SVG National Trust saves petroglyphs at Argyle

Were it not for the intervention of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Trust, the Petroglyphs at Argyle would have been no more when work on the Argyle International Airport commenced.

Help has come all the way from Cuba in the person of Eric Pelissier, Archeologist and specialist in the reproduction and restoration of artefacts.{{more}}

Speaking to Pelissier recently at the National Trust headquarters in Kingstown, Pelissier said that the Trust contacted him to the help with the preservation of part of our national heritage and he quickly agreed. He said there is a slight possibility that the petroglyphs can be removed without being destroyed. Failing that, replicas will have to be built. Pelissier noted that in order for the replicas to be built, different coats of products including silicon rubber and fiberglass must be applied to the rocks in order to form a mould.

He said that there are seven designs to be replicated before the airport begins.

St Vincent and the Grenadines has a rich legacy of petroglyphs in Yambou, Layou, Barrouallie, Petit Bordel, Buccament cave, Colonaire, Redemption Sharpes stream, Mount Wynne, Lowmans Bay, Canouan and Petit St Vincent. These artefacts are deeply incised and very well defined.

The late great Archeologist Dr Earle Kirby, did the first comprehensive survey of rock art in St Vincent and the Grenadines in the 1960’s. Dr Kirby presented it to the scientific community at the Third International Congress for the study of Pre Columbian Cultures of the Lesser Antilles.

Some of the sites may be contentious; some are believed to be relatively recent (1000 to 1500AD), some even at a conservative estimate date back to the Saladoid period.

Some of the petroglyphs here may even bear close resemblance to glyphs in Africa relating to sun god images and scripts.