize and salvage material from the coastal archaeological sites that are threatened at Cinnamon Bay following hurricane season.

VIIS-191- CINNAMON BAY PREHISTORIC SITE - Ongoing analysis and cataloging of artifacts from the excavations of the Pre-Columbian site at Cinnamon Bay.

SEC. 106 - CINNAMON BAY EMERGENCY EXCAVATION -Emergency salvage excavation of the Pre-Columbian ceremonial site at Cinnamon Bay, following its endangerment due to the 2010 hurricane season.

VIIS-339 - CINNAMON BAY REINTERMENT - Complete excavation of a unit at Cinnamon Bay that will later become the reburial plot for the assemblage of human skeletal remains that were disturbed from the historic cemetery on the beach.

PMIS/FRIENDS - CINNAMON BAY CONTACT STATION - Develop interpretive heritage exhibits at the Cinnamon Bay archaeology lab. Monitor the restoration of the structure and oversee the construction of the display exhibit cases.

SCA - HASSEL ISLAND INTERPRETATION TRAIL - Supervise Creque Cultural Landscape survey carried out by SCA. (STT Historical Trust)

FRIENDS/ Education - CREQUE SIGNS - Complete development of 5 Interpretive Signs for Creque Marine and have them installed

FMSS/PMIS - HASSEL ISLAND ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET STABILIZATION - Monitor the stabilization and construction of the ruins at the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.

FMSS/PMIS - HASSEL ISLAND CREQUE MARINE DOCK - Monitor the construction of a safe dock and assure this is done as historically accurate as possible.

ASMIS/FMSS - RESEARCH HASSEL ISLAND BARRACKS STUDY - Review research by Charles Consolvo and enter data into site files, FMSS and ASMIS

FRIENDS/STT - HIST TRUST HASSEL ISLAND METAL CONSERVATION - Oversee conservation of the historic metal material recovered from surveys carried out at Hassel Island.

FRIENDS/Education - PREHISTORIC CERAMIC REPLICAS - Consult with pottery Gail Van der Bogart to replicate prehistoric ceramics for the Contact Station at Cinnamon Bay.

COST SHARE GRANT - VIRTUAL PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL RESOURCES - Oversee the University of Maine Engineer Students while digitally mapping the ruins at Cinnamon Bay in order to virtually preserve them.

SEC. 106 FRIENDS/FMSS - VEGETATION REMOVAL FROM HISTORIC SITES - Monitor volunteer coordinator Jeff Chabot and volunteers while undergoing clearing of historic sites in the park. Complete surface collection and measure ruins for FMSS

VIP/ASMIS - MAPPING HISTORIC RUINS: ANN HERSH - Assist in mapping ruins with volunteer architect at Turner site.

SEC. 110/ASMIS/FRIENDS - DANISH INTERN PROJECT: 2011 - Guide Danish interns from the University of Copenhagen through survey, data recovery, analysis in conjunction with their historic background research and report.

FRIENDS/Education - ARCHAEOLOGY INTERN PROJECT 2010 - Train archaeology students in the NPS CRM standards and procedures.

FRIENDS/Intern research - ST JOHN LITHIC STUDY 2010 - Assist in two projects led by a Danish and Dutch students researching prehistoric lithics for the park. (Casper and Sebastian) Data will result in required analysis for report purposes

FMSS/PMIS - MAHO PARKING LOT - Monitor construction of parking lot at Maho Bay.

SEC. 110 - NOAA/Navy UNDERWATER SURVEY - Survey with NOAA using self guiding UW sidescan vehicles to locate submerged resources and complete UW compliance.10/4-15. Underwater anomalies survey ongoing

SEC. 110/SEC. 106 - PAQUERAU SALVAGE - Site is threatened and never recorded. Must clear vegetation, complete archaeological data recovery survey, map assess condition and complete analysis, cataloging and report.

SEC. 110/SEC. 106 - HOPE SALVAGE Site - is threatened and never recorded. Must clear vegetation, complete archaeological data recovery survey, map, assess condition and complete analysis, cataloging and report.

SEC. 110/SEC. 106 - VESSUP SALVAGE - Site is threatened and never recorded. Must clear vegetation, complete archaeological data recovery survey, map assess condition and complete analysis, cataloging and report.

SEC. 110/SEC. 106 - BORDEAUX WEST - Site is threatened and never recorded. Must clear vegetation, complete archaeological data recovery survey, map, assess condition and complete analysis, cataloging and report.

SEC. 110/SEC. 106 - Survey - 200+ acre donation never surveyed for Cultural Resources area has largest plantation on the island BEVERHOUDTSBERG This year complete phase 1 survey of area to include location of major structural remains and archaeological sites.

SEC. 110/SEC. 106 - Drier, Sullivan and Constantine Estate Surveys - Follow up on pedestrian survey. Map structures and test integrity of sites for ASMIS.

SEC. 106 - MAGNETOMETER SURVEY FOR DEEPWATER MOORINGS - Survey for impacts of CR due to the deepwater mooring replacements in compliance with Section 106. Jan 9-16, 2011. Complete anomalies survey after magnetometer survey

FRIENDS/EDUCATION - PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC VIDEO TIMELINE - Compiling archaeological data to create a video timeline of St. John. Produced by Bill Steltzer and Ken Wild

Dissemination of Scientific findings - Present findings as required for publication and peer review - Present scientific findings at the International Congress for Caribbean Archaeology for publication

2010-08-13T16:14:00.002-04:00

Hey folks my name is Kelsi Lindquist and I’ve been interning here on St. John for the last few months. I first came in contact with the NPS and friends a couple summers ago while I was living on St. Thomas. I met Ken and volunteered with him as he was beginning an excavation at Maho Bay. That experience really opened my mind to archaeology and from then on I geared my education and life toward anthropology. Now I am an anthropology major at Brigham Young University in Provo where I’m studying both cultural anthropology and archaeology. I’ve stayed in touch with Ken who generously offered me an internship this summer and so here I am.

On this internship, I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on an actual archaeological excavation and have had the unique opportunity to work with and learn from professional archaeologists. The Cinnamon Bay Lift Station project was already underway when I arrived but what I may have missed was made up for with the wide array of experiences during the following three months. From troweling to mapping to dry screening to water screening ankle deep in mud (see picture) to bailing hundreds of gallons of rain water out of the unit to chasing tarantulas, massive crabs and other jungle creatures out of the unit to washing artifacts to analyzing artifacts to cataloguing artifacts to painting numbers on artifacts to a number of other odd tasks.

As we explained to visitors multiple times every day, the reason we were digging there at Cinnamon was to preserve the cultural remains that had been deposited there that would have otherwise been destroyed by the construction of the new lift station. And by doing that I’ve gained a greater appreciation and respect for those people, whether from the Taino or colonial period, who lived on the island so many years ago. I’ve had the opportunity to observe their handiwork on celts, beads and ceramics. It’s been exciting to try and determine the thought processes and behavior of those people. All in all this initial experience of working as an archaeologist has really given me an appetite for a wider understanding of people and their culture. A big thanks to Ken, Karl, Bob, Jason, Kourtney, Matt, Chela and Marlise who all taught me so much in the field and put up with my lack of experience. Thank you!

2010-05-24T15:32:00.003-04:00

Marlise’s Blog May
It’s hard for me to believe that I have already been working here for 5 months. I started as an archaeology intern here in mid-January after leaving the snow back home in Colorado. After a couple of months of living in the tents at Cinnamon, I finally got used to the cold showers and cooking on a gas burner. I would fall asleep to the sound of waves at night and wake up to lizards scurrying up the walls in the morning.
Moving here and working with Caribbean archaeology was very different than the south western archaeology I was familiar with. I had been working for an archaeology firm in western Colorado doing artifact drawings, graphic design and a variety of lab work. My first weeks down here were spent reading and learning about the history of the Virgin Islands.

Marlise in the excavation unit at Cinnamon

I have been impressed learning about the richness of the Taino culture. The artwork they created was rich in symbolic and religious meaning. The artifacts collected during archaeological excavations here on St. John include stone carvings and shell beads, ceramics adorned with human-like sculptures , as well as historic European artifacts People have been living on St. John for over 3000 years, with a history spanning from prehistoric peoples, European conquest and slave trade to cruise ships and tourism.¬¬
One of the things the interns have been doing here is giving archaeology talks at Maho resort. I watched the presentation a couple of times as the previous interns gave the talk and then gave the talk myself. People seem to really enjoy learning about the place they are visiting and the audience had lots of interesting questions. The most common question seems to be, however, “Why do they drive on the left-side of the road here?” No one really knows for sure, but the close proximity of the British Virgin Islands seems to be the origin. Talking with visitors about the work we are doing here is a big part of our job. Visitors come into the lab on the beach and look around or talk to us while we’re excavating and we’re able to answer people’s questions about the history of the island.
These last few months have been full of many different projects. We have mapped and took GPS points of plantation ruins on the steep hillsides of the island, continued working on the excavation behind the archaeology lab, and gone over to Hassel island for projects and talks. In April a new excavation at Cinnamon started and a crew was hired for the project. Matt, the other intern and I, were on the crew so we moved into housing with the crew chief. We also undertook the Danish International internship program during the month. We had three Danish students, Signe and Stig were our history students here to discover ruins they found in the archives. Casper was here to pursue his research on the prehistoric lithic (stone tools) of the island and how they compare to those in the collections in Denmark. I got to go out with the history students into the bush to help them locate three new plantations that are some of the first to be settled and abandoned on the island. As of this post I am working on developing the first interpretive signs for Hassel Island about the historic Creque Marine Railway.

2010-05-03T12:58:00.003-04:00

Karson Winslow, 2010 Intern
A gentleman asked me the other day why I was interning with the National Park Service on St John. He thought that with the bad economy, that had to be the reason why I didn’t have a “real job.” Either that or I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I responded with the exact opposite. I know exactly what I want to do in my life and right now, this is it. I joined on as an intern and volunteer because I purely have a desire to be in the field of archaeology. In the field now for a little over five years, I have had the ability to work in some really great places and with very knowledgeable and amazing people. This destination has been no exception.
I went to school in California and attended UC Santa Cruz, receiving a BA in Anthropology (2005). I continued with my education and moved to South Australia to attend Flinders University for graduate studies focusing in Maritime Archaeology (2007). After University, working in a number of places including Tasmania, St. Augustine, Florida, Galveston, Texas and terrestrial work throughout California, I decided to focus on a region I believed would most apply to my studies and experiences.
Being an archaeologist, the system is similar and relatively universal in the different locations where one works, but each individual area brings its own cultural identity. For this reason I choose to explore the past as well as explore these unique entities most people might not even know exist.
For now, I will only be on St. John for a short while, though I intend to return and continue working and volunteering on island in the near future. With the Caribbean being such a “Colonial Melting Pot” if you will, with so many European powers utilizing these waters and these islands, there is a very important history here that belongs to all of these nations, including those who inhabited the islands before.
Days are spent at Cinnamon Bay working in the Archaeology Lab. Work out there consists of informing visitors about the history of the area and explaining the purpose and focus of the work we do. We are also working on cataloguing artifacts from the excavation at Cinnamon Bay that was completed at the Ceremonial grounds of the site, as well as washing and sorting artifacts from a current re-burial project the VINP is presently undertaking. If not in the lab, we are in the field recording the remains of known sites on and around the island or gathering historic data on field artifacts. Such as recording the exact measurements of the one surviving historic marine iron bollard at Creque Marine so that identical ones can be reproduced as part of a park funded project that is aimed at providing safe docking for visitors while maintaining the historic scene.
I would just like to say a quick thank you to the supporters and Friends of the National Parks, without whom it would not be possible for the interns and myself to be here. I very much appreciate the support and generous donations towards the park.
Karson Winslow

Ken giving an educational tour to a St Thomas school group at Creque Marine. While we interns recorded artifact data.

Marlise recording Bollard data for reproduction.

Hassel Island Day Trips

2010-03-03T11:29:00.004-04:00

As of right now, a project is taking place on Hassel Island, just off of the island of St Thomas. The small island has had many uses over the years and numerous structures and features remain visible today. Currently the interns are partaking in recording officer barracks, long houses and other structures located there. This involves taking measurements of the in situ structures and noting any artifacts located on the surrounding surface. These structures in particular, all that is left at the surface are parts of the side walls and staircase. The dimensions are taken and recorded; orientation of the building is noted and any other important details that might reveal pertinent information to the location.

A group of volunteers, including Volunteer Coordinator Jeff Chabot, National Park employees, Thomas Kelley, Ken Wild, Lauran Riser and interns Marlise Reed and Karson Winslow rounded out the team of jungle cutters going to clear paths to the archaeological sites in question. With machetes and loppers in hand a trail was blazed through the lethal Christmas Bush, Cacti and other thorny flora. Did I mention that the sites were also located on the top of the hill? We really appreciate the great help of the volunteers who came out with smiles and packed lunches to spend the beautiful day clearing bush for the archaeology to happen.

We had some time to record a Leprosarium with a cistern attached.

The majority of the day was used clearing bush, which gave little time for recording. We plan to return to the site for more recording in the future.

The next visit was done in conjunction with a day trip kayaking company ran out of St Thomas bringing a group of roughly 20 visitors. Ken Wild conducted a great four hour tour of the island starting at Creque Marine Slipway, the oldest and largest known steam powered marine railway of its time. It was built by the Danish in 1840 and many of the parts are located on site today.
This day didn’t involve fieldwork by the archeologists, but functioned as great tool to learn more about the history of the area.

The last trip out to Hassel, we met up with a group of Army National Guard men and women, who are based in St. Croix; all having served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Ken gave them a tour while Karson and Matt recorded historic slipway features. These features were recorded in part to historically recreate the slipway authentically. Thank you very much to the St. Croix group for a great day!!

2009-11-12T10:02:00.001-04:00

My name is Eric Vane and I am a newly arrived archaeology intern courtesy of the Friends of the National Park Service. I graduated from Beloit College in the great state of Wisconsin (which was experiencing 35 degree weather when I left) with a B.A. in Anthropology. After spending a summer walking cornfields for an archaeological firm in northern Illinois I am more than excited to escape to warmer climes and tropical jungles.
This is my second stint on St. John with Ken Wild, and The Friends of the National Park Service. My first experience lasted three weeks from May to June of 2008 predominantly on Hassel Island. I assisted with the surface collection of the Leprosarium/ Yellow Fever Hospital, and helped process the artifacts. I also worked with several Danish students who were exploring the history of Hassel Island by using the archives on St. Thomas, and St. John.
So far my six days back on St. John have seemed like a vacation in comparison to last year. Instead of hard cots and platform tents at Cinnamon Bay we have fans, electricity, and… gasp… real mattresses at Maho Bay. Instead hacking through dense jungles of thorny plants, and poisonous brush we have been in padded chairs in air conditioned labs; we know this will end soon. Despite the air conditioning we have all been eager to get into the field, and so today we went to investigate a reported gear/ship wreck off Henley Cay on the South western side of St. John. After setting anchor Katherine, Margaret and I snorkelled along the coastline until we encountered the reported “gear”, which turned out to be an old airplane engine. While Ken was diving the site and recording the find we also found some additional wreckage including what we anticipate is the plane’s wing and the wreckage of a sailboat they may have crashed into the island and sunk during one of the many hurricanes that have hit the islands in the last few decades.
Margaret and I are getting ready to move into the Cinnamon Bay campground on November first, so we shall enjoy our last few days with the fans at Maho. We have opened up the Cinnamon Bay lab, cleaned it out, and spent a couple days there this week washing ceramics from the Cinnamon Bay excavation. We also reopened an old excavation unit nearby, which has lain dormant since 2007 with the exception of a colony of biting ants whom were busy doing their own excavation. Only one 10 centimeter level has been excavated here and already a Danish coin, the smallest Taino shell bead to date and an eye inlay for a Taino wooden Zemi statue. This unit is being excavated for the reburial of the human remains that have eroded from the shoreline at Cinnamon Bay. This excavation will be stopped again for a short time as we once again travel to Hassel Island. This time we will be monitoring the removal of a very old dump at Careening Cove. There is no telling what we may encounter as the cove has been used for centuries.
Unfortunately today is Chela’s last day of work, and we will hate to see her go. Other than that I am excited to be back in the Virgin Islands, and am having a great time.

-Eric Vane-

2009-09-24T12:38:00.002-04:00

My name is Chela Thomas and I have been working for the National Park Service for a few months now. In this time, I have been trained in the preservation of artifacts from various places on St. John and from an old Yellow Fever hospital and Leprosarium on Hassel Island. My appointed tasks included making bags and tags for the artifacts as well as washing them at times. I am able to catalog the artifacts and verify that everything from the site that I was working with is accounted for and included in the reports.

I grew up on St. John and I recently graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. I have been travelling between St. John and St. Thomas for as long as I can remember, so being able to work with the different artifacts has opened my eyes to the way things were. This is my second summer assisting with artifact preservation and I have come to enjoy it very much. My duties last summer included cataloging the historic photographs and some of the same things as now.

While working on the artifacts form the Leprosarium, I took a particular interest in the bottles fragments. I wanted to know what different types of bottles were used for and how they were made. I learned that most of the bottles I had encountered were used for medicine or alcohol. As I cataloged artifacts from other sites, my interest grew from just bottles to glass in general. I wanted to know how the different types of glass got their distinct colors. My interest in glass got me into trying to analyze different types of finishes and trying to guess what the bottles would have been used for. While most glass is undiagnostic, there are some bottles and maker’s marks that have specific date ranges attached to them.

In addition to glass, I recently have gained an interest in different types of ceramics including porcelain and shell edged wares. The variety they contain is amazing. Each pattern has a different date range but they tend to overlap in certain cases. Some of these ceramics are still in production today and even though they are mass produced, they look the same as they did when they were first being made.

Finally, due to my background in science, I was asked to assist Susanna in the conservation of archeological metals. This involves the use of chemical indicators and titration to determine the level of chlorides still present in the metals. We are trying to look at the chloride levels on a monthly basis and just received funding to improve our conservation set-up with new tanks and more sodium carbonate.

On the whole, I feel that my experience here has deepened my appreciation for the islands and I hope that I can continue my work here.

Hello from Margaret!

2009-09-11T11:49:00.004-04:00

Hello Everyone! I’m Margaret McWhorter, one of the new archaeology interns. I’m from South Carolina and graduated from the University of South Carolina (the real USC) this past December with my bachelors in Anthropology and Russian. My main focus in school was prehistoric archaeology and I am so excited about St. John’s prehistoric offerings. Today is my second day here and I am already getting exposed to lots of different areas of National Park Service life. This morning we had a large meeting with the National Park Service regional directors and other regional bigwigs. Later on today Ken, Kathryn, Lauran and I are going out to Trunk Bay to survey the ruins of the former manager’s house. Everyone has been so warm and welcoming; I couldn’t be happier to be down here working in such a beautiful place. I really want to thank the Friends for making this possible.

"More Than Science"

2009-06-25T13:46:00.020-04:00

By: THE 2009 DANISH INTERNS

Imagine coming from a neat, cold little country, where there is no wild nature what so ever and where each science and each university department live their separate lives in a public funded coziness. When you live in a place like that and you go abroad to do scientific research in the U.S. Virgin Islands, it is not only the science itself which will be a challenge.

In May 2009 we were a group of five students from the Saxo-Institute University of Copenhagen (history, archaeology and ethnology), who became interns for the National Park Service (NPS) program on St. John. The purpose of the trip was to solve the mysteries of the eighteenth century plantations on the Northeastern part of the island. A trip that not only gave a much better impression of the living conditions at the plantations, but also loads of tropical experiences.

