Archaeological work continues at Argyle Airport Site

The International Airport Development Company (IADC) and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Trust continue to collaborate to ensure that this country’s history and heritage are preserved.{{more}}

Following three previous working visits by archaeologists, the IADC and National Trust have again welcomed the return of the Archaeological team from Lieden University, of the Netherlands.

This team, which consists of 18 faculty members and students, is continuing work that they started in February 2010 on excavating the ridge just above the Argyle River. This site is believed to have been inhabited by Cayos or Island Caribs.

According to the leader of the team, Professor Corinne Hoffman, they are making some interesting finds. One of those finds is a stone axe, which she believes was used mainly for ceremonial purposes. Professor Hoffman, Head of the Faculty of Caribbean Archaeology at Leiden University, says that this stone axe is the first to have been found on a site anywhere in the Windward Islands that can be linked directly to the island Caribs.

On this visit, a round house was also discovered along with several other post holes and artifacts.

One of the main objectives of their work is to combine their findings here with findings from similar sites in other Windward Islands, as they try to understand how the island Caribs lived from the pre-Colonial era up to the 18th century.

Other leading members of the team include Dr. Menno Hoogland, as well as Professor Arie Boomert, who was part of the first Leiden team that excavated around the Escape site.

The team received some much needed help when a group of about 27 persons from Martinique who sailed into St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday paid them a visit. The Martinique group was on its second to last leg of collecting data while retracing the journey of the first Amerindians who travelled to these parts in small canoes in rough waters.

Persons from Diamond village also received a history lesson about the Caribs when they visited the site on Tuesday.