Sauteurs youth empowered through archaeological training

by Curlan Campbell

• Next generation of budding scientists in Grenada will have hands-on skills and knowledge of archaeological methods and theory
• Sauteurs Community Archaeology Heritage Project (SCHAP) is the Sauteurs chapter of the Grenada Public Archaeology Network (GPAN), spearheaded by the Institute for People’s Enlightenment (IPE)

Archaeological training provided by Institute for People’s Enlightenment (IPE) and The Grenada Public Archaeology Network (GPAN) empowers Sauteurs youth.

Grenada sets its course to protect its heritage sites by empowering the next generation of budding scientists in Grenada with hands-on skills and knowledge of archaeological methods and theory.

The project entitled the Sauteurs Community Archaeology Heritage Project (SCHAP) is the Sauteurs chapter of the Grenada Public Archaeology Network (GPAN), spearheaded by the Institute for People’s Enlightenment (IPE). It targets building capacities to preserve the indigenous heritage and raises awareness of archaeological sites’ economic value in terms of tourism and research funding.

Following receipt of grant funding from UNESCO’s 2020-2021 Participation Programme and grant support from the Grenada Union of Teachers Credit Union (GUTCU