We already started out in February by tracing and studying old archival material regarding the eighteenth century plantations on St. John in Copenhagen. When the Danes left the West Indies in 1917, they took most of the archival material with them home to Copenhagen. Furthermore, much of the archival material is written in Danish, so cooperation between N.P.S. and University of Copenhagen was obviously beneficial for all.

After three months of archival studies and preparations in general, we went to St. John to investigate our archaeological project area. Together with NPS archaeologist Ken Wild, we explored the rough landscape around Brown Bay and the East End.

The hills on St. John are a rocky and steep climb in an unfriendly jungle; that is if you come from the flat and cultivated Denmark. So, we did not only face tremendous academic challenges but also physical ones. The bugs, the heat, the vegetation and the landscape were all hard but very giving and fun experiences that helped to expand our views of fieldwork.

Thanks to the competent leadership of Ken Wild, we all managed to make it through and find many of the plantations described in the written sources for example: an old Danish document describes a main house situated on the hillside west of the bay at Brown Bay. This source led us to an undiscovered ruin with artifacts dating from the eighteenth century. In general through the dating of the artifacts we found at the plantations, which were mainly potsherds, it was possible to some extent to decide when the plantations were inhabited. The fieldwork and the archival research will be joined together in several reports, which will contain our final findings from the internship.

It is our hope that people in future will be able not only to visit the ruins but also to learn about the people who actually lived there. There is still more work to be done, but we are glad to have been a part of it.

We are very thankful to the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park, Ken Wild and the National Park Service who made this great experience possible.

Hi, Lauran here again. I finished my Master's thesis and graduated and was able to make it back to St. John in time to experience the last week of the Danes' internship!! To re-cap, while the Danes were here, 7 new plantation sites were found including 2 new sites that we stumbled upon while looking for another plantation!! So, lots of excitement, but this means we have a lot of work to do! I'll be heading into the lab this week and next week to finish analyzing the rest of the artifacts from these sites so I can get the Danes the artifact date ranges to go in their reports. Don't forget to stay tuned this summer for our next adventure in archaeology!

2009-05-18T11:42:00.000-04:00

Hey all! Katie here; unfortunately, writing for the last time. My time on St. John has come to an end. I’m headed back to the Midwest to continue work, look into several graduate school opportunities and in June I’ll be headed back to the Middle East to continue work at an archaeological site I worked on last summer. These past months I’ve had an incredible time doing archaeology with the National Park on St. John! I’ll miss it; but most of all, I’ll miss the people I’ve met and worked with during my stay. Ken, Rafe, Susanna, Jeff, everyone at the biosphere, the volunteers and everyone at the Friends of the VI National Park office, thank you just doesn’t cover my gratitude. I owe you all for giving me this spectacular opportunity. I’ve learned and experienced so much; from metal conservation and operating fickle Trimble GPS equipment, to report writing and making a tent home. Thanks for the memories everyone!

From Vibe and Andreas on making the Hassel Island Report

2009-03-19T16:52:00.005-04:00

Hassel Island 1688 – 1801
An unusual Plantation

Prepared for the National Park Service, US Virgin Islands
Andreas Latif & Vibe Maria Martens, University of Copenhagen

1. The making of the report
2. How it was to read ”the obsolete language” of gothic Danish hand writing:
i.e. Mr “Hot king son”
3. What was the most extraordinary thing about researching in the archives
4. The most difficult thing about writing the report
5. What we think about the outcome of the research

1.) When we started writing our report back in February 2008, the general plot of the report was actually already in place. One month early Vibe and I were presented with the proposal that we could write the early history of Hassel Island, which meant everything as far back possible before the first British invasion in 1801. We knew from looking at the old maps and photos, that Hassel Island would be a somehow tropic and very Caribbean experience. However, Hassel Island would prove to be a different encounter, then that we had in the beginning of the process, where we were merely looking at photos and maps of the island. Together with Ken Wild and Niklas Thode Jensen we decided to focus on writing the story of early life on Hassel Island, a story stretching from 1688 to 1801, the starting point determined by which sources was available in the National Archives. Back then one should remember that Hassel Island was an isthmus or peninsula; first in the 1860s did it become the island that we know today. What we wanted to achieve with our report was to uncover who and why people lived on Hassel Island. A task that was as amusing as it was difficult.
2.) From February 2008 to the start of May 2008 we spent nearly every day in the Danish National Archives searching for owners of the Hassel Island plantation. Sitting in the archive amongst all the old boxes with documents that have not been opened for centuries makes you feel rather humble, but also privileged. The worst thing about being at the archive is that you use the first 3 weeks to learn the difficulties of the gothic style hand writing. However, once you have cracked the code it is a great achievement to have accomplished. One of the funniest memories from the archives was when we stumbled across a guy from the 1730s called Mr.“Hot king son”. One thing you have to remember when you are sitting in the archives is to be very quiet - but when we when found this guy “Hot king son” we were in fits. This Mr. “Hotkingson” was probably a Mr. Hutchinson, but because the Danish clerks were Danish (obviously) and because there were no tradition of “correct spelling” as we know it today; as well as the clerks probably had difficulties pronouncing the “tch” in Hutchinson, the name was spelt in this rather amusing way. Mr. Hutchinson became a Mr. Hotkingson.
3.) The most extraordinary thing about being in the archives was when we struck gold, for example when we discovered one of the owners had been murdered on Hassel Island, and subsequently were able to uncover the police report and the document listing the administration of the estate. Sitting day in and day out without making significant progress can be quite demanding. But then, when you least expect it, the information you were hoping for will show up, and that is a wonderful feeling, when you can tie up loose ends and uncover new histories.
4.) Looking back at the process the most difficult phase of the writing process was combining the archaeological findings on Hassel Island with the archival findings from Copenhagen. We were not certain at any point in the writing process whether the archaeological part and the archival parts finds respectively would support one another. Yet another aspect in writing the report was the fear of writing something uninteresting and irrelevant. However, when we got back from the U.S. Virgin Islands and read the report again, it wasn’t half bad; so that was a nice surprise.
5.) The outcome of this project between National Park Service and Copenhagen University is a 100 page long report which contains the early history of Hassel Island. We are quite happy about the result of our report. We have been very pleased with this opportunity to really study in depth and it has been a great experience being in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Last of all, is that it has been a great pleasure working with Ken, Niklas and all the other lovely people we have met in connection with this internship.

Volunteers help clear Sieban and L'Esperance Ruins

2009-03-13T15:16:00.000-04:00

St. John's Lone Baobab Tree, Sieban Plantation Ruins.

Hey everyone! Katie again, just wanting to get everyone up to date with what has been happening in the archaeological world here on St. John. Sadly, Jen recently returned stateside to continue working for the University of Iowa and Lauran has left as well to finish her Master’s thesis. Everyone here at the Biosphere misses them both already! However, our new archaeology intern, Andrew, is here! He’s another Midwesterner, like me, and is thrilled to be working with the National Park Service doing archaeology on St. John.

Since the last blog entry in mid-January, work has been moving along at an inland historic plantation site known as Sieben. With the help of National Park volunteers clearing brush from the surviving structures, we’ve been able to complete our surface collection and map all artifacts using our GPS unit that gives us up to 10 centimeter accuracy if the vegetation is reduced. We must recover this surface material now that visitors have been directed through the ruins by a new trail. It is important that we get the artifacts where they were left historically. This information can tell us so much about the site like how old certain sections and buildings are, different activity areas and about the people who lived and died here. So please if you see an artifact leave it and let us know. We have recovered a wide variety of interesting historic ceramics that were produced throughout Europe, also bottles, and even a large iron cooking pot that could be from the early 1700s. Some of the household ceramics that we’ve collected are datable to the early 18th century up until the mid-20th century.

Lauran, Jen, Katie and Ken, after a surface collection at Sieban.

Land list records indicate that Johann Hienrick Sieben owned the land and built his plantation in 1718, making Sieben plantation one of the earliest on St. John. So far, artifacts collected from the surface number over one thousand and we’re not done yet. Lauran’s knowledge about historic ceramics is impressively extensive and over the past few weeks, she’s been teaching me all she knows about analyzing the historic ceramics that have come from Sieben. On a side note, one of the fantastic natural features present at the site is the African Baobab tree. Growing along the edge of the ridge overlooking Reef Bay, it is only one of its kind still present on the island.

A big thank you needs to be given to all the folks who have volunteered their time helping us clear and cut brush from the ruins over the past few weeks. We really couldn’t have done all that’s been accomplished with out you.

Jeff Chabot and his crew of hard working volunteers, on the Grand Staircase at Seiban.

Speaking of volunteers, Lauran, Jen, and I had a potential archaeologist helping us wash the artifacts from Sieben at the Cinnamon Bay lab. Thanks for your help Tralyn!

Clearing began last week at L'Esperance, another plantation located in the same valley, from the same time, but just north of Sieben. We’ll keep everyone up to date with what is happening and what we find out about this plantation in the coming weeks.

L'Esperance Ruins

Lauran's Farewell

2009-03-03T10:33:00.005-04:00

Hi, again! It’s Lauran. Well, I’m very sad to say that this will be my last blog entry…for a while at least. I’m heading back to South Carolina to finish my Master’s thesis, then preparing to go to West Africa for Peace Corps. I cannot even say how much I’ll miss St. John, especially doing archaeology here! I’ve been so lucky to work with such great people here; Ken, Susanna, Katie, Jen, all of the park employees at the biosphere, Jeff and all the wonderful Tuesday/Thursday volunteers. The volunteers have really helped us get the plantation ruins cleared so that we can do the archaeology and GPS the structures. This has been a dream opportunity for me to do archaeology here because the island has so much history and many well preserved sites! I’m going to miss working with everyone and I’m really going to miss the island! I want to thank Ken Wild for giving me the opportunity to work here and I want to thank the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park for their support!! I hope to come back soon!!

Hello everyone!

2009-01-09T16:58:00.022-04:00

Hello everyone! This is Jennifer and Katie, the newest interns here at Cinnamon Bay for the National Park Service. We’re both from the Midwest (Iowa and Missouri respectively) and are just grateful for this amazing opportunity to get away from the ice and snow for awhile! We’ve been here for about 3 weeks and we’re already learning so much about the history of St. John and life on the island. The people here have been incredibly accommodating and have all done so much for us during the process of settling into our new home. Working at the archaeology lab/interpretive center at Cinnamon Bay has helped us to really understand more about the variety of people and cultures before us who have called this island home.
Most of the work has involved analyzing artifacts at the Cinnamon Bay lab, recovered from various historic colonial sites around St. John, and informing the visitors to the area about the island's history. We’ve enjoyed meeting everyone that has come to visit us at the lab. A few days ago, we were thrilled to have our first lesson using GPS equipment to record the locations of multiple artifacts at a particular site. We were conducting a ground survey to look for sites on a newly acquired area for the National Park Service and found some interesting archaic artifacts. Jen found her first flake!

Before and AFter images of the RMSPC Clean Up

Last week we had the opportunity to tour the archaeological sites of Hassel Island and witness the clean-up of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. Just recently we’ve been learning about the NPS’s artifact cataloguing system and all the work that goes into recording a site. While in the lab a few days ago, we put together a wonderful display of the different types of historic ceramics that are found on the island. This display will be used as a demonstration piece for talks given about the historic occupation of St. John.

So much has happened within the last week that we’re sure to be busy for awhile! In fact, today we were able to help move a swivel cannon to the archaeological lab at Cinnamon Bay. There it will begin the restoration process that we will conduct and monitor for the next few months. This is an extremly exciting opportunity for us and we’ll keep you posted on how things are going!

Jen and Katie

Season's Greetings from Two New Interns

2008-12-16T16:48:00.011-04:00

Hello! I’d like to reintroduce myself. I’m Mick Wigal and you might remember me from way back at the beginning of this blog. I helped start this blog when I was an intern several years ago. Since then I went off and received my Masters Degree in Anthropology from The University of South Carolina and now I’m back to intern for awhile before my next adventure, the Peace Corps. And with me came a new intern.

Hi, everyone! I’d like to introduce myself. I’m the new intern, Lauran Riser and I am so excited to be doing archaeology down here in St. John! I received my undergraduate degree in Anthropology in 2004 from the College of Charleston and am currently finishing my M.A. in Anthropology at The University of South Carolina. Like Mick, I’ll be interning here for a couple of months before I go off to West Africa for the Peace Corps!

In archaeology news, Mick and I have been working on a project at Big Maho Bay that commenced in June of this year. The land has recently been acquired by The Trust for Public Land for the park. Since the park is going to build a gravel parking lot to keep beach-goers from parking on the streets, archaeological testing is being carried out to locate and protect valuable cultural resources from impact at the parking lot. The remains of an historic brick oven, although damaged from a fallen palm tree, are visible on the property today.

This land was owned by Willem Vessup, a large landholder on St. John. Vessup had committed a murder. He attempted to use the 1733 slave revolt on St. John to be pardoned for this murder. He tried to lure the rebel slaves onto his boat in exchange for gunpowder. If successful, he would then capture the rebels and use them as a bargaining chip. Fortunately for the rebels, they did not enter the boat and were able to fight on.

To date, we have conducted six shovel test pits, in addition to the four previously done. Most of these shovel test pits are around the bake oven and in areas known to have been occupied even into the 1990s. Although we have found some examples of prehistoric pottery, which confirms a new prehistoric site for the park, most of the artifacts recovered are historic and date from the late 17th century to early 20th century. Two unique artifacts have been found so far. One is a Danish West Indies One Cent coin from 1913. It is heavily corroded but there is just enough writing to identify it. The other is a pipe bowl with a cross-hatched heart on one side and a human hand on the other.

We are hoping to complete four more shovel test pits before Christmas. We will be placing these pits on the edge of the swampy area to test for a likely Taino Indian occupation. Be sure to keep visiting our blog to stay abreast of the next exciting discovery around the corner. We almost forgot to say hello and welcome Jennifer and Kathyrn who will arrive after the holidays from the midwest and Ken tells us there will be at least three new Danish interns that will be arriving in May 2009, Agnes, Marie and Galit! Hey ya’ll!

2008-11-13T14:36:00.010-04:00

Stabilizing a ceramic vessel in the collection

Greetings. I’m Paul O’Dell, visiting VIIS from Santa Fe, NM, where I’m the Archivist for the Submerged Resources Center. I’ve come to intern at the Virgin Islands NP museum collection for one week to expand my knowledge of different collections in different parks and to hopefully assist in any way that Museum Curator, Susanna Pershern, sees fit.
What a collection! The Island’s amazing history, both cultural and natural, is very well represented, from the most beautiful (and well cared for) accessions of pre-historic Taino pottery and bone carvings, historic accessions from the Island’s dark days of slavery and revolt, to items and equipment reflecting the era of sugarcane plantations and rum estates. Also represented are significant and symbolic items relating to the history of the presence of the National Park Service on the island, which as an archivist for the NPS, I find very interesting. The Natural History Collection, however, is exceptionally amazing (I do have to disclose that my background is in biology, so I’m a bit biased). The collection consists of over 2000 specimens representing nearly all of the rich and diverse life which can be found on St. John and the surrounding waters (although donkey and cat specimens have yet to be included). It is a working collection, in that daily specimen condition monitoring and maintenance takes place, and the associated specimen database (the unexciting yet critical element to any collection) is current and correct. This is not an easy job, and every credit should be given to Susanna for maintaining the collection the way she does. I’ve seen other museums under ideal circumstances (i.e. not on a remote island and with PhDs swarming around) that were not half as well maintained and accessible for research.

In addition to curatorial and museum administrative work, some time has been found for other important tasks which are all day-in-the-life work for a curator at VIIS. There is checking on the Archeology Laboratory at Cinnamon Bay (swimming in the ocean on our conveniently timed lunch break), taking pictures of cats and chickens on the beach for the biologists(life is rough), and staring across the Caribbean Sea from the back porch of the office on our federally mandated 15 minute coffee breaks.
All in all, this has been an amazing opportunity. To work with one of the most talented and resourceful employees that the NPS has to offer in one of the most beautiful and resource-rich parks under NPS administration is truly an honor. I would like to thank the Resource Management team at VIIS for sacrificing Susanna’s time for a week to accommodate me and demonstrate to me her devotion to the NPS mission of resource stewardship.

2008-09-08T14:17:00.003-04:00

Hi’ Everybody

I’m Casper Toftgaard Nielsen, one of this year’s Danish Interns from Copenhagen University in Denmark. The first time I heard about the National Park on the US Virgin Islands was in October 2006, when I saw an e-mail advertisement about a 2 person Internships with the US Virgin Islands National Park Service in a joint venture programme with Copenhagen University; the program offered academic credits, a free plane ticket, free lodging, and, best of all, a one month stay on the US Virgin Islands doing research with the US NPS Archaeologist on St John and Hassel Island.
That wasn’t bad, I thought, but due to other commitments I couldn’t apply straight away. So I waited with, some trepidation, until October 2007 to see if the program continued into 2008. It did, so I applied and got into the interview round at Copenhagen University …. And got a lucky, unexpected and unplanned for 3rd slot in the program. Much of this was due to my background as a former Naval Officer in the Royal Danish Navy, as Ken Wild, the USVI NPS Archaeologist on St John, had quite a few maritime projects he wanted me to look into at the National Archive in Copenhagen. Briefly listed below in the “initially” prioritized order:

1. Historical Shipwrecks on St John.
2. Historical permanent moorings or anchorage in the outlying bays of the St. John.
3. General information on Danish naval and commerce activities, for example the type of ships and boats used in the sugar industry, military patrols, etc
4. Information on the double ended coal barge used by the American Hamburg Line and now lying as a rusty hulk in Careening Cove on Hassel Island.
5. Establish a list of pirates and privateers operating in or around the USVI.

Quite a mouthful to say the least, but theory is one thing and practice is quite another thing, as everybody knows, and events were to take us through a somewhat different, but very, very interesting and exciting path, where I got to look at all the subjects to varying degrees. Even though we all knew beforehand that I would ultimately have to focus on one or two projects due to time limitations back at Copenhagen University.

So when I arrived at St John on the 20th of April 2008, I had looked into the all the dusty and worm eaten papers that I could lay my hands on back in the old, cosy National Archive in Copenhagen to have as many notes as possible to be able to give the VINPS Archaeological and Historical Staff an idea about what we could expect to gain by working jointly with the literary (in Denmark) and archaeological sources (In the V.I.).

Initially I got myself a little surprise though, as Ken Wild and Susanna Pershern (The NPS Archaeological Staff) were busy with the Sea Salvage Company clearing the bush in the area around Shipley Battery on the Northern top of Hassel Island and needed my help to do a land-survey in the immediate area around and inside the battery, before the Sea Salvage guys moved in with the heavy clearing equipment. Luckily, Ken had prepared me that this would probably happen, so I had brought with me: my desert booths, desert trousers, camelback and jungle hat from my Navy days. And secretly I was also really quite excited about getting into the bushes and shrubbery and the Catch & Keep, the Pinguin and the Christmas Bushes, as we have nothing comparable in Denmark and I look at (almost) every new experience as something positive. A few weeks later, I had gotten my fill, especially of the Christmas Bush and to some degree the Catch and Keep, as I expect most local Virgin Islanders have, but that was to come later on. Initially I just enjoyed myself immensely surveying, clearing the shrubs and exploring the northern part of Hassel Island. Where we also looked for the abandoned Hassel Plantation buildings besides clearing around Shipley Battery, but without any positive result with regards to the Hassel Plantation Buildings, even though we found a lot of ruins and an old cemetery, but they where probably all from a later time period and most probably from the English occupation in 1801 and again from1807-08/1815.

The second week we started to look into the subjects I had researched in the Copenhagen and especially the question: Had there been established permanent moorings or anchorage in the outlying bays of St. John in the historical period between 1680 and 1850.

We already knew that there had been plans for this in Charlotte Amelia Harbour in 1802, even though it wasn’t effectuated until some years later, we also knew that General Governor Peter von Scholten had also issued regulations around 1825 about the safeguarding of smaller boats, ships and canoes to prevent slaves from escaping to Puerto Rico where it is mentioned in the regulations that mooring poles or anchoring buoys should be locked securely. This proves that the local Planters and Sailors used these techniques around 1825-29.

But the question Ken Wild really wanted answered was, if the several historical anchors that had been found through the years had been used for just that or if they had been lost or used for other purposes. This could only be researched properly by diving on the anchors and the ballast piles from the old wrecks to note their dimension, constructions, general appearance and their positions on the bottom relatively to the surroundings and especially to the reefs around them. Because we were quite sure that the sailors of former days, just like sailors of today, would chose good sandy bottoms that ensures good holding, while they would try to avoid corals and rocky areas, where you risk getting your anchors stuck and, even worse, losing it if you can’t get it untangled. An operation which must have been a some what more difficult proposition in the historical period than today, where scuba divers can help the unlucky captain without “too much” difficulty.

One thing more we had to look after, was if the anchors where of the “Corps Mort” type, that is to say, if one of the Arms of the anchors was missing, as that was a quite common damage to anchors in the historical period, as the welding techniques during anchors production was almost impossible to control, which meant that ships often damaged their anchors and as a consequence had to carry between 4-8 anchors to ensure they had enough workable anchors compared with 1 or 2 anchors on modern ships and boats.

(Corp Mort type anchor, from George Cotsells: A treatise on Ships Anchors, 1856).

The reason why we had to look for these damaged Corp Mort type anchors where, that they were considered useless for normal anchoring, as you couldn’t be sure that they buried they remaining arm and ensure good holding. But on the other side they where excellent for permanent moorings, as they could be deployed in a controlled fashion, ensuring holding ability and at the same time ensuring that there wouldn’t be any anchor arm pointing upward, which lowered the risk of damaging a ship’s bottoms if the wind changed and the ship drifted onto the anchor on the bottom or in a crowded roadstead. So if we found a Corp Mort type anchor, it would indicate a permanent mooring facility, while undamaged anchor would make it more doubtful.

Altogether we dived on 4 anchors and 3 wreck sites during my second week on St. John, but all of the anchors where stuck in corals and always where a sandy and coral reef area joined up, likewise none of the anchors where of the “Corp Mort” type. These 2 fact held together almost certainly proves that the anchors are from ships where the anchors dragged and got stuck in the coral reef maybe even leading to the loss of the ship.

(Field sketch by USVI NPS showing the typical position of an anchor between corals and sand bottom)

This could very well be the case especially in Reef Bay on the south side of St John where there are also historical cannons and several gear rings for sugar mills on top of the Reef close by the anchor. But it could also just be an indication that the crew of the ship has unloaded surplus weight to lighten the ship and get it off its dangerous position on the reef, only further investigations can reveal it.

But it’s almost certain that the historic anchors in around St. John haven’t been used for permanent moorings, neither the placement of the anchors or the anchors themselves fits the historical evidence or the practical seamanship we would expect from sailors. This kind of took the wind out of our (and especially my) sails, as the evidence underwater and the National Archives in Copenhagen didn’t really provide enough material either written or archaeological to allow me to write the article we had hoped for on the 2 first research subjects.

Sources:
Trine Lise Wahl: Kan ankerfunn spille en rolle I en marinarkæologisk funnkontekst? Unpublished Master Thesis from Copenhagen University.
N. E. Upham: Anchors, Ships Publications Ltd. 1983.
Betty Nelson Curryer: Anchors, an Illustrated History, Chatham Publishig Ltd, 1999.
George Cotsell, Ships’ Anchors for all services, London, 1856

But concerns regarding this had to wait a little as we entered my 3 week on St. John, as Andreas and Vibe, the 2 other interns from Copenhagen, Eric and Mandy the 2 interns from Continental US, Holly, a PhD candidate from Syracuse University and a 5 person survey team from NPS regional office in Atlanta landed on St John.
So my third week was spend being “the old hand” with on Hassel Island and on Haulover, the NPS boat, that we used for our daily trips to Hassel Island and the different locations the Atlanta team had to survey and inspect. Of course this limited my own research possibilities somewhat, but as I hadn’t be sailing in the Royal Danish Navy for almost 2½ years, as I spend almost all of 2006 in India and Pakistan as an UN Military Observer and 2007 in the lecturing rooms at Copenhagen Uni, I must admit, that I enjoyed myself immensely just helping sailing the Haulover as a “deckhand” and acting as a “Bush Guide” on Hassel Island.

(Bush Guide on Hassel Island).
One day was very interesting though, from my research’s point of view, as we went to the old keelhauling place in Water Creek in Coral Bay. This place had it all: A cannon placed vertically in the sand ashore making it perfect as a bollard, if you had to keelhaul a ship, besides the cannon there was old building ashore on the opposite side of the creek (perfect as storage for tar barrels, rope, timber for masts and spars etc.) and ballast stones on 2 different places underwater and a wreck buried in the mud. Altogether very exciting, but as I hadn’t done any research on this site at all back in Copenhagen, this will have to be a project for the future.

When the Atlanta Team left after a very productive and enjoyable week, I only had one week left on St John and I was starting to fell the pressure to find something I could write about, that would involve both archaeological material from the Virgin Islands and archival material from the Copenhagen. I knew of course, that I could always write about: General Danish naval and commerce activities, the type of ships and boats used in the sugar industry, military patrols, etc. on which I had found quite a lot of material both in the National Archive and published in Danish, but then my main article would be pretty much a literary work, without using much archaeological material at all, that wasn’t really what I wanted to do.

This left me with the Coal Barge wreck on Hassel Island, the problem with the Coal Barge though, was if the barge was from the Hamburg America Line, because that company was/is a German company, making it more or less certain that the archival material would be in Hamburg, Germany.

But Ken and I agreed that I at least could make a very thorough survey and take extensive field notes on the Coal Barge. So during the last few days I had on Hassel Island, I used my newly acquired skills with a machete and pruned the bush around and inside the barge, to be able to do as many measurements, field notes and take as many photos as possible. Luckily I think this went really well and after I came back to Denmark the Coal Barge Idea has slowly grown more and more in my mind, which have led to the decision, that I’ll do my main article on precisely what I thought lest likely (except for the Pirate thing) when I started out for the USVI in late April.

Finally I’ll like to express my very grateful thanks to the extremely friendly and always helpful NPS Staff, to the Friends of the USVI National Park for their generous financial support without knowing really who I was (but just trusting the USVI NPS and Copenhagen University) and to all the kind Virgin Islanders I meet during my stay and who took me into their homes and showed the most amazing hospitality.

Metal Conservation Blog – August 2008

2008-08-27T11:25:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone!
It’s me, Amber Davis. I haven’t written in about a year and I am sorry. I started a metal conservation project with the Virgin Islands National Park Service and have been exclusively working on my project while Ken has been working on Hassel Island with the new crop of archeological interns. My project combines my interest in archeology with my chemistry background, and I am loving it!
I researched the protocols for metal conservation last year and ordered the required equipment and chemicals. Artifacts Undergoing Treatment

This year, I have been treating the metal artifacts recovered from underwater archeological sites at the Cinnamon Bay laboratory. Among the artifacts undergoing treatment are a metal ladle used for applying tar to sails on boats and a porthole, both found at Hassel Island. I place the artifacts in a 5% bath of sodium carbonate, which leaches out the chlorides that cause metal to corrode. When the chloride levels rise in the bath, I have to make a new 5% sodium carbonate solution. The concentration of chloride rises in the bath as it leaches out of the artifact, and then every time I change the bath, the chloride concentration drops to baseline levels. Once all the chlorides have been leached out of the artifacts, then they will be dried with alcohol and treated with waxes and such to protect against further corrosion. Then, the artifacts will be properly preserved and ready for display!
My project has been very exciting for me. In fact, I applied for an art conservation internship at the Smithsonian and got it. I leave St. John in a couple days for Washington, DC and there I plan to apply for graduate programs in material science or art conservation. I want to thank the National Park immensely for the opportunity they have given me here. I have learned so much working with Ken Wild and Susanna Pershern, and I found my career interest in my metal conservation project. Also, thank you to the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park for their support, and lastly, thanks to the readers for their interest in and support of the Virgin Islands National Park.

Sincerely,
Amber Davis

Archaeology at an Epidemic Hospital

2008-08-14T13:55:00.004-04:00

Greetings! My name is Mandy Barton and I am a graduate student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. I interned with the park for 6 weeks during May and June to begin research on my Master’s thesis, which focuses on the 19th century/early 20th century leprosarium/yellow fever hospital on Hassel Island.

The Cistern at the Epidemic Hospital and Mandy gridding the site area.

My main goal during the 6week internship was to strategically survey and record the site. To accomplish this I collected as much of the site’s artifacts as possible; mapped the building foundations and surface scatter of glass and pottery that covered the site; took photographs of everything, from my 2x2 meter grid to the Iguanas living in the old cistern; as well as acquiring GPS points on the site to accurately locate it for future research. On top of that I wanted to analyze as much of the collection as possible before I left. Just the sheer size of the site, as well as the amount of stuff that had been thrown away by the patients at the leprosarium, was amazing, and a little bit intimidating. But once I got past some of the challenges the site posed- such as the unrelenting sun, lack of shade, and constant encounters with “catch-n-keep” that plagues the island- I happily “dug in”.

The history of the hospital remains mostly unknown at this time. When working on a historical site archaeologists attempt to utilize as much of the documentary record as possible, as archaeology and historic texts usually provide different types of information about the same time or place. It appears that most of the documents that may reference the Leprosarium were taken to Denmark when the United States bought the islands in 1917. Luckily for me, Ken Wild and the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park have created a great program to bring Danish history students to the island to collaborate with the archaeologists and local historians and others interested in the preservation of the island’s past. Hopefully, with their generous help, more information about the hospital’s past will be revealed.

Back to the archaeology. The only structure remaining at the hospital is a cistern (where our afore mentioned Iguanas were living), but there are also three stone foundations remaining within close proximity to the cistern, which may have been hospital and dwelling structures for the patients. Unusual to the archaeology I typically do, there was very little excavation during the artifact recover. This was due to the shallow dirt deposits at the site. The island’s bedrock was encountered less than 20 centimeters below the surface. Therefore the vast majority of the collection of artifacts involved laying a grid consisting of 2x2 meter blocks and surface collecting. This grid helped keep a spatial record of where the artifacts were being collected from. Where an artifact was located, what archaeologists call provenience, is important because it can reveal information about who used it, when and even why- all information that just the artifact by itself can never tell us. Once we finished the collection on Hassel Island, the artifacts were all loaded on the Haulover and boated back to St. John and the archaeology lab at Cinnamon Bay where I began analysis. The artifacts consisted primarily of pottery, or ceramics- broken dinner plates, cooking pots and tea cups used daily by the people at the hospital. Much of these are what we call “transfer-printed” wares, much of it blue-on-white old fashioned patterns like our grandmothers used to have, and stone-ware bottle pieces. I also collected an astonishingly large amount of glass shards- mostly wine and gin bottles. I am still in the middle of analysis, but the wine and gin bottles may have been used for medicinal purposes. We also recovered beads, a marble, and several pipe bowls. An interesting find at the hospital was the recovery of two ceramic dolls parts, which suggests the possibility that children were living at the hospital as well. All these artifacts tell us that there were probably many different kinds of people quarantine together at the site- young and old, rich and poor. The artifact analysis was not completed before my time in the Virgin Islands ended, but I will hopefully be returning next summer to complete this task. I am extremely excited to learn about what all these artifacts can tell us about the lives of a diseased population that was forced to live isolated from the rest of the community.

Being back in the heat and humidity that is eastern Tennessee, I am missing the turquoise sea and white beaches of St. John. My thanks go out to the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park for their support in bringing me to the Caribbean to do this research. I anticipate returning to the islands next summer to finish my research. Look forward to more updates as we learn more about life in the leprosarium on Hassel Island!

International Crew Reveals Hassel Island's Secrets

2008-06-19T15:38:00.001-04:00

Hi All! This is Holly Norton, one of this summer’s archaeology interns. Currently I am an employee of NPS, helping to complete Cultural Resource projects. I am also a graduate student at Syracuse University, and am here to complete my dissertation research. The last two months have been a blur of activity and scholarly cooperation- through generous funding from Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, NPS Archaeologist Ken Wild was able to bring an international crew of students to the Park this year. Hailing from Denmark, Vibe Martens and Andreas Latif are graduate students in the Department of History at the University of Copenhagen. Prior to arriving on island, Vibe and Andreas spent months in the Danish National Archives pouring over historic documents concerning the earliest inhabitants of Hassel Island; after arriving on island, machetes in hand, the two Danes cut and hacked their way through the dense jungle looking for the stone foundations and artifact scatters of the same plantations they had discovered in the documents. Joining them was their colleague from the Archaeology Department at the University of Copenhagen, Casper Nielsen. Casper is an underwater archaeologist, and was invited to the Park by Ken and the Friends to research historic anchors and the ruins of an abandoned coal barge on Hassel Island, from when Careening Cove served as the repair and refueling station serving the Caribbean.

The presence of ship repair facilities, specifically as related to the American-Hamburg Line was the final enticement for the US government, who bought the Danish West Indies on the eve of World War I to strategically keep it out of the hands of the Germans, as well as have a port for their own use in the Caribbean. Historically, Hassel Island was not the quiet place that it is today, as you look out over the steeply sloping hillsides from Charlotte Amalie. There was ship careening, military fortifications, naval stations, plantations, trade- and a quarantine hospital. Mandy Barton, an M.A. archaeology student from the University of Tennessee began her thesis research on the Leproscarium and Quarantine Hospital, investigating what life was like for the patients who had yellow fever, small pox, leprosy and cholera who lived, and died, on Hassel. Among the medicinal bottles and ceramics, we have seen a glimpse of their private lives through personal items such as beads, doll parts, and marbles. We’re all waiting with baited breath to learn what the artifacts tell Mandy.

Helping us with all this work was Eric Vane, an undergraduate student in anthropology at Beloit College in Wisconsin. In the United States archaeology is one of the four subfields of anthropology, the others being cultural anthropology, linguistics and physical/biological anthropology. Eric joined us to learn the discipline in the field, and quickly took to both the physical labor and intellectual thought provoked by such study.

For a week in June we were further joined by a team from National Park Service Headquarters, in Atlanta, GA, David, Bethany, Cynthia, Josh and Beth (yes- we had two of them!) Their primary focus was on cultural landscapes and historic architecture, and were visiting the Virgin Islands National Park to assess and record the condition of our historic architectural remains on both St. John and Hassel Island. While they were here I also gained valuable experience in conducting these LCS surveys myself, and will be applying that information to several of our sites on St. John.

Although we often scattered across Hassel Island during the day, conducting our various research projects, we all came together in the evenings, discussing and debating what we had found and what it might mean. Although the research itself has been wonderful, the most valuable experience we gained from this program developed by the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park and the National Park Service is the scholarly cooperation that developed between this summer’s team. The mix of graduate and undergraduate students, from various parts of the United States and Denmark, gave us different perspectives and experiences on which to draw, and allowed us to investigate the history and archaeology of the island more fully. Stay tuned for the blog entries from Vibe, Andreas, Mandy, Casper and Eric…

2008-04-21T16:45:00.008-04:00

Hi, My name is Sarah Walch. I have been given the great opportunity to work as an intern for the past month and it has proven to be an unforgettable experience. My tasks have varied from data entry, cleaning artifacts, data collection from Shipley's Battery on Hassel, and completing a random inventory of the parks’ artifacts. The park must complete an inventory of the accessions and catalog records every year. Fortunately, this is just a small sample (202) of all of the 550,000 objects in our collection. Some of the collection, such as the insects, mammals, herbarium, corals and rocks are rarely seen, so the inventory is important to account for the object and to also note the overall condition. The whole process only took us a week, which is a vast improvement over previous years, when the collection was less organized and the interns spent weeks in the bally building trying to find one single artifact.

I have challenged myself with new information every single day varying from trying to identify artifacts, their dates, their uses, and the list goes on. When I am viewing artifacts from this island’s history, a series of questions begin to flow. I wonder about the previous owners, what was happening in history, how and if they were affected. The dull moments are non-existent for me as I become wrapped up in my work. The only regret I have is not discovering this opportunity earlier. I have to return to the mainland this summer to finish some school yet I hope to come back to help the cultural resource team.

Volunteers

2008-03-27T11:31:00.009-04:00

Here at the Park, we are reminded every day that volunteers are the driving force behind the preservation of the unique mix of history and prehistory that the Virgin Islands has seen pass by. This island is always revealing something new, something exciting, something that connects us all through culture and we are so glad when visitors and volunteers take an active role in those revelations and preservations. This blog is dedicated to those folks who have rolled through Cinnamon Bay, Hassel Island, and the myriad of other places in this part of the world where we are continualy learning about the past. Please note that this is just a small sampling of people we'd like to recognize...every volunteer and visitor is so important to accomplishing our mission!

Junior archaeologist Austin Allen was visiting Cinnamon Bay with his family and keeping an eye to the ground when he came across a good-sized piece of handbuilt Taino pottery that a crab had brought to the surface in his digging. Austin very intelligently understood that archaeology works on the premise of context and that the pottery would not offer us as much information had he picked it up and brought it to the lab rather than leave it in situ. Therefore, he recorded its place on the ground and came to bring us to the artifact. Thanks for leaving it in place, Austin! You set a very valuable example for others.

Jeff Chabot, pictured above center with a group of volunteers, tirelessly works to keep the ruins on island free of debris and unclogged of weeds and brush so that they may be enjoyed by everyone. This group joined us last week for a hot several hours on Hassel Island clearing invasive species and learning about its history. Jeff always needs volunteers with an interest in taking part in preserving St. John's wonderful maritime and sugar mill/planation history. For more information on how to take part, please contact the Friends.

Daniel, pictured above with intern Katie Fuller made us all smile with his serious interest in archaeology. Many kids who come to Cinnamon Bay would rather play in the water, but our friend here was adament about learning about artifacts and preservation. He sat and gently washed artifacts for over an hour, asking great questions and making smart hypotheses about what the objects represented. He did a great job with helping us to wash Hassel Island artifacts!

Adam White was snorkeling and found a prehistoric pottery sherd that he brought into the lab. Like Adam, we hope that all the visitors that we interact with will come away with a better knowledge of our cultural resources.

! Jillian and Katie Cataloging Creque Marine Surface Collection

My time here as an intern has come to a close and I'm so sad to be leaving island tomorrow to return to D.C. However, I feel very fulfilled by this intern experience and would be glad to speak to other potential interns about what I've learned here. The Park Service in the USVI has a small but spirited team, and I was glad to take part in the analysis, dating, cataloguing, and numbering of an entire accession of Hassel Island artifacts. The work was tedious, but I didn't ever expect to be able to distinguish pearlware from whiteware, french flint from british flint, or tin enamel from lead glaze and I certainly never expected to be able to rattle off the dates associated with those diagnostics! The cataloguing of almost 800 items is a happy accomplishment for a period of two months, among other lessons that I learned such as an introduction to the Park Service and resource management, visitor interpretation, open shovel tests, among other lessons. I am so very grateful to the friends here who hosted me, and the true Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park Organization for making internships possible for students like me. I believe I'll be back to Cinnamon Bay sooner than anyone expectsSigning off from the biosphere....Jillian.

Pipebowl Documentation

2008-02-29T09:43:00.005-04:00

Pipebowl found on Hassel Island, Leprosarium/Yellow Fever Hospital Site
2-15-08

Hassel Island, Revisited

2008-02-25T16:50:00.015-04:00

Mike Toomey with the pipebowl he found.
Greetings from the archaeology lab! The past few weeks have found the archaeology team hard at work down at Cinnamon washing, analyzing, dating, preparing, and cataloguing the melange of artifacts recovered from Hassel Island during the surface collection for the island cleanup back in November and December. This has given us a chance to review the artifacts both piecemeal and together as a awhole, revealing several trends. In this process, we have come a long way towards a better understanding of historic glass as Kourtney is working on a glass type collection that will make it easier for all of us next time to quickly determine a bottle's age and where it was made. This work with the collection has proved challenging as there are many different types of ceramics that indicate a wide range of dates of occupation. However, this is not surprising to us as we know that the island underwent many changes in occupation since early occupation in the 1600 hundreds and since the British first built Shipley's Battery in the late 18th century. We are continuing to work on the collection and looking forward to learning more about Hassel Island before we begin to accession materials from the Leprosarium/Yellow Fever Hospital and Shipley Battery.
Jillian clearing the path through pinquin up to Shipley's Battery

Last week, we returned several times to Hassel to work with SeaTow and to mark a suitable trail to Shipley's Battery, at the summit of the island. Our SeaTow pal, Michael Toomey kept his keen eyes to the ground and made a wonderful discovery of an impressivly intact decorative pipe bowl with stem. In recovering this artifact we recovered its UTM coordinates to exactly 10 centimeters; about the size of the pipe and stem itself. We're very glad to add this great artifact to our collection and thank Mike for his find and SeaTow for their very hard work. On the next blog we will try to post a closeup of this bowl that dipicts a harbor scene from the 1830s. Remember all never take artifacts form a National Park--The history of these objects belongs to all of us.

Ken explaining ancestory to the Antilles School Group

Susanna and the Guy Benjamin School Group

Guy Benjamin Students washing artifacts

In between our work with Hassel Island material and a successful folklife festival, we were glad to host two different third grade school groups to the archaeology lab who have been learning about the Taino. The first group from Antilles school learned about ancestors and saw the rare Zemis in the collection. The second group from Guy Benjamin were very helpful in washing artifacts and preparing them for analysis. We are always happy to share local archaeology with St. John students and hope that those very enthusiastic students will come back to volunteer for the Park in a few years!

Kulu Mele drumming at Annaberg Folk Life Festival
Mr. Guy Benjamin, first St. Johnian to graduate from High School

New intern at Cinnamon Bay!

2008-02-08T16:25:00.000-04:00

Greetings VI National Park Service Friends! As the newest NPS intern, Jillian, I’m very excited to finally be here in St. John. I look forward to spending the next two months gaining a wide range of knowledge about the rich Caribbean history and prehistory preserved by the park.

This internship is part of my final internship requirement as a Master’s student in Museum Studies at George Washington University, in Washington D.C. I am originally from Buffalo, N.Y. and went to SUNY Geneseo for Anthropology, with minors in Geology and Spanish. At GW, I focus my studies mostly on the management and administration of natural history museums, so working here at Cinnamon Bay in an internship that covers a breadth of subjects such as curation, collections management, volunteer coordination, education, etc., I am in a very appropriate environment to tie together everything I’ve been studying for the past two years and see all museums functions connect in a very real way.

I arrived late Saturday evening to a warm welcome from Ken, Susanna and Kourtney. On Monday, Kourtney and I began a week of working with a group of volunteers from Elder Hostel. This is a band of people with an adventurous and enthusiastic attitude about what a vacation should be; they volunteer for a week for various community projects in exotic settings around the globe. This time, their travels brought them to St. John to continue a mapping project that had begun last year and is led annually by local historic architect Anne Hersh The first day of the week was focused on clearing overgrowth from the Leinster Guardhouse ruins that were choking the pathways around and inside the ruins. On Tuesday, the group moved over to Rustenburg plantation to flag, photograph, measure and map the sugar mill ruins. Kourtney and I worked to record accurate bearings and distances between the points that the volunteers were flagging and photographing while others worked to draw profiles of wall remains.
At the end of the week, Anne left with a wealth of information with which she intends to create a map of the ruins for the National Park Service to be able to add to its records. The exploratory spirit of the Elder Hostel volunteers is what allows us to add such valuable information to our archives!

I look forward to keeping you updated on the work that we are doing here this spring as we continue to uncover and preserve the history and prehistory here on St. John and right at home in the lab in Cinnamon Bay.

Soon Come

2008-02-04T09:53:00.001-04:00

We've been busy! We will be posting an update shortly. Thanks!

Happy Holidays

2007-12-18T22:19:00.000-04:00

At Cinnamon Bay, a tall ship sailing through Drake's Channel.

Season's Greetings. Ken, Kourtney, Katie, Amber and Susanna all wish everyone a very happy holiday and New Year. Ken was on the mainland for a week to attend the graduation of his daughter Lauren, who is receiving a bachelor of Environmental Science from Florida State University. We all want to congratulate Lauren on her accomplishment and wish here well in her future endeaevors. While Ken was away, some of the behind the scenes details were given our attention, such as environmental monitoring of the collection building, continuing research of the the human remains from Cinnamon Bay, conservation of the recently submerged artifacts and vegetation clearing. And Kourtney and Susanna had the pleasure of teaching 35 seventh graders about archeology and curation at the Cinnamon Bay Lab and future museum. Everyone had a great time and some important lessons were passed on, such as context, provenience, stratigraphy and the role of Hassel Island in the bid to purchase these islands from the Danes. In addition to learning about a real excavation from Kourtney, the students helped to wash several field sites Field Specimen ie(FS#'s) from the surveying at Careening Cove. Among the artifacts that were cleaned was a wide assortment of bottlenecks and glass bases. Although the kids were a big help and we enjoyed the group very much, we realized that we have a lot of work ahead of us in the cataloging of all the objects. In addition, we will need help from additional interns, so please continue to donate to the Friends in 2008, and thank you to all who donated in the past.
Students helping out with washing artifacts.

Seventh Graders from Sprauve School, Cruz Bay, St. John.

Hopefully, we can have Amber write the next posting about all her work in the lab with the conservation of the submerged metal. Stay tuned for some spectacular chemistry folks. Kourtney's work is also fascinating so when we all return from the Holidays be sure to check out the blog for updates.

This week, we recruited a new member to our team, NPS Wildlife Biologist Carrie Stengel. Carrie was instrumental in instructing the team on the proper use of herbicides that will curtail the growth of exotic and invasive species at the Creque Marine Railway. We really don't want to see this stucture covered in catch and keep for a very long time so it will take maintenance to keep the site open. Stay tuned for opportunities to help in the revitalization of the Creque Marine Slipway and other sites on Hassel Island.
View out of the winch house, Creque Marine.

Also on Hassel Island, the old iron wreck in Charlotte Amalie mentioned in the previous post is simply no match for Rocky, Toby and Chris from Seatow. Although the work is slow and dangerous, the Seatow crew is taking apart the ship piece by piece. (Unconfirmed sources report that this ship was commissioned by an infamous German leader during WWII.) The difference to the island from the beginning of November to now is truly remarkable, and thank you again to everyone that is helping to keep Hassel Island safe and secure for future generations.

Seatow's crewman Chris working on the awesome wreck.

Maintenance is Preservation

2007-12-09T19:00:00.000-04:00

Operation Clean Sweep 2007 was a thorough success and a good start. With well over 200 people participating, the beaches of Hassel Island were swarming with volunteers picking up trash. The crew got an early start to catch the 6am barge in order to be in Crown Bay for the organizational meeting. Our mission was to educate on the island's history, make sure nothing important was put in the trash and coordination. Following the briefing, we then boarded a vessel provided by Coral World, that took the groups to Creque Marine and Careening Cove. The weather was bright yet blustery so the vessel had a hard time docking at Careening Cove. Thankfully, Seatow was on hand to ferry the kids boat by boat to the cleanup site. The groups of school kids were fantastic and did a great job; it was really a site to see years of trash finally coming off the shores. “Hassel Island Clean Sweep” was launched in cooperation with Virgin Islands National Park Service, the St. Thomas Historical Trust, the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, Essence Properties, Inc., Sea Tow Virgin Islands, and other entities in the Virgin Islands Government.

Disembarking at Creque Marine.
Seatow's Captain Alan Wentworth ferrying the groups over to the beaches.
Happy ROTC students with Honorable Delegate Donna Christenson

...and some of the kids that made it happen

After running out of trash bags, it was time for lunch. Again, all the students were ferried back to Mr. Sharaf's property on Hassel Island for a celebratory BBQ. Everyone then got T-shirts that read "Maintenance is Preservation." It was a great day and thanks to everyone for all the work. Now that the initial clean up is done, we hope to get a chance to map/gps the historic hardware around the Slipway and to document the many objects that were hidden from view.

Elvis, Kourtney, Ken Katie, Susanna

2007-11-30T14:32:00.000-04:00

At last, the Cultural Resource Team has internet access and a day in the office. For the past two weeks, with the exception of Thanksgiving, we’ve been on Hassel Island conducting surface collections in advance of the wave of volunteers scheduled for Dec 8th and monitoring the progress being made by the Seatow crew in the cleanup of the bays. For the first time in decades, there is now a 50ft swath up to the Winch House at Creque Marine. Many people have waved at us from their boats and told us to keep up the good work and this is especially true of the Seatow crew.

We’ve completed the preliminary surveys of Careening Cove, Palm Grove and are almost done with the Creque Marine Shoreline. Each site has yielded significant diagnostic artifacts, as seen above, and everyday our backpacks have been heavy with artifacts that are being brought back to the lab in order to by washed, analyzed, cataloged and preserved. We are all looking forward to the analysis of the hundreds of bottlenecks and bases we’ve collected and after the cataloging is complete, we plan on using some of our finds to create a new type collections of bottles, and perhaps add to existing ceramic type collections.

There were many additional discoveries and investigations, including anchors, chains, pulleys, cars and other tools associated with the careening operation. The team got a good look at an old, iron coaling vessel, a couple of cannons and some bollards. Yet perhaps the most intriguing finds are the gunflints along the northern shore. There must have been a significant shipwreck when Hassel Island was still connected to the mainland, and the ship must have been carrying a cargo of both British and French flint because the shoreline is littered with both flint nodules and finished gunflints. Perhaps our new Danish Interns will decide to study Hassel Island this year, and research the archives in Denmark for evidence of our theory. (More news on the new interns, scheduled to arrive in May, at a later date). The goal of all our work is to prevent the casual removal of these artifacts by individuals not with the park, whether during the trash removal on December 8th, or at a later date when the island receives more visitation.

This past Wednesday we had a special visit from Hassel Island’s first Ranger, Darcy Kulesha, and her husband, Ken. Darcy was working for the park in the early 1980’s when the park first acquired Hassel Island. At that time, the park was interested mongoose control, public relations and trash collection. Darcy said she had to drive from Redhook everyday and take a 15ft Boston whaler into Careening Cove where she would make her rounds. The team really enjoyed hearing her stories and as well, being able to show her progress in the revitalization of Creque Marine.

Lastly, it’s time to say goodbye to the derelict vessel that’s been stranded in front of the old Navy barracks at Careening Cove. The wreck is quite a site and more than a few people will miss the atmosphere it lends to Charlotte Amalie harbor. On the other hand, there are those who feel it an eyesore and certainly, a safety hazard. Seatow’s scheduled to have it gone by next week. Thanks again for reading.

2007-11-13T18:36:00.001-04:00

Hello readers its Kourtney here an intern from the past that has come back to help with all the new projects in the park. In preparation for the beach cleanup project on Hassel Island, Ken, Susanna, and myself spent the day carrying out the preliminary work. Our work consisted of meeting with the SEATOW cleanup crew to plan how we are going to collaborate on the project. Our team will be responsible for the archaeological monitoring throughout the cleanup and vegetation removal. Additionally, hundreds of volunteers will be donating their time to help clean the Hassel Island beaches. Many of these will be local students.

Due to the numerous historic and two known prehistoric sites on the island, we need to make sure that the archaeological material is not mistaken for litter during the cleanup. In order to prevent disturbance of any cultural material, we will spend the next few weeks carrying out a field reconnaissance and controlled surface collections along the Hassel Island beaches.

Along the shore of Creque Marine Railway was our first find of the day, a copper ladle. We need to research how this artifact was related to the marine railway but of interest, it contained tar within the internal. This was found while meeting with SEATOW but the area has not been systematically surveyed as of yet. We decided to begin the survey along the East shore of the island. We walked along beach looking for surface artifacts, plotted these artifacts using the Trimble Navigation GPS (which can record points as accurate as 30 centimeters, and collected the artifacts accordingly. Along the beach, we found a variety of historic artifacts dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common find was brick but there was also a great deal of fragmented ceramics (ie. annular ware, pearlware, yellow ware, stoneware, and course earthenware), historic glass bottles, ferrous metal (most of which was not collected), and a highly eroded mammal long bone.
As we made our way South along the beach, we began to find prehistoric artifacts. This site had been previously investigated by Ken and his team and he noticed that within the past two years, the site had been looted. There were three small depressions in the most concentrated area of the site that indicated people were digging there, most likely in search of artifacts. Also, two stone alignments had been laid out, creating a pathway that led from the beach to the site. On federal lands the removal of artifacts is very serious and can result in large fines and even prison sentences; they belong to all us.

GPRA, GMP, CMR and PMIS

2007-10-05T13:40:00.000-04:00

Brown Bay Ruins
Although September is usually a quiet time for the Virgin Island, we've been very busy under the new directives of Superintendent Mark Hardgrove. Mark brings a wealth of experience and expertise of NPS Cultural Resources and is already making the preservation of historic ruins a high priority. It is a breath of fresh air and all the hard work that has been accomplished by Ken and his interns in the past will hopefully be rewarded with increased funding. It is a very exciting time to be working here and we will surely be reporting on many important developments, so stay tuned....

Josie's Gut Ruins

The first thing that happened was a visit by NPS Contractors. Last week, the Cultural Resource team completed a monumental survey of the historic resources. Ken, Katie, Susanna and Jackie, the contractor, managed to do site surveys of Annaberg, PeaceHill, Denise Bay, Caneel Bay, Catherineberg, Rustenberg, Trunk, Cinnamon, Leinster, Lameshur, Yawzi, Reef Bay, Genti, Josie's Gut, Brown Bay, Betty's Hope, Mary's Point, several cemeteries, and Hassel Island. All of this effort was to document structures in order to hopefully obtain funding for preservation. There was so much to do that the team did not finish their work until 7 pm, Friday night and Jackie found out just how hard it is to get into some of these ruins. Like all interns, she was a good sport about all the catch and keep, acacia, mosquitos and the long swim between the boat and Reef Bay Beach. We hope she has some wonderful memories of her time on St. John while writing her reports up in the mainland. Thank you Jackie.

Par Force Village

Lameshur

This week, a little more time was spent in the office working on the annual goal reporting(GRPA), the project management information system(PMIS) and writing documents for the General Management Plan(GMP). In addition, the park submitted the annual collection management report(CMR) to Washington and reported that it had cataloged over 3585 objects in FY 2007. Thanks to all the volunteers and interns who helped to get that done!

We've often discussed the idea of featuring a object from the collection with each blog. Susanna picked the one for this week, Sadly, the island lost one of it's world famous residents this week, Miss Lucy. Many locals and visitors knew her through her restaurant in Coral Bay and as the St. John taxi driver who "wore a hibiscus in her hair and drove a taxi decorated with a set of goat horns dripping flowers." Our condolences go out to her family and the NPS is proud to have in their archives, this picture taken of Miss Lucy and her taxi in 1962. Her full obituary may be found at http://www.onepaper.com/stjohnvi/?v=d&i=&s=News:Local&p=1201842501

Shipwreck Archaeology

2007-09-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

Greetings! For faithful readers, I suppose this is a reintroduction. I’m Katie and I was fortunate enough to be a NPS Archaeology intern for an all too brief stint last summer. I had to go back to Florida to finish my undergraduate degree in Anthropology, but I’m finally back! I thought my first experience here was absolutely too good to be true, so it’s hard to believe I now have the chance to continue learning from Ken and Susanna.
We got off to a roaring start this week with two surveys of a shipwreck at. It felt great to be back out on the water! This was my first experience with shipwreck archaeology so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We entered a shallow, protected cove to find, well… it looked like nothing at all. We saw plenty of sand, fish, coral, and some beautiful anemones but, no sign of a ship. I got inspired when Ken started fanning around, what looked like and ordinary pile of rocks, and found that it was actually a ballast pile and peice of metal left from the ship. After a few false alarms (I thought an old coconut was a cannonball), I actually managed to find something. It was a shiny piece of copper sheathing with one little tack still hanging from the corner. The salt water had turned it gold, teal and pink and Ken said it was probably used to cover the bottom of a historic ship. After consulting with Peter Fix, an archaeologist and conservator at Texas A&M University, Ken found out that copper sheathing was used for the first time in 1761 to prevent marine worms from damaging the bottoms of wooden ships. The HMS Alarm was the first ship to recieve this form of protection. This date corresponds with several other artifacts that were recovered from the site in 2002 including a lead gaming peice and a pearlwear ceramic bowl rim shard. I got a refresher course on proper collection technique and learned how to use the GPS to record its exact location. Ken also found a piece of wood from the shipwreck with hand wrought, iron nails intact. We photographed it and recorded its location before burying it back in the sand. I was extremely excited to bring the copper back to the lab and I can’t wait to work on preserving it with Amber!

Discoveries at Creque Marine Railway and My Last Post!

2007-07-19T12:59:00.000-04:00

Hello, faithful archeology blog readers! This is my last post as a Virgin Islands National Park intern, and it’s going to be a long one. Ken, Susanna and I all fly out within the week—Ken and Susanna for month-long breaks and myself for home in NH. I would like to say that it’s been a wonderful experience to be an intern for the Cultural Resources Management Division of the VINP. I have learned a great deal about the history of the islands, about archeology and cultural resource protection, and about the National Park Service. I was fortunate to be involved in some exciting projects (see previous posts) and fortunate to travel places I would never have seen had I not been working with the Park. I want to thank Ken Wild and the Friends of the VINP for this opportunity and both Ken and Susanna for teaching me so many things. Well, without further adieu, I’ll get to the post, but not before wishing the next intern good luck!

(me looking through a rusted out boiler at Hassel Island)

A couple weeks ago in early July, Ken, Susanna, and I teamed up with Park Ranger Dylan to help him remove an unregistered fish trap from Hawksnest Bay. It is one of the park’s objectives to find and remove any abandoned fish traps within our boundaries because the traps will keep killing fish over and over again. A French grunt was caught inside and so a nearby sailboat lent us a pair of wire cutters to free the fish. Afterwards, Dylan and I snorkeled around Honeymoon Beach looking for evidence of anchor scarring while Susanna and Ken dove. A large vessel with an entirely metal chain had anchored within the park boundaries the week before, and Dylan wanted to investigate the extent of the damage. Susanna took photographs of broken and toppled coral heads in case the offender attempted to dispute the ticket he was given.
The third dive of the day consisted of Ken and Susanna surveying a mooring off Caneel Bay. The Cultural Resources Management division is responsible for completing a certain amount of surveys per year. When the park moorings were put in years ago, no archeological investigations were performed to insure that for example, a shipwreck wasn’t being damaged in the process. Therefore, we are slowly surveying each mooring around the island to look for any indication of cultural deposits. Its actually a perfect random sample approach. I was surface support for this dive; however, I learned I could free dive to 32 feet when I had to retrieve the boat hook I dropped over the side:) All in all, it was a fun and productive day on the water.

In other news, a great stride has been made in the Creque Marine Railway Restoration project. For the past two weeks, Stefferson Marine and Construction has been clearing metal debris out of the Creque Marine slipway.

(Randy and Lalo loading debris onto a platform)

The Cultural Resources Team monitored the work in case any historic artifacts were recovered…and there were! Several bollards were found that would have originally been attached to the sides of the slipway, but must have fallen into the water when sections collapsed. FYI, a bollard is a short, vertical iron post used to tie the lines, i.e. ropes, of a shi (left). An iron wheel about 1.5’ in diameter was also found that would have originally been used as part of the railway to haul ships out of the water for repair (below). Also a porthole from a large ship (below). On Wednesday the 18th, the last day, Lalo found an intact small porthole in beautiful condition (above) .

Now that the slipway is cleared of debris, a barge will be able to land so that materials can be unloaded for structure stabilization and metal artifact conservation. There’s a lot of work to be done to restore Creque Marine Railway for visitation by the public, but I am excited that the entire process has been jump-started and I look forward to seeing it completed someday.

The marine rails were found to be well preserved underwater.

We wanted to let you know there is an article in American Archaeology (on news stands) about the Tainos titled “Before and After Columbus.” It mentions the archeology at Cinnamon Bay and pictures some of the artifacts recovered by the Park Service as well as other interesting sites around the Caribbean. New discoveries are shedding more light on the Tainos’ way of life.

Well, I think I’ve reported all I can. Everyone, wish St. John well in the hurricane season and stay tuned in September for the next post. Thanks for reading!

Amber Davis

A New Prehistoric Lithic Site

2007-06-21T10:59:00.000-04:00

Hello, readers! Amber Davis is back in the driver’s seat, a.k.a. I am writing the blog again and excited to be doing so. Whew! Things have slowed down a bit after the departure of the Danes on June 2nd—less field work, more office work. Ken has been preparing a field report and I have drawn two maps for Laura and Jonas to use in their 50-page paper for the University of Copenhagen. Good luck, both of you! The paper will be written in English and it will focus on the early history of Lameshur Bay on St. John. We will make it available to the general public, so stay tuned if you’re interested.

In other news, after completing a test excavation at the ruins of an early plantation, Ken, Susanna, and I hiked out to a point on the south shore and discovered a prehistoric lithic scatter. We got GPS points on two large lithics recovered that could either be tools or the by-product of tool manufacture. The archaic people that settled on St. John did not refine their everyday, utilitarian stone tools and so it can be difficult to distinguish between the tool and the refuse. We also discovered a manuport, which Ken explained to me was a stone found out of its original context that was used as a tool by humans. However, the stone was not modified by a human. Our manuport is a rounded rock that would have originally been found on a beach, but we found it atop the cliff where the archaic people likely brought it to prepare food with. Lastly, one beautiful lithic tool was also recovered that may be notched (see picture below, the small square stone). This lithic site may date to 400 B.C. because another archaic site, with similiar tools, at a nearby bay was carbon-dated to this early period.

Over the next few weeks, the team has a busy schedule. We will be surveying the spine of Hassel Island to assess the conditions of various archeological sites and structures. Catch-and-keep, be afraid:) Also, the purchase of chemicals and equipment for metal artifact conservation has been approved, so I will be monitoring the pH of our wet-storage vat and determining chloride concentration very soon (vat seen below with artifacts) .

Thanks for visiting the blog and see you soon.

P.S. I'm writing this post script a couple weeks later than the blog because it is just too interesting to wait for the next blog...We have rediscovered an RPG in our archives that we would love to know more about. FYI, an RPG is a rocket-propelled grenade, and this artifact shown below was found at a tent site at Cinnamon Bay campground. We have no expertise with military artifacts, and so we are asking if any readers do have valuable knowledge. Just reply to this post or you can email ken_wild@nps.gov with tips. Thanks!

Jonas and Laura

2007-06-12T12:10:00.000-04:00

The Danish Interns from the University of Copenhagen...

We arrived at St. John the 5th of May and felt immediately welcomed by Ken Wild and the staff at NPS. We are writing this in our last week of our month here on St. John, and looking back we have already learned so much in these last three weeks.
Before arriving at the island, we had worked 3 months in the Danish National Archive. We decided, in cooperation with Ken Wild and Niklas Thode Jensen, our Danish supervisor that our research would concentrate on the Lameshure area which is situated on the south side of the island.

An Historic Document and Gothic Letters

Our timeframe focuses on the earliest historic period possible. We knew from the start that this would be a challenge, because the documentation for this area, in this early period, would be limited and written with gothic letters that took time to translate into modern Danish and English.

When we arrived on the island we had been doing so much research of the area that we could not wait to see the actually site and it was everything and more that we had been imagining. During the actually internship Ken has been teaching us the many different approaches to the archaeological fieldwork and the work concerning management and protection by the National Park Service of ruins and all sites and materials.

Jonas, Laura, and Amber in a ruin
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A valley and hills in the Lameshur area

For us this has been very interesting and exciting. We have had the opportunity to explore so many different ways of looking at our field of historic research and the opening of ideas and opportunities that we may never had had the chance to undertake in Denmark. <>

Oxholm's 1780 map of St. John with area under study outlined.

We have taken part in so many different things, but the most challenging has been looking for new plantations. It sounds easy, but it is not! We have, from aerial photos and archival information, spotted places that could be old ruins, and then go in the wild to find them. Its all high tech as well as low tech since we use both GPS/GIS and computer overlaying of maps as well as machetes to get there.

Looking down on Yawzie Point. The adverse conditions going up and down looking for ruins this day (mosquitoes, christmas bush and cactus) made it a great challange and also rewarding.

We’ve also had the chance to help with archaeological diggings at Cinnamon Bay an excellent site to prepare us for proper excavation, recording and artifact identification before we began work at the plantation buildings we have researched, to match the information we’ve found in the archive. This really brings up some very interesting knowledge as well as a lot of new questions as academic work often does. At Cinnamon we uncovered an old Danish coin. Its from 1779, and has the Danish king Christian the 7th’s symbol on it. It was a 1 skilling, which was not much, but still very exiting for us to find. So was the finding of a Taino bead from the prehistorically period, of which we personally know very little, but find very interesting. The tiny red bead found was very much like the one found and posted on this blog a few weeks ago, yet still a very rare find only two so far. 1779 1 skilling Danish Coin

So far we have found a couple of, until now, unknown crypts and the scattered remains of an early (1720s to 40s) historic building. Our research period, so our work has been rewarding. Now we will begin to excavate at specific locations within each site to corrolate what we have found in the bush to the historic record so that maybe we can begin to identfy the early settlements and the owners that may have put these ruins here.

Jonas making a way through the bush, then the thrill of discovery and then comes the clearing of vegetation for documentation and eventually some archeological testing.

As a part of our internship we have had the pleasure of telling a lot of people what we have done in the archive. This has also resulted in us making public appearances, where we tried to present our research for a broader audience at the School of the Arts in Cruz Bay as well as one in VIERS. We also greatly enjoyed presenting in front of the NPS staff, where we tried to focus a bit more on how the staff could use our research in their teachings and tours. We have also at times taken care of the Lab at Cinnamon Bay, where we have had the pleasure of meeting the public and try to let them know just a little bit more of this islands gripping history.

Our Danish Interns Have Arrived!

2007-05-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

Hello, everyone. It’s an exciting time here at the Virgin Islands National Park. Two interns from the University of Copenhagen have arrived on island, and will be working with the Cultural Resources Management team for the next month. Their names are Laura and Jonas, and both have been researching Lameshur Plantation for the last three months in the Danish National Archives for the beginning of their graduate program. Now, they will be helping to corroborate the written facts they have found with the physical geographical and archeological record on St. John. Already, after having visited Lameshur on Wednesday, Laura and Jonas believe there are more plantations hiding in the bush. Ken has also asked them to attempt to identify the deceased at two different grave sites. It will be a busy month, but the information Laura and Jonas uncover will be invaluable to the history of St. John. They will be giving a talk at VIERS and at the School of the Arts later on in their stay, so anyone interested should stay tuned to learn more.
In other news, last week we had a talented artist volunteer to draw several Taino artifacts for us while on vacation in St. John. David Kiphuth, who illustrated Irving Rouse’s The Tainos among many other anthropological books, uses a technique called stippling to sketch artifacts. Essentially, small dots are placed in varying densities to simulate shading and three-dimensionality. The technique is advantageous when illustrating artifacts because stippling can show details that are lost in photographs. Also, color is more expensive to print, so black and white stippling sketches are less costly and more detailed. David’s daughter Ali assisted Susanna and I in the excavation at Cinnamon Bay. While sifting through the fine screen (mosquito mesh), she found a prehistoric, red-colored bead, which is a very rare find. Red, white, and black beads were handmade by the Tainos and used for decoration on their zemi figures. This red bead is the first discovered at Cinnamon Bay. Now we have found all three color types used to make the beaded zemis and a chiefs belt. Congratulations Ali on your discovery, and many thanks to Ali and David for your help.
Laura and Jonas will be posting the next blog, so come back soon. Thank you, readers!

Earth Day Celebrations

2007-04-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

Hello, everyone. It is a rainy morning here on St. John (what a relief!). Luckily, though, it did not rain when we had our Earth Day celebration last Friday. The surrounding schools took off the morning to come and see presentations by various local groups, such as the Animal Care Center, Dr. Ray, a botanist from UVI, and of course, the Virgin Islands Cultural Resources Management Team. Susanna and I set up two units for the students to “excavate.” We placed artifacts in the sand and instructed the students in the best way to excavate like an archaeologist. The students learned not to excavate without an archeologist present, and received a certificate for a job well done. I really think they left having enjoyed themselves, and hopefully they learned a little about archaeology as well. (We have no pictures this week because we were working our station at Earth Day, but check out the coverage in local papers.)
In addition to Earth Day, Susanna and I have been working on the collections quite a bit. Inventory is due, and we are attacking any problems that arise in the process. Ken has been writing papers for publication about St. John archeology/history as well as completing the park's annual report to Congress on archeological activities. There doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done, which brings me to my next point. The Cultural Resources Management Team is looking for more interns this month. Live in the Caribbean, work for the National Park Service…who wouldn’t want this job? All those interested should contact Ken Wild, the Park archeologist, at ken_wild@nps.gov. You better hurry, though because when college classes let out we will have plenty of help. We use interns from many different backgrounds, i.e. archeology, history, conservation, curation and architecture. We also have interns from art and engineering for virtual modeling of ruins. We hope to see you on St. John soon!

P.S. Hi Cliff. Unfortunately, we don't disclose locations of plantations we find until a complete survey is done in order to protect their archeological integrity. But thanks for the question!

Found: An 18th century plantation!

2007-04-10T16:33:00.000-04:00

Found: An 18th century plantation!
We, the Virgin Islands Cultural Resources Management Team, have exciting news. Just last Friday, Ken Wild and I (Amber Davis) found a plantation that we have been searching for, for some time. The plantation is recorded on the Oxholm map of 1780 and it was discovered by Barbara Johnson in 1981, but the Park Service has never assessed this great site. Well, after one grueling day on Thursday chopping catch-and-keep and cutting down cacti (with no plantation in site), Ken and I re-grouped and set off with new target coordinates on Friday. And lo and behold, we found it! The plantation consists of three structures—the main residence, the enslaved quarters, and the warehouse (picture #1).
These structures would have had wooden walls and roofs; however, all that remains now are the low-lying stone and mortar walls that braced the wooden upper half. The stone walls are sloped outward to prevent rain from pouring into the structure (picture #2).
Ken and I picked up and GPS’ed to within 20 centimeters some ceramic fragments that can date the occupation of the plantation, notably black lead-glazed course earthenware (1700-1770), white salt-glazed stoneware (1720-1770), English slipware (1675-1770), and delftware (1630-1790) (clockwise from bottom left in picture #3). Given the absence of pearlware, which is found everywhere by 1780, Ken conjectures that the plantation was abandoned by the time Oxholm drew his map. All in all, it was a great day, and Ken and I treated ourselves to a cheeseburger at Skinny Legs afterwards:)

Earlier on in the week, students from the Good Hope private school on St. Croix paid the Cinnamon Bay lab a visit. Ken gave a lecture on the extensive history of St. John and the Virgin Islands, and then the students were shown several steps of the archaeological data recovery process. First, ideally the excavator leaves artifacts that he or she finds in the ground, or “in situ,” so that the artifact’s location can be recorded and its context is retained. If the artifacts are not carefully excavated, then they are found in the next step, where dirt is screened twice with differently sized mesh screens (picture #4).

The artifacts are then washed, identified and analyzed, and catalogued. The students asked Ken some questions about the Taino and seemed interested in the demonstration about archaeological excavation. I think they learned more about archaeology and the Virgin Islands than they had previously known.
Later on this week, Ken and I will be searching for another plantation so stay tuned. I hope everyone’s Easter was happy, and thanks for reading!

2007-04-02T10:12:00.000-04:00

Blog 3-30-07
Hello readers,
This is your friendly, neighborhood Cultural Resources Management Team tuning in from the Virgin Islands National Park. Today, we visited Hassel Island again, this time with two historic site stabilization experts from San Juan named Colon and Jose (see picture #1). They came to assess the Creque Marine Railway winch house and boy, do we have our work cut out for us! Our first concern is to stabilize the structure and prevent further degradation (or its collapse!) before historic reconstruction can begin. One simple step that can drastically improve the structure’s solidity is to recreate the wooden beams that supported the second story. This will connect the walls together as they were in the 19th and 20th centuries and ideally prevent any collapses from occurring. From there, new and some old materials such as brick and mortar will be needed to patch the walls themselves, and we must remove the vegetation and trash to provide a clear path to the winch house before the work can proceed. The second phase of this project would be a new roof for further stabilization of the structure as well as to help preserve the artifacts housed within, such as the boilers and the flywheel. Colon and Jose will draw up a budget for both the stabilization and historic reconstruction phases of this project and hopefully we will have their help in seeing the project through its completion.

We also brought Professor of History Nicholas Jensen from the University of Copenhagen, Professor of Archaeology Pia Bennike, and her three graduate students on our trip to Hassel Island (see picture #1). While Colon and Jose studied the structure, Ken led us over to the western shore of the island to search for the leprosarium in use in the 1800’s (ceramic fragments identified on the surface attest to this date). A leprosarium is a quarantined hospital for people afflicted with leprosy. In the yellow fever outbreak of 1867, the hospital was also used to house yellow fever victims. Professor Pia is conducting an excavation of a cemetery on St. Croix and was interested in the cemeteries associated with this historic site. Unfortunately, we did not find any cemeteries in our search. Ken believes the dead were most likely buried over on the mainland in Charlotte Amalie. We did, however find a cistern (see picture #2) associated with a low lying stone wall. Ken believes this is most likely the remnants of the front wall of the hospital, and that the rest of the structure would have been made of wood. Also, when on our trek, we found a lot of shell refuse indicative of a large Taino site. Further investigations into this area of Hassel Island encompassing both the prehistoric site and the leprosarium would no doubt prove to be very interesting and informative.

The Team is planning some excursions into the bush next week to find more lost plantations, so stay tuned and we’ll be back:)

2007-03-23T09:25:00.000-04:00

March 22, 2007

Hello, everyone. It is getting hotter in the islands as summer approaches, but the Cultural Resources Team here at Virgin Islands National Park is finding ourselves outside in the field more often than in the air-conditioned office. Today, we made big strides concerning the Hassel Island Restoration Project. Two conservators from Texas A&M University, Peter Fix and graduate student Drew, flew in on the seaplane from Puerto Rico at 9 a.m. to assess the metal artifacts associated with the historic Creque Marine Railway. Ken, Susanna, and I lead them around the site and they were excited (and probably a little overwhelmed) to see the abundance of historic marine artifacts in desperate need of stabilization. For example, the rails of the railway are still intact as well as the gears, the fly wheel, and the boilers of the steam engine that would have hoisted the large ships up out of the water to be worked on. A beautiful, old dive bell is located near the engine house that would have been used to work on the ships while still in the water. Remember, Creque is the oldest steam-powered marine railway in the Western hemisphere and it is the only one surviving in the world.I am positive the public would love to visit and learn about this significant site and I can only imagine what Hassel Island will look like once vegetation removal, artifact conservation, and building stabilization has been completed. The conservation plans generated from today’s trip serve as a first step in this process, and hopefully the next steps will be soon forthcoming.
In other news, excavations at Cinnamon Bay have also had some progress. We have finally made it through the culturally sterile sand and have uncovered the first prehistoric/ historic surface. The contrasting colors of the two layers is one reason why we believe we have reached culturally significant sediment—the sterile sand is white whereas the sediment is dark brown and compacted into a very hard, discernible surface. Tomorrow, we will start to excavate the surface and who knows what we will find!

This week, Peter Burgess was once again a great help. We have been trying to identify more of the Jochumsdal historic plantation site this month. Chuck Pishko had informed us there was a grave, but we had yet to locate it. Peter found the grave and more. He deduced that the crypt is in the center of the plantations's animal mill. Thanks Peter for sending us the information needed to go right to the site and complete the documentation process.
I hope everyone is staying warm up north and I’ll see you next week.

2007-03-09T09:33:00.000-04:00

Hello everybody:) I am covered with sand at the moment. Field work will do that to you. Today we here at Virgin Islands Cultural Resources Management have opened up Unit 11, the pit in which we will be reburying the human remains washed up at Cinnamon Bay. Our 1X2 m grid is set, the sterile sand has been removed, and we are in the process of excavating Level 1. Many visitors have had positive things to say after learning about the purpose of the excavation, and those are always nice to hear.
In other news, the artifacts in Unit 10 are almost fully catalogued (Unit 10 was the excavation of the greathouse kitchen floor). Susanna has been hard at work cataloguing as well as greeting the multitude of visitors we have had in the lab. Kourtney is continuing to identify human skeletal remains and separate those from animal remains. Her work is very important to the Cinnamon Bay reburial project, and we are lucky to have her expertise on the subject.
Ken recently did a presentation for a group of philanthropists associated with the Trust for Public Land. The group then visited our lab at Cinnamon Bay to learn more about our current archaeological projects. They saw the excavtion of Unit 11, and Ken also told them about our plans for the museum.

I hope everyone is staying warm in the colder climates up north and I will catch up with you all next week:) Bye!

Folk Life Festival

2007-03-02T16:35:00.000-04:00

(Quadrille Dancers)

Hello, everyone! And welcome to the Virgin Islands National Park Cultural Resources Team blog spot. This week we have been in the Cinnamon Bay lab every day, and it’s been great—talking to the public, finishing some much-needed cataloguing of artifacts, and of course, taking a swim at day’s end to conduct survey work. The Annaberg Folk Life Festival took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 27 and 28th at the Annaberg sugar mill ruins. Susanna and I visited on Tuesday and we had an opportunity to meet local craftsmen like the basket weaver Mr. Dell and Ital, who carves local coconuts. We also tasted home-baked bread with butter and cheese—YUMMY! It is a local tradition to offer the bread and cheese as a greeting whenever a guest enters your home. Quadrille dancers both young and old performed as well as several musicians. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and left hoping that more events like this would happen soon.

(Mr. Dell, Master Basketmaker)

(1988 Tradewinds Newspaper about Folk Life Festival)

(Local Crafts)
This Wednesday, Kourtney Donohue arrived on St. John. Kourtney is an ex-intern and recently graduated with a Master’s in osteoarchaeology from the University College, Cork in Ireland. She agreed to help us out down here with our collection of human remains recovered from Cinnamon Bay. She will be differentiating between human and animal remains in preparation for burial and she will identify the specific human bones we have on hand. We are all excited to have Kourtney here sharing her expertise on this subject.
Last Friday Ken, Susanna, the acting superintendent, Catherine Light and our chief ranger went over to Hassel Island. They met up with the island’s Delegate to Congress and the St. Thomas Historical Trust to review and discuss the preservation of the island’s rich maritime history. That night, Ken gave a boat tour for the Friends to help raise funds for the museum at Cinnamon, and on Saturday finished with a five-hour tour on Low Key Watersport’s dive boat that raised about $1400 for new interns.
Until next time, everyone and thanks for keeping up!

(Ken Wild and Delegate Christenson talking over plans for Hassel Island)

Traces of the Past

2007-02-15T10:47:00.000-04:00

(1780 Oxholm Map, partial, with Jochumsdahl)

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day, everyone! Here in Love City the holiday certainly did not pass unnoticed—restaurants were flooded, street corner stands were selling packages with teddy bears and chocolates, and the color red could be seen everywhere. Now business is back to usual, and the cultural resources team is using the morning hours to update you all on our latest projects.
The most exciting discovery we made last week was locating the “lost” plantation, Jochumsdahl. An ever-useful map of St. John created by Oxholm in 1780-1800 indicates that a plantation existed north of the Catherineburg Plantation. Because there has been such little rain recently and hence minimal underbrush, last week was an ideal time to explore the area in hopes of locating Jochumsdahl. So Ken, Susanna, and I headed into the woods with the GPS, the camera, and sticks in hand to swipe away spider webs. We first found what looked like an old trash site from the early 20th century. Old pulleys, hand carts, and other UID rusty metal objects were strewn about in a stand of bamboo as well as a plethora of gin bottles. Ken dug into the earth a bit with his trowel and found a layer of charcoal just beneath the surface, indicating that this site was used to produce charcoal after emancipation. Workers would clear an area of foliage and hollow out a depression to burn it in, producing charcoal. Because the fire problably needed to be monitored, the workers must have relaxed with a drink of gin while the fire burned down. This charcoal production site is not related to Jochumsdahl, but it is very interesting nevertheless because it tells of another period in St. John history—slightly more recent but no less important. Photographs were taken of the trash and the charcoal, and a GPS point was taken so that the National Park can return to this site later for further research. (evidence of charcoal making)

After identifying the charcoal site, Ken, Susanna, and I spread out to cover more ground and soon enough we discovered a brick that Ken believes is related to Jochumsdahl. He postulates that it is a remnant of the enslaved village located south of the plantation because the debris scatter we saw is indicative of the ephemeral wattle-and-daub huts. A few more bricks were found as well as a black lead-glazed course earthenware fragment. This pottery fragment is dated to 1700-1770 and is the one diagnostic artifact we found for Jochumsdahl. So, at the end of the day we re-discovered a portion of the site of the “lost” plantation. Most likely, the actual building materials of the main plantation structures were scavenged for use in later plantations, which means we won’t find intact ruins forgotten in the woods. But archaeological excavations can undoubtedly provide more information on the history of the elusive Jochumsdahl. (the last remaining traces of Jochumsdahl)

Also last week, the cultural resources team enjoyed a historic lecture at the site of Rustenberg given by Chuck Pishko. Elderhostel volunteers worked on completing architectural drawings of certain structures of the site and Chuck came to explain the purpose of each structure in the sugar-making process. He also told us about the history of the plantation, which includes a visit from the Crowned Prince of Denmark in the early 19th century. (Chuck Pishko and Elderhostel at Rustenberg)

The last bit of news I have to offer is that the excavation at Cinnamon Bay of the plantation cookhouse floor is complete. The area was cleaned, photographed, and reburied. Digging will commence soon at a different location so that we can re-intern the human remains found at Cinnamon. Well, this has been a long post and I hope you made it through. The cultural resources team at Virgin Islands National Park will keep on chugging and we hope that you’ll keep reading. Thanks, guys! Until next time.

Ecofact

2007-02-06T16:43:00.000-04:00

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

2007-01-18T10:34:00.000-04:00

Hello, everyone! I hope the new year has been treating you well. The Cultural Resources Team at Virgin Islands National Park has accomplished some very interesting things since the last blog. First, Ken and Susanna are now Rescue Diver certified (re-certified in Ken’s case). I opened up the Cinnamon Bay lab during their training and talked with the beach-goers while cataloguing artifacts. The following day (last Friday), Ken and I visited the Lameshur site with Sean Krigger, an architectural historian from the Virgin Islands State Historic Preservation Office, and RandyBrown, Director of the Virgin Islands Environmental Research Station (VIERS). Randy would like to restore some of the historic Lameshur plantation buildings for use as classrooms and exhibit space. The restoration as well as the regular maintenance needed when the buildings are in use will undoubtedly help to preserve them for future generations. However, the restoration must be done with historic accuracy in mind so that the buildings are preserved looking as close to what they originally looked like as possible. This requires buying period-accurate hinges for windows and doors as well as having the windows and doors be constructed in a suitable style and painted with a special paint in an appropriate color (see the painting of Lameshur dated to about 1840’s in the blog archive (May)). I learned that lime mortar and silicate paint are the preferred materials for repairing and painting historic walls because they are water permeable. Therefore, when historic bricks soak up ground water, the water will not be trapped within the wall and disintegrate the bricks but will diffuse through the mortar and paint and eventually evaporate. Sean advised Randy on the modifications that are and aren’t allowed and what types of restorations are preferred. Next, plans will be drawn up and work can ideally start within the year. Ken offered to help as much as he could when the actual construction started, he used to be a brick layer.
This Tuesday, I came in and the Team mapped a large portion of the excavation site at Cinnamon Bay. Susanna cleaned the kitchen surface and measured object dimensions (rocks, mortar, brick, shell, glass, and metal) and I drew the map on graph paper (see picture above). I gave a tour in the afternoon, but it wasn’t the best ever. I hope that with practice I’ll get more familiar with the subject material and be more comfortable speaking to an audience about it. A snorkel survey of the beach in the late afternoon recovered many remains and artifacts likely uncovered by the recent Northern swells (we’ll have to investigate it further after the mapping is finished). The old tree we often used as a reference point finally fell over with this last swell. Well, until next time everyone and feel free to post comments and/or questions. We love to hear from our readers!

Rave Reviews

2007-01-08T11:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Belated Holidays, everyone! It is the year 2007 now and St. John is busy. Your friendly neighborhood Cultural Resources Management Team (a.k.a. Ken, Susanna, and I) is back in action. I have been furiously preparing to start giving tours at Cinnamon Bay, which I’m both excited and nervous for. I have reviewed the pre-Columbian and colonial history of the Cinnamon Bay site by re-reading the articles that are posted on the Friends website (if anyone is interested in details, look no further). The single, lonesome man on my inaugural tour today gave me rave reviews, haha.
The excavations of the kitchen floor ar3e complete at Cinnamon Bay plantation house and the site has been cleaned off in preparation for mapping, which we began today. Ken is teaching me a slightly older technique of mapping involving a level drawing board and compass in which the site is mapped in-field. Once the map is finished, the site will be back-filled and we will choose a different place to re-intern the enslaved human remains.
In the office, Ken has just completed a part of a paper dealing with the early history of the United States Virgin Islands—Tainos, pirates, including Captain Kidd, European refugees, enslaved Africans, and all. The other contributing author is a Syracuse University Ph.D canidate and she is focusing on the 1733 Slave Revolt along with the conflict that arise from multiple cultures coming into contact within the Caribbean . The two pottery fragments pictured, along with the unusual bone tool, date to 1650 to 1670 the period privateers and pirates flourished here. Once the paper is finalized, we'll make it available and you can learn more!

Zemis and Coins

2007-01-03T15:59:00.000-04:00

Rudy and Irene, the owners of R & I Patton Jewerly, are two people to whom the interns owe a great deal of thanks. This is because R & I Patton donates to the Friends archeology program 100% of the sales of gold and silver zemis sold in their store. They also provide bronze and silver zemis to the Friends to sell in our boutique or on the web at http://www.friendsvinp.org/store/patton.htm

Irene Patton, under the guidance of Ken Wild, archeologist with the National Park Service Caribbean Archeology program, made replicas of ceramic artifacts (zemis) found at the Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay sites. The terra cotta zemis were made by the Taino Indians who lived on St. John before Columbus. They represented spirits of ancestors, animals, birds and reptiles that served to convey special messages to the present and other world. They were attached to bowl rims and were broken after ceremonial use.

Rudy and Irene are also invaluable for their knowledge of coins and have provided some information regarding the 1822 Curacao coin featured in the previous blog. Rudy reports that"

"The coin is from (no surprise) Curacao Netherlands Antilles. The minting date is not so certain (surprise!)
This coin is a 1 Stuiver which is on the reverse side with a star in thelower field. The obverse has Curacao in the upper field, the date, 1822 inthe middle field and a star in the lower field below a line. The coin wasminted in the Netherlands (as Denmark minted coinage for use in the DanishWest Indies) in 1822 and then the dies were used again when it was alsostruck in 1840-1841. So even though it carries the date 1822, it may havebeen minted in 1840-41. It circulated at that later date as a 2 Centpiece. The star was the mint privy mark for the either the Enkhuizen mintor the Hoorn mint in West Friesland, The Netherlands.
This was shortly after the second British occupation of Curacao during theNapoleonic Wars (1800-1803 and 1807-1816.)
--1994 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 21st Edition by Chester L. Krauseand Clifford Mishler (covering coinage 1801 to 1994) Newer editions areavailable from Amazon.
BTW it is probably worth less than $100 on the World Coin market. Thecondition would be "Fine." This is the lowest condition assigned. Of course it is invaluable as a part of the excavation in Cinnamon Bay."

Ed Rothfuss adds that "It took 48 of these little silver coins to equal 8 reaals (schellings) or one peso, the equivalent of our 19th century silver dollar."

Many thanks to R&I Patton for providing this information and for their great jewerly! Please visit their website at http://www.pattongold.com/ to learn more.

Then and Now

2006-12-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

A month or so ago Ken, our archeologist, spoke at a St. Thomas Historical Society meeting and met Jane Sheen who was interested in helping the park in its efforts to gather historic documentation on park resources. A few weeks ago, Ken and Susanna took a trip over to St. Thomas to meet Jane Sheen, and look at her collection of historic postcards of the Virgin Islands. The postcards date from the late 1800 hundreds to the early 1900 hundreds and many of the images captured park resources still in use, like the photograph above with the Reef Bay Factory still in operation. Others capture the people and the times like learning to make baskets at the turn of the century. The postcards are great and Jane was so helpful. That day she loaned 100 + cards right then in order for us to scan the images. This week, Susanna spent a few hours scanning in the images, front and back, because the back of the card can indicate when it was published. Eventually, we hope to process all the images and make them available online. Below one of the cards, shows the Creque Marine Slipway in full operation.

This is an image of the structure as it stands today. Thank you Jane for making this wonderful contribution.

5oth Cultural Posters

2006-12-11T11:43:00.000-04:00

Here are the 50th cultural resource posters I mentioned in our last posting. We now have them on display at the Cinnamon Bay Archeology Lab.

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VINP 50th Anniversary

2006-12-08T16:47:00.000-04:00

Hi, this is Amber, the one and only archaeology intern (for the time being) at the VI National Park. Long time, no see readers! Our blog site had to go through government security approval before we could get back to you. We have been busy these past few weeks, and I mean really busy. The 50th anniversary of the creation of the Virgin Islands National Park was celebrated last Friday, December 1st. Speakers, who included Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen, Southeast Regional Director Patricia Hooks, and Director of the National Park Service Mary A. Bomar, discussed how successful the park has been since its inception in protecting both the underwater and land resources of this Caribbean paradise.(all pictured below)

They also emphasized the importance of the continuation of this work into the 21st century. Modern dancers from the St. John School of the Arts performed as well as local quadrille dancers, and the Steel Pan Dragons played some Christmas songs to get everyone into the holiday spirit. (NPS Staff in CLASS A Uniforms)
I sat at an exhibition table during the ceremony with four posters that archeologist Ken Wild created for the occasion. The posters, which are shown below, detail the different aspects of cultural resources preservation in the Virgin Islands National Park—maritime, prehistoric, historic architecture, and the collections that connect to the communities past. I talked with people who were interested in the current archaeological projects and hopefully with funding all can proceed as planned. A great buffet and a 50th anniversary cake finished the celebration and I must say it was great to see both park officials and the community gather together for this event. (NPS Employees:first row Devon Tyson, Dave Sapio, Christy McManus, Tina Bernier, Ken Wild, Thomas Kelley, second row: Esther Francis, Rafe Boulon, Susanna Pershern, Carrie Stengle)
This week, with the 50th anniversary celebrations behind us, we have gotten back to what we do best—digging in the dirt! Eight members from the Las Vegas Sierra Club volunteered to continue excavations of the cookhouse located near the Great House of the Cinnamon Bay plantation. Joe and Ellen Ries, Bill and Billie James, Marge and Ed Rothfuss, Barbara Gerhart, and Linda Nations planned a week-long service trip to St. John and were delighted when they found out they would be working with Ken Wild on a dig. The historic floor of the cookhouse was originally discovered because local clergymen and Ken Wild had chosen the area for reburial of the human remains washing up at Cinnamon Beach. The remains are thought to be of African descent. The Sierra Club volunteers helped to expose the entire cookhouse floor, which was dated from the 1820’s to the 1840’s by the type of pottery and glass recovered, and Ken and Susanna will photograph and document it next week. Marge found a coin minted in 1822 in Curacao (shown below) which may shed some light on trade relations at Cinnamon Bay. After proper documentation is complete, the floor will be reburied and a new site will be chosen for the burial of the human remains. Also below is a photograph of the team working at the excavation site. Well, that’s all for now, everyone. Until next week:)

Nice Work!

2006-11-03T18:55:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Amber is back after a week hiatus from the blog. Things have been busy on St. John, both in the office and out in the field. Last week, I served as surface support for Susanna and Ken while they dived to a depth of 73 feet to investigate historic metal objects. Preliminary conclusions are that it is marine-related, but more underwater time will be needed to further identify the objects. Surface support is important for dangerous dives such as these, the danger being both the dive depth and a site location in the middle of a busy channel. Also last week, Ken prepared for a presentation about Hassel Island to the St. Thomas Historic Trust. I wrote earlier about this island’s historical importance and funding is sorely needed to begin the processes of survey, stabilization of the ruins and conservation of the wonderful metal artifacts.

This week has also been productive. In the office, a monumental cataloguing project has been undertaken by yours truly, and it definitely feels good to get all our artifacts organized and documented correctly. Ken also went over the talk with me that he prepared this week for the Science in the Park Conference. This was kind of a first for Ken to prepare a paper for biologists(see his title slide with a Indian and Jellyfish above). He said it made him look at the island’s archaeological record differently, not just from an anthropologist’s view point. He explained to me how the 3000 years of history in the archeological sites also preserves, for the biologist, time capsules waiting to define our inherited natural environment.

In the field, the team (Ken, Susanna, and I) completed a snorkel survey and found some interesting artifacts. In a historic context, Susanna found a worked mammal bone in a concretion of coral and rock…definitely worthy of placement in the future museum. (And a nice thing to find before she heads off to the Grand Canyon for two weeks of NPS Fundamentals Training.)
Aside from archaeological project advancements, I have officially become comfortable driving on the left [pat on the back]. It’s really not as hard as I thought/ feared! OK, well this is all she wrote for now. I’ll write next week with the latest from the Cultural Resources Management Division here at St. John. ‘Til then:)

Gearing up

2006-10-20T18:47:00.000-04:00

Blog 10-20-06
The doors to the Cinnamon Bay Archaeological Lab were thrown open for the first time this season. Ken, Susanna, and I have started to unpack the exhibits to get the lab ready for visitors, and two of the historic bottles found last week have been cleaned for display. One has been identified as a Gordon’s gin bottle (with a funky hog’s head design on the front), but we’ll have to do some homework to ascertain its age. It can’t be older than 1918 because of its color, which tells us it is not associated with the shipwreck.
Today, we journeyed out to Hassel Island with two rangers to familiarize them with the island’s extensive cultural resources (so that they can protect them). Almost from the beginning of European expansion into the New World Hassel Island has been associated with the early Spanish, pirates and English privateers. The island becomes even more important as commerce expands and serves as the midway stopover for ships traveling from Europe, New England, to South America and the Pacific, making it very significant in the realm of maritime history. The oldest marine railway—Creque Marine Railway—is located on Hassel, as well as the only Napoleonic fortifications on American soil. The long-term plans for the island are to preserve the historic structures, in concert with archaeological and historical oversight. I think the public would love to see and learn about this fascinating island. Pictured above are two partially submerged anchors at the north shore of the island.

New Intern!

2006-10-13T20:28:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! My name is Amber Davis and I am the VINP Cultural Resource Team’s newest intern. I moved down here from New Hampshire and just recently received a B.A. in Chemistry from Bowdoin College with a minor in Anthropology. Naturally, I am interested in archaeochemistry, or chemistry as it is applied to archaeology, and it sounds like I will be able to help with a lot of projects here. From soil testing to the identification of pottery residues, I only hope that our efforts here can contribute additional knowledge about the pre-Columbian residents of St. John. Speaking of, I have been reading a lot about the Taino—the Caribbean natives who greeted Columbus—and what I have read has been fascinating. Did you know that bats symbolized their dead ancestors’ spirits and that the English words “hammock,” “canoe,” “tobacco,” and “barbecue” originate from the Taino language? Sweet.
In the past two weeks (of which I am here only on Thursdays and Fridays), the team has been exploring a new shipwreck (the anchor is pictured in a previous blog). Historic bottles from ~1850’s were found and a few metal objects were detected, but not excavated. These objects are teasers, however, because we still have yet to determine why the ship wrecked. Many projects are planned for this year and I look forward to sharing the results with you as the work progresses down here on St. John. Until next week:)

Unidentified Metal Artifact among Shipwreck Scatter

Maho Bay

2006-10-06T14:39:00.000-04:00

It is late Friday, and we still have much to do, including the Museum Annual Checklist and rearranging in the Bally Building to create a space for a new map cabinet, however, we wanted to post the press release about the recent developments regarding Maho Bay. In short, the Virgin Islands National Park will eventually recieve a large track of land thanks to the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) hard work towards preserving this large track of land for the public. One aspect of our mission is to know what is in the park, and before any land transfer this has to be determined. Ken is already thinking about the survey methods and documenation that will have to happen to to help TPL and NPS to properly manage and protect the cultural resources on the land. On Monday, Ken and Susanna rode out to Maho to take a quick look at the new aquisition, including a unique and perplexing ruin, that Susanna nicknamed the "bus stop" due to it's proximity to the road. Please read the press release for more informaiton.

St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, 9/5/2006 - The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit land conservation organization, today announced it has signed a contract to buy and preserve a 415-acre property in the heart of St. John that ultimately will become part of Virgin Islands National Park. It would be the biggest preservation project on St. John since the National Park was created in 1956.

The property, known as Estate Maho Bay, will be added to the park when federal funds become available, said Greg Chelius, director of TPL's program in Florida and the Caribbean.

"The national park on St. John is one of the world's great treasures," said Chelius. "We are very excited to be part of the effort to preserve its incredible natural beauty."

"TPL has been working on preserving Maho Bay for more than five years and while there have been a lot of challenges, it looks like we're finally on the road," Chelius continued. "We have a lot of hurdles to go, and we have to raise millions of dollars to make this happen, but we're confident that Estate Maho Bay will be protected."

The property has more than a quarter-mile of beachfront on pristine Maho Bay and rises to almost 1,000 feet in height. It also has significant ruins from the Danish colonial era, 1700-1860 and may have pre-Columbian cultural resources from the Taino Indian people, who inhabited St. John for 800 years before Christopher Columbus arrived. Just offshore are seagrass beds, green turtles and coral reef systems which are visited by thousands of people every year.

"Protection of this large property by TPL represents a very significant event for the V.I. National Park and for St. John. Development of this watershed would have had considerable impact on the natural and cultural resources of the park as well as residents and visitors to St. John," said Rafe Boulon, native St. Johnian and chief of resource management, V.I. National Park.

TPL has been working for years to acquire the property, which was owned by 11 heirs of Harvey Monroe Marsh. In fact, John Garrison, director of TPL's Southwest Florida Office and lead project manager on this acquisition, was interested in preserving this property before coming to TPL five years ago, when he was director of Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park, a nonprofit on St. John dedicated to protecting the park.

Garrison said that the property has not been subdivided, so that each heir owns 1/11 interest in the entire parcel. Six heirs agreed to sell their interests to TPL. TPL had previously purchased one interest. The NPS owns three interests and the 11th is being retained by one of the heirs. By contract, the purchase price of the six interests is to remain confidential. The heirs are also each retaining a six-acre lot, with the ability to build up to two homes.

"Preservation of this property will be the culmination of many, many years of work," said Garrison. "A lot of credit goes to the heirs, who were willing to work with us and gave us a significant bargain on the sale, as well as to the Friends group for their continued support." A spokesperson for the Marsh family said, "Maho Bay has been in the family for over 100 years so it is important to the family to retain ancestral home sites and at the same time preserve the natural beauty of the estate for future generations to enjoy."

"The preservation of Estate Maho Bay, one of the most popular and cherished areas within VI National Park, is a significant accomplishment that will benefit the people of St. John and all those who will be able to visit and enjoy this magnificent area," said Joe Kessler, president of Friends of Virgin Islands National Park. "The Friends and all those who love VI National Park will be forever grateful to TPL for their persistence and imagination in making this a reality, to the donor for their generosity in financing the acquisition and to the heirs for their foresight and commitment to preserving Estate Maho Bay. We are pleased to have been a part of making this happen."

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. Since its founding in 1972, TPL has helped protect more than 2 million acres of land in 45 states. Working in Florida since 1975, TPL has protected more than 300 sites - over 200,000 acres at a market value of more than $500 million. The Trust for Public Land depends on the support and generosity of individuals, foundations, and businesses to achieve our land for people mission. For more information please contact us at (850) 222-7911 or visit us on the web at www.tpl.org/florida.

Summer

2006-09-18T13:24:00.000-04:00

Cinnamon Bay Beach and the Archeology Lab

The archeology program is slowly awakening from it's summer slumber, although there's hardly a soul on the beach. There are no interns as yet, as it is too hot too stay in the tents and the threat of hurricanes keep Cinnamon Bay campgrounds closed for this month. Nevertheless, Ken and Susanna have been seen doing archeological monitoring of road crews digging holes for traffic counters. However, they do enjoyed staying cool at the Biosphere in the air-conditioned office working on the collections, getting ready for the regional archivist or performing underwater archeological investigations of a historic anchors for our Archeological Sites Management Information System (ASMIS)

Submerged Historic Anchor

Earlier this week, while finally completing the annual inventory, Susanna spotted the 1707 Danish silver Kroner coin and an almost new silver 10 kroner coin dating to 1714, both in the Cinnamon Bay Historic collection. These coins were instumental in helping the park determine the archeological record and the story of the people who lived at Cinnamon Bay before the Islands were offically colonized by the Danes in 1718. The archeological record of this shoreline indicates that the area was occupied decades before official Danish colonization in 1718. This is a fascinating period of St. John history involving Amerindians, Africans, Settlers and Pirates! More information about the Settlement at Cinnamon Bay may be found at the Friends of the Park Website.

Authentic Danish Kroner

French Gunflint found at Caneel

2006-06-30T10:57:00.000-04:00

Henley Cay

2006-06-26T15:58:00.000-04:00

Katie holding a historic fragment she found on Henley Cay The ruins and cays of St. John have undergone a spring cleaning this past month. A team of specialist came in and removed vegetation from some of the park's structures and lands, making it easier for the archeologist and interns to survey the sites. Last week, we went to Henley Cay to look for evidence of the escapees from the 1733 Slave Revolt on St. John. Plantation owners would have fled to this cay when the slaves rebelled and took over some of the plantations. Thorough searching yielded historic glass, historic ceramics and one modern plane crash. The plane crash is well documented; the historic ceramics a possible lead in our quest to find the evidence we are looking for.

Katie Fuller is a new intern (not so new now) from UVI. She will be with us for the summer. Her sister, Shea, is also volunteering. Both are great additions to the team. In addition, the Syracuse University has a team on island that is helping out with archeology. On Friday of last week, we returned to the Petroglylphs and began drawing a map of the pool and hiked up the trail to take photographs of Josie's Gut.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 2006

2006-06-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

My final blog entry. It seems like just yesterday that we started this blog. I will be leaving St. John and the NPS archeology crew Monday for a three-week trip through Central America. I will spend the rest of my summer visiting with friends and family before heading to the University of South Carolina to begin work on my Master’s degree in anthropology.
I’m spending my final few days working with Katie on comparing our paper catalog records to those in the computer. Before throwing away the paper records we want to make sure they are all in the computer database, otherwise, we will lose that information.

On Monday I gave a brief talk about archeology to a very interested group of third graders from St. Thomas.
On Wednesday, Katie and I met with a group from the Coast Guard with their families at VIERS. The group came over from Puerto Rico by boat and is spending the week enjoying the island. We taught them about the history of the Taino occupation of St. John. Puerto Rico has a rich Taino history so our talk was particularly pertinent to them. Both groups kept us on our toes with excellent questions.

Although I’m ready to go home, my time on St. John was very enjoyable. In nine months I went from zero archeological experience to feeling fairly well versed in archeological techniques and Virgin Islands history. This is largely due to Ken and Susanna and their willingness to impart their knowledge on me. Hopefully I will get to work with them in some format again in the future.

(Although it will never be the same, blog updates will continue as Mick moves on to other adventures. Good luck Mick, We'll miss you!)

Virtual Preservation Progress Report

2006-06-09T11:25:00.000-04:00

After several months of hard work, the University of Maine has posted their recent work on the virtual preservation of the Leinster Bay Ruins. Please see our previous post in the archives from March for more information. You can find the 3d models at http://www.umaine.edu/set/met/VirginIslands.htm.

Ken is back working on the petroglyph documentation and plenty of other beauracratic requirements. The interns are busy with a variety of projects, including more exploring on Cabrite Horn and organizing the catalog record forms in the storage facility. Susanna is completing the yearly inventory, doing some housecleaning, including sifting through some old photographs. Among the many photographs in the collection, a few become instant favorites, such as this 1960's photo of a VW bug in front of the Cinnamon Bay. Thanks to Caroline Rogers of the USGS for bringing this great glimpse of the past to our attention.

A Closer Look

2006-06-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

(Tony, Justin and Katie investigating the newly revealed petroglyph)

Most of us have taken some time off from archaeology . One thing we did accomplish last week was a trip to the petroglyphs. Since the Reef Bay Petroglyphs are in the process of a preliminary transnational nomination as a World Heritage Site, we’ve needed to do more research for all the documentation and there was one carving sited listed in “The Petroglyphs of the Lesser Antilles, The Virgin Islands and Trinidad by C.N. Dubelaar” which Ken wanted to find. So the five of us, Ken and his brother Tony, nephew Justin, Katie and Susanna set out by boat to Reef Bay. It was a rough trip as there was a sizeable swell from the south, but we all made it ashore with our dry clothes and camera gear in drybags. We began with an investigation of reported digging at the Reef Bay Factory Site. Fortunatly, we determined that the “holes” were due to natural causes, such as a boar rooting around for food. Next we hiked up to the waterfall and got there just ahead of the weekly NPS tour. Since Ken is the expert the Ranger was happy to have him speak to her group about the meaning of the Petroglyphs while the happy visitors ate lunch. Meanwhile, the rest of us looked for this particular carving. It seemed as though we had checked about everywhere when Ken’s brother Tony, who was sitting nonchalantly by the pool admiring the red and purple dragonflies, shouted, “what about this?” Sure enough, Tony had discovered the missing glyph, right under our noses. By then it was our lunchtime and after taking a bunch of photographs we headed down the trail with the intention of returning soon to do more mapping. While snorkeling back to our boat, a large spotted eagle ray swam by and lingered with us for quite a while. After lunch, Ken and Susanna completed one dive survey at Henley Cay while the others snorkeled. Just another day in paradise.(drawing of the petroglyph in C.N Dubelaar's book)

Other news: Mick is committed to South Carolina in the fall for a master’s degree in Archaeology. He only has a few more weeks before leaving for Central America for a trip with his father. He spent today with a student from St. Thomas who is interested in Anthropology.

Ken, Susanna and Molly all swam in the Beach to Beach Power Swim, placing second, first and second, respectively, in their age groups. Officially, Ken and Susanna tied at 29:17 but it looks as though she’s slightly ahead by this photograph of the finish line.

Sadly, Molly returned to Ohio today, having finished her photography work for the park.

And finally, Susanna has been offered the Museum Curator position pending a background check.

Memorial Day

2006-05-26T13:39:00.000-04:00

Since a good portion of the cultural resources of the Virgin Islands National Park are underwater, diving is an important part of our work. Both Ken and Susanna are on the dive team and participated in a dive recertification for the National Park most of the week. On Tuesday, the dive team traveled to St. Thomas to visit the hyperbaric chamber and attend lectures on hyperbaric medicine. The highlight of the day (besides docking next to mega cruise ships in the harbor) was a ride in the hyperbaric chamber down to 60”ft for about ten minutes. If the scenario was not hypothetical, and a diver was suffering from the bends, it would take at least 245 minutes at various depths to properly decompress the patient. The National Park Service is the oldest civilian diving organization in the government and because of the extensive safety protocol and rigorous training schedules, the park has never suffered a loss in a diving accident. Yesterday, the dive team completed a 2700m swim in less than 18 minutes and went through a serious of practices including “ditching” all the gear underwater and putting it back on, rescue breathing and map and compass work. This week fulfills part of the 24hr/year requirements for dive team members.

In addition to all the diving, Ken met with a historic mason, Edwin Colon, from the San Juan National Historic Site to discuss the repair of the Lameshur Ruins. The Lameshur Plantation was originally four plantations laid out during the 1720’s. These estates were eventually consolidated into a single unit of production by 1740, producing mostly cotton. Between 1773 and 1784 some sugar cane was cultivated and the painting from this period shows that most of the acreage had been cleared. Sugar production was discontinued after 1858 and Lameshur transitioned into raising stock. The first US Coast and Geodetic Survey shows that in 1919, most of the land was planted in either fruit, bay trees or grass pasture for the large herd of cattle. Cattle farming and bay leaf harvesting ceased in the early 1950’s and most of the plantation buildings have fallen into various stages of ruin. Interestingly, the presence of lime trees on the grounds shed light on the name “Lameshur.” According the small booklet, “Some True Tales and Legends about Caneel Bay and Trunk Bay, and a hundred and on other places on St. John,” compiled by Charlotte Dean Stark in 1960, The Geographic Dictionary says the name signifies Lemon Shore or Lime Shore. Map makers of the old days, who seem to have found the name incredible, changed it to La Masure, French for “The ruin.” Through this series of mistaken pronunciations and etymologies, it became Lameshur on the US map of 1934.

Other than that, Mick is off island for a couple of weeks of vacation, Molly is busy photographing the collection such as this ceremonial celt, and a new intern, Katie, from the University of the Virgin Islands just signed on to help us out a couple of days a week. After such a busy week everyone is looking forward to the three day holiday weekend and participating in the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park Beach-to-Beach PowerSwim. http://www.friendsvinp.org/swim/06info.htm. Good luck to all the swimmers!

America Hill

2006-05-19T10:31:00.000-04:00

My name is Molly Nook. Today was the first day of my month long internship with archeologist Ken Wild. My background is in photography which will be utilized these next few weeks photographing the ruins and artifacts. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the Ken and the NPS and to learn as much as I can about archeology and the rich local history.

Today was quite an exciting first day. After meeting at Cinnamon Bay Lab to review some of the artifacts on display, Ken, Susanna, Mick and I hiked the half hour trail through Bay Rum trees and Teyer Palms and up to the America Hill Estate. There we photographed the Main House, the Cookhouse, Cistern, Servant’s Quarters and Yardwall. We also recorded measurements and data for the structures that are believed to date back to the early 18th century. America Hill is such a beautiful site, with the Estate house’s neoclassical detailing, weathered coral lime plaster facade and gorgeous view of Maho Bay. On a clear day you can see over Tortola.

Because of it’s complex and rich history, America Hill will be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. Within the nomination it is noted that, “periods of ownership in the 1850’s-1860’s remain remarkably intact, and provides a vivid picture of life on St. John Plantation. In February, 1863, for example, the Estate was supplied with 5 Westfalia Hams, 4 tins Green peas, 6 tins carrots, a dozen quarts Claret, 1 bottle Anchovies, 1 bottle capers, 1 bottle white pepper and ½ doz. small bottles Matteo Cologne. In the same month, they received, 1 white cotton twill, 32 yards, white Shirtings ‘francais’, ½ dozen white shirts, 1/3 dozen Duck Pants, 1 black silk Parasol. The following month: One Panama Hat $6; One felt Ditto $3; One gray spring hat $3’ a Horse Whip 50cents and One box fine Domino $1.25.”

Finally, “over a seven month period in 1863, the estate received entertainment: 11 periodicals including Punch, Illustrated Times and London News; novels including Trolloppe’s Barchester Towers, Thackery’s Philip, Hugo’s Les Miserables, Macauley’s History of England and a book titled Manufacture of Liquors.”

America Hill has a significant flagpole and on April 5, 1917, Danish Flag was lowered and replaced with the American Flag. The estate gradually fell into decline, following hurricanes. As you wander around the estate today, you can’t help but wonder if the old can on the ground is from those green peas or if the 20th century wine bottle wasn’t left over from rambunctious visitors when America Hill ran as a guesthouse. There is a legend that the property was a base for bootlegged liquor and smuggling in the 1930’s yet by the 1940’s, the America Hill Greathouse was in ruins. Hurricane Hugo finally took the remains of the roof off and collapsed the principal floor into the basement. The America Hill site is now closed to visitors due to the unstable ruins.

Illustrations

2006-05-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

David Kiphuth is an artist from New York who has done freehand illustrations of archaeological objects for many publications, including Irving Rouse's "The Taino's, Rise and Decline of the People who Greeted Columbus," the preemiment text on Caribbean archaeology. While Ken and Mick were at the Society of American Archaeologists Conference in San Juan the other week, attending lectures which praised the accomplishment of Rouse and mourned his passing earlier this year, David was on St. John graciously volunteering his time and talent to the archaeology program. For two days he and his daughter Allie drew the artifacts recently aquired from Julia Condit. Illustrations of artifacts are useful because drawings can bring out characteristics and define features, dimensions, size which photographs are not able to capture. We would like to thank David and his family for their expertise and hope to see them again.

Inventory

2006-05-02T12:50:00.000-04:00

Rum tester used for Rum Production at Reef Bay Plantation, catalogued in 1960.

Mick and Susanna are conducting the annual Random Sample and Accession Inventory this week. Out of a total of 15,000 catalogued artifacts, we sample 202 and confirm that the object is found, that the location is correct and if all associated records are in order. As well, we confirm that all 254 Accessions are located. This inventory gives us a chance to go through all the storage cabinets and to see some artifacts that are rarely viewed. An example from the collection here includes the first prehistoric artifact in our collection, a stone celt, and the first historic artifact, a glass rum tester. A fine sampling of the islands history! We also will inventory the Natural History collection, including bugs, coral, plants and mammals. This should take us the entire week so that by the time Ken gets back from the UNESCO conference on Rock Art in Guadalupe, we will get back to digging at Cinnamon Bay. Polished green stone celt, composed of jadeite, surrounded principally by albite, triangular in shape, collected from Reef Bay area, below the petroglyphs, by David Bratsch, c. 1958.

Earth Day

2006-04-21T15:08:00.000-04:00

Crafts made out of recycled materials
Earth Day, 2006

We just returned from a successful Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park Earth Day Celebration, 2006 on the ball field in Cruz Bay. There were many booths for the schoolchildren to visit: recycling, organic gardening, recycled crafts and of course, the National Park Service. Our Resource Management Team staffed a table which gave an overview of how we protect the natural resources of the island, such as turtles and coral by using moorings, which prevent boats from anchoring in fragile coral and seagrass. Mick and Susanna had a mini-excavation for the children, complete with Taino potsherds and historic artifacts buried in tuperware boxes filled with sand. Armed with trowels and shovels, hundreds of kids got to experience a dig and learned the difference between historic and prehistoric artifacts. Exclamations of “I found something, I found something” rang out and as one adult participant said, “They’re getting bit by the bug.”
The event was a pleasant break from a week spent on the Archeological Sites Management Information System (ASMIS) and cataloging. For ASMIS, we updated the database with GPS points and photographs. Mick continued to catalog VIIS-227 which is field finds and prepared three reports on the Turtle Bay Shovel Tests, Cinnamon Bay Erosion and the Caves. Ken has been preparing presentations for the upcoming Society of American Archeologists(SAA) Conference in San Juan, PR next week, in addition to the UNESCO Rock Art Conference in Guadelupe the following week. Mick will also attend the SAA conference while Susanna works on collection management.

With Help from the Community

2006-04-17T13:27:00.000-04:00

The first part of the week Mick was investigating the petroglyphs on St. Kitts for a brief vacation. Ken and Susanna visited Caneel with Chuck Pishko. Chuck had located an 18th century candelabra at the kitchen area of the historic mangers house. Since the artifact was in the open where it could be collected as a keepsake, he concealed it and marked where he had discovered it. We collected the GPS data and the artifact. Thank you Chuck. (photo: Chuck Pishko with candelabra at Caneel)

Much of this week was devoted to cataloging. However, the interns had a busy and exhausting day on Thursday. The government requires each park to document the existence of all archeological sites, most sites have to be visited, and their condition reassessed every five years. This year we must find seven sites that the park has never assessed. We visited three of the sites on Thursday:, Hope, Paquerau, and Bordeaux Plantations. Luckily, for us, we were able to enlist the help of Peter Burgess, a St. John resident and avid hiker who is familiar with the locations of all three plantations. Peter had been there several times and generously volunteered to take us to the plantations. Following an Old Danish road, he led us up and down Bordeaux Mountain to each plantation. At the plantations, we assessed the condition of each archeological site and buildings. We collected GPS points on the corners of each structure so we can put them accurately on our GIS map and enter them into our Archeological Sites Management Information System (ASMIS). We also took length and width measurements of the buildings. Susanna photographed the buildings with us working as further documentation in the event the park is audited. We accomplished a great deal thanks to Peter and his knowledge of the island.(photo: Peter and Mick at Hope Plantation; Threat of Vegetation to Ruins at Paqeurau)

On Friday, Ken and Susanna completed an underwater survey at Trunk Bay so the park can install two sand screws for a dingy tether (a place to tie your dingy offshore). The tether will allow a dingy a place to park when the shore swells are too high for a safe beach landing. This archeological survey work is an example of basic resource compliance. In other words making sure that when they build, install, repair, renovate, restore, stabilize, or demolish anything in the park we first make sure no cultural resource are going to be damaged and if so, then a new process of mitigation is followed. But that is another story as nothing was found Friday except abandoned masks and snorkels.

(Photo: Channel Marker Screw in Trunk Bay, Depth, 15ft; Coral in the vincinity of cultural resources, Trunk Bay, 25ft)

Returning Home

2006-04-07T13:38:00.000-04:00

Under the supervision of Ken Wild and with the help of interns, the Cultural Resources of the Virgin Islands National Park are in good shape. However, it wasn’t always the case. One of the truly disturbing thoughts to those of us involved in archaeology in the park is thinking about all the artifacts that have walked off this island in the past 300 years and are in private collections. The story of the Virgin Islands early history is built upon archaeological evidence, and when artifacts are removed by untrained individuals, entire persons, plots and events go with them.
One important person in the story of St. John’s archaeological past is Mrs. Julia Condit. Mrs. Condit was the wife of Caneel’s Resident Architect, Mr. Thomas Condit. Together, they spent more than eight years on St. John and Julia spent an extraordinary amount of time piecing together the archaeology of the island. The Daily News from Friday, May 8, 1964 wrote that, “as an amateur archaeologist, Julia has worked with zeal and insight which have won ungrudging praise from the professional archaeologist.’ Thanks to her, valuable artifacts were saved from the dirt pile and oblivion during bulldozing operations at Caneel and Cinnamon Bay. Julia meticulously collected and restored hundreds of widely scattered pottery fragments which were put on display at the NPS Museum. Fortunately, the park has much of her collection intact today.
Ken Wild learned of Mrs. Condit about two years ago from Inga Hiilivirta from Islandia Real Estate on St. John. Inga knew the Condit’s in the 1960’s and gave Ken Julia’s number. Julia sent Ken some photographs and articles about her work. Ken learned that Julia had been asked by NPS employees to keep some of the artifacts because the park did not have the ability to curate the objects at that time. So Julia had been keeping them safe with her for fifty years!
About two month ago, Susanna began working as a contract curator for the NPS and called Julia again. Julia agreed to send the artifacts back to the park and this week they arrived. What a wonderful collection! Inside the boxes were celts and stone tools, pottery sherds, shell ornaments and effigy faces which probably date between 1000-1450AD. When these artifacts are catalogued and placed in the collection, along with the information provided by Mrs. Condit, a new chapter in the story of prehistoric St. John will emerge.
Today, the Virgin Islands National Park is seeking the return of artifacts which have been removed from the Park. If you have any information regarding the removal of artifacts, please contact the park. Text and photos by Susanna Pershern

More Exploring

2006-04-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

(On Cabrit Horn, St John)
We have taken some time off from our current dig at Cinnamon Bay to pursue a few other projects. Last week we took a trip to Cabrit Horn to try to find two ruins to assess their condition for our site files that we keep in a government database termed ASMIS. ASMIS stands for Archeological Sites Management Information Systems. We found the Mandal Plantation. We searched for the ruins of a hospital for a while but to no avail. We’ll try again with a little more time examining the aerial photographs to see if we can pinpoint any square structures in the area that might be this historic hospital.

Andrew Connor and Mick Wigal spent several days putting the finishing touches on the Turtle Point dig. We completed all the cataloging of the artifacts and created a computer map of our shovel test units. Unlike our hand drawn maps, we are drawing this one in 3-D. Ken wants to brush up on his techniques with the software while teaching us the advantages of using this technology. Completing these steps allows us to finish the report for the project.

Intern Andrew Connor returned home to Massachusetts this week. He was a great help to Virgin Islands National Park archeology during the three months he was here. Hopefully he learned a great deal while working here and will pursue archeology as a career after finishing a degree in Anthropology from Augsberg College in Minnesota.

Reburial Project Excavation and More...

2006-03-24T16:27:00.000-04:00

Update March 20-24, 2006
We began this week with a shovel test at Cinnamon Bay. We are excavating this small test to assess the area chosen with the island clergy for the reburial of the human remains that have been eroding from the beachfront here for 30 years. Directly behind the warehouse, at 22 centimeters below the surface (cmbs) we discovered a distinct historic mortar floor. This building was somewhat of a surprise, as the historic maps don’t depict a building here. We are going to have to look close at the estate inventories once the artifacts give us a time frame on construction. Right now annular whiteware sherds indicate it was occupied to the mid-1800s but a bottleneck found embedded in the mortar floor suggests the floor could have been constructed in the late 18th century. We have extended the shovel test horizontally to find the dimensions of the floor so we can avoid impacting this historic structure when we reinter the Cinnamon Bay human remains. On the very surface before we even started digging we recovered a historic pick and hoe, along with historic pottery, glass, metal and prehistoric sherds. We will continue this exploratory work until we find a suitable location to excavate a 2x2 meter grave, which we figure will be large enough for two ossuaries. Why two? One ossuary for the human remains that have been found up until now, the other ossuary is for those remains that will be found in the future from this eroded beachfront. We will be continuing this work next week, but we also have on the agenda trip to Hassel Island with the Friends of the Park supporters. We will try to bring back pictures of the diving bells.

Ongoing is our monitoring and recovery of diagnostic or museum quality artifacts before they are lost to the erosion occurring at Cinnamon Bay. This week, a decorated fragment of Delftware was recovered which dates generally from 1600-1802. It is patterned with iridescent blue flowers. We intend to do further analysis to narrow the date range on this rare find.

This week UNESCO invited Ken as an expert on Petroglyphs to a meeting in Guadalupe of Rock Art experts in the Caribbean for the feasibility of a transnational nomination of rock art to the list of world heritage sites. You can find the petroglyph paper written for the public and further information about Cinnamon Bay at the Friends of the Virgin Islands website: www.friendsvinp.org.

Thank You!

2006-03-17T16:50:00.000-04:00

The Maine students finished up their work this week at Leinster Bay and we spent today getting all the gear out of the field and back to the lab and office: ladders, machetes, a tent, freshwater, map table, tools and more. It was a beautiful day and as we traveled by boat to make the work easier, we got a chance to take pictures from the water and to see some sites. Thanks to all the Maine students for their super work on the 3-D modeling!

Virtual Preservation of Historic Ruins

2006-03-10T16:32:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a grant from the Virgin Islands Humanities Council, the Friends, and the professors and students from the University of Maine, we are spending the next few weeks mapping plantation ruins into 3-Dimensional space on the computer. We archeology interns have spent our last week helping to get the Maine students situated and ready to work as they left the cold and snow and arrived down here in the fun and sun. We spent a few days getting their tents ready at Cinnamon and a field tent at Leinster Bay to protect the equipment. The students are now hard at virtual preservation.
The Maine students are using an additional program that is proving to make modeling much easier and more efficient to use with the other programs. The new program allows them to photograph the ruins from a variety of angles and, using dots they have placed around the ruins, “sew” these photographs together. We are already seeing exciting results after only three days of work. The students already have one wall complete and are working on modeling a well and another wall. We presented the work to members of the press and supporters this morning at the ruins and have another presentation on Monday.

Cave Expedition II

2006-02-23T16:47:00.000-04:00

Exciting weeks-- We find the Prehistoric Caves, Evidence from the 1733 Slave Revolt, and an Underwater Cannon that may Predate the Danes dating to the 1600s. Graphing C-14 dates give New Insights into the Pre-Columbian Peoples at Trunk Bay.

This week we are analyzing and cataloging the artifacts we unearthed in our Caneel Bay shovel tests. It is painstaking work but is necessary to complete our research and ensure that the artifacts are easily accessible to future archeologists who might continue after our efforts. Our first step in this process is cleaning the artifacts, which was done with the help of two volunteers. We then analyze the artifacts from each unit and level separately. We weigh and count everything we find. In some cases, we might discard some objects, such as shells that are not related to the archeological record and therefore not diagnostic. We still have to ID them, record their weight, and count each species. Everything we keep we sort by the thousands of diagnostic attributes they may fall into, and then assign each sorted object(s) a catalog number. Lots of prehistoric pottery was recovered and interesting stone tools (one of which is pictured in a previous blog entry). There are also several stone grinders and numerous stone flakes that indicate tool creation. During our analysis, we discovered one artifact that was particularly unique and which we incorrectly thought was a stone flake at the dig site. Upon closer examination, Ken determined it was actually a French gunflint probably for an eighteenth century musket. It is possible that this artifact along with the early colonial pottery is evidence of the French troops who were brought to St. John to quell the slave revolt of 1733.

Connor and I also had to return this week to examine the caves we found for evidence of prehistoric occupation and to explore for more caves. This time we remembered to bring a headlight. This helped a great deal, as we were able to actually see inside the caves. In the first cave, Connor found one small potsherd on the surface. It was exciting to discover that these caves were used by Tainos or perhaps their ancestors. At the next rock overhang, we found several more potsherds and charcoal. We also found two more small caves, one of which had a Cittarium pica shell, locally known as whelk, which was a prehistoric food source, but could have also been the former home of a Soldier Crab. I hope that future investigations will reveal good diagnostic artifacts and give us deeper knowledge into the extent of occupation and the caves' use.

A couple of weeks ago Ken and Susanna followed up on a lead that park biologist Thomas Kelley discovered while diving in the park. Thomas reported spotting what looked like a small cannon. Upon inspection it appears that, indeed, it is a cannon but of the most unusual design. It may be possible that the cannon is from the 17th century as the design and pottery in the area appear to go back to a pre-Danish era. More information will be forthcoming about the cannon as investigations continue.

Over these last two weeks, we have also had the pleasure to host Dr. Emily Lundberg and her husband Bert and his daughter Deborah. Dr. Lundberg came from Montana to work with Ken on the Trunk Bay ceramics. We interns just recently completed entering some several thousand ceramic data records into an Access program so they could start asking the data some questions. While we were out in the field, Bert and Deborah addressed the lab’s visitors allowing Emily and Ken a chance to focus on the work. Their goal is to define the ceramic chronology of the Virgin Islands from AD 800 to 1200. The dates for the site became much clearer this week after Ken graphed out the fifteen C-14 dates. He found that excavations conducted for the ramp that begins at the fee booth, the septic tank next to the concession area, and the present men’s bathroom all clustered within a 200-year period beginning in AD 1000 and ending around AD 1200. Two other sectors of the site were found to date to AD 800-1000.

Sierra Club, Elderhostel and Historical Society

2006-02-17T10:14:00.000-04:00

Monday February 6-Wednesday February 15
Clearing vegetation from historic ruins has kept us busy these last couple of weeks but we have had plenty of volunteer help from the Sierra Club and the Elderhostel. These groups have generously provided their vacation time in St. John to help us keep Colonial era ruins free of destructive vegetation. This work helps to preserve the ruins and makes them visible for the public but is especially important this week because of two upcoming projects.

The first sets of ruins were Yawzi Point and Little Lameshur Bay. The park has received funds to restore some of these ruins. Therefore, a first priority is to clear the vegetation to allow the historic preservationists access to the ruins to assess them and begin work. The Sierra Club made it possible to clear all these historic structures in three days. Next, we cleared the ruins at Leinster Bay. In this undertaking, we enlisted the help of an Elderhostel group and a new group of Sierra Club volunteers. It was important that this work be done now to prepare for a group of engineering students and their teachers from the University of Maine.

As part of a Virgin Islands Humanity grant, U. of Maine is coming back in March to continue the park’s efforts to model endangered ruins in 3D. We had to clear enough brush away from the structures to allow them to be photographed from a distance, as well as to be accurately measured. Since there are at least 500 ruins on St. John, it is impossible to restore or preserve all of them now. The hope is that they can be preserved on computers in 3-dimensional space. Not only will this allow interested parties to tour the ruins in cyberspace, but it will also create an exact blueprint of the structures so that they could, hypothetically, be rebuilt in the future. It is, for now, our one financially viable way to preserve this past for our children before they become piles of unidentifiable rubble.

We also assisted the St. John Historical Society and Elderhostel in clearing the Annaberg School ruins. The goal here was to make the ruins a more picturesque and enjoyable place to visit. We were more than happy to help on their effort to help the park.

We owe a big thank you to the Sierra Club and Elderhostel for all of their hard work. Without them we would spend many more days getting these ruins cleared of the destructive vegetation. We appreciate them taking time out of their vacation to help us.

Cinnamon Bay: Proposed Museum Exhibits in 3-D

2006-02-17T09:17:00.000-04:00

BY Ian Kaminiski-Coughlin

My internship has a different objective from those of the other interns. Ken Wild contacted one of my professors at the University of Minnesota in search of someone with knowledge of historic architecture to design museum exhibits and new laboratory fixtures for the Cinnamon Bay Archaeology Lab. Michael Milne, known to St. John as the barefoot architect, has taken me into his office of five (one of the largest firms on St. John) and donated my wages to the Friends of the Park to accomplish this. I work on this project half the time and help with Michael’s busy residential practice the other half.
The building in which the museum and new lab will be located in one of the oldest structures still in use (1680’s) on island and, as such, is a fitting locale. Presently there is no venue to display to the public the park’s diverse collection of prehistoric, maritime, and colonial artifacts. I feel fortunate to be one of the first contributors to this project that will display this island’s heritage to the local community and their visitors.

Shovel Tests in Paradise

2006-02-08T17:53:00.000-04:00

For the past two weeks Mick Wigal and myself (Andrew Connor) have been conducting shovel tests at Turtle Point in Caneel Bay. Our hope is that this example of mitigative archeology will help us gain a better understanding of the layout of the pre-Taino village and any historical structures that existed in the area, while exploring for areas of the site that have been disturbed. We know a prehistoric site exists in the area due to the abundance of potsherds on the surface and artifacts that have been found there in the past.

Our first few days at the site were spent working with the laser transit. The transit allows us to create a survey map of the shoreline, trees, parking lot, shovel test units, and any other features on the site. Once we've "shot" these features into the transit we can transfer the data to a program on the computer that will allow us to create a map of the site.

After grappling with the transit for several days we created a grid on the site that would allow us to easily locate our shovel test units. Ken chose to dig four .5 X .5 meter units. These units were spread across the grid. They allowed us to determine the extent of damage due to machinery, examine artifacts in an area threatened by erosion, and explore a squared mound of soil.

It took us two weeks to complete all four shovel tests but we found some interesting artifacts. All four holes contained numerous prehistoric potsherds and ecofacts consisting of cittarium pica shells (a large snail), conch shells, parrotfish vertebrae and beaks, and other small snail shells. These are examples of food remains and the conch could also be used as a tool.

One unit was filled with stone flakes that are created by scraping pieces off a stone core. This suggests that there may have been a prehistoric stone tool factory in this area. We only found one example of historic pottery. Our most exciting find came on January 1. While excavating I came across a stone axe or scraper that had obviously been chipped down to a very sharp edge.

A Farewell to James

2006-02-02T18:15:00.000-04:00

Intern James Trombetti left today to return home to Kentucky. Although James was a biology major, he took a great interest in archeology. He was a hard worker and excellent asset to the team. As an intern James worked on Cinnamon Bay shoreline, Trunk Bay, and Turtle Point excavations, while also assisting in mapping, historic structure preservation, and interpretation. He will be missed by everyone. James is planning on attending Ranger School in the fall to become a law enforcement Park Ranger. Good luck James!

In Search of Prehistoric Caves

2006-02-01T17:57:00.000-04:00

January 16, 2006-January 20, 2006

This was an eventful and exciting week for the archeology interns. The new intern, Andrew Connor, arrived on Monday from Massachusetts. I'm sure the weather change was more than welcome. His first day was spent getting familiarized with the Cinnamon Bay lab and getting to know everyone.

James Trombetti and I gave our first St. John archeology talk to tourists at the lab. Andrew listened to get a taste of some of the island's Taino and plantation history. The talk was a success, with eighteen people attending. Everyone gave us good reviews and several people came back later to thank us.

The most exciting event of the week, though, came on Wednesday. Ever since I started working, I have heard of a purported prehistoric cave on the North Shore. Apparently two archeologists surveyed St. John in the 1950s and briefly wrote about the cave in their subsequent report. Rumors about the cave abound around the island. Lots of people have heard of it and seemingly everyone knows someone who knows where it is. Frustratingly, no one has told us where it is.

James and I have already hiked up the point twice looking for it but to no avail. We actually have a method for looking for it. Using the GIS program on the computer, we look at an aerial photograph of St. John and find points on Mary's Point that look like they would have terrain suited for a cave. We then enter these points into the GPS. The GPS aims us in the direction of the points and shows us where we've been so we don't survey the same area multiple times.

For our third trip, we headed for a huge rock that sticks out above the trees. The jungle was thick with thorns but we eventually made it to the rock. The entire area was covered with huge boulders. The first one we examined had a narrow hole that was just big enough for a person to crawl through. The hole opened into a small room that was big enough for maybe two people to stand in. I crawled in but didn't see any artifacts or petroglyphs. There was a layer of soil in the bottom of the cave so we may have to excavate in search of a human presence. We found several other rocky overhangs that could possibly be considered caves. We only explored about half of the boulders, so more exploration will be necessary to determine if other caves exist.

Welcome to Archeology

2006-01-27T18:30:00.000-04:00

Ken Wild is aided in his research by a stream of interns and volunteers. He also has yearly field schools from the Anthropology Departments of the University of Syracuse, the University of Southern Maine, and the Maritime Studies Department from East Carolina University's underwater archeology program. This March, the Engineering Department of Maine University is returning again to help us map threatened historic structures in 3D. His current interns are Susanna Pershern, who is a graduate of St. Olaf College and has worked with Ken for three years, Mick Wigal who graduated from Centre College, and Ian Kaminski-Coughlin, an architectural intern from the University of Minnesota who is being sponsored by Barefoot Architects, Inc. The newest addition to the team is Andrew Connor, who is a student at Augsburg College. Susanna is currently working to organize the park archives and the cultural and biological collections. Ian is designing a 3D computer CAD model of the layout for the new museum exhibits and our working space at the Cinnamon Bay lab. Mick and Andrew are conducting mitigative archeology at Caneel Bay to gain insight into the significant prehistoric site and, possibly, one of the island's first European settlements dating to the late 1600s.

Susanna Pershern at the lab cataloging.

Computer 3-D Modeling of threatened ruins. This is a preservation method that we hope will provide a model for all to visit on their computer. It contains enough architectural information that if they collapse, the knowledge is preserved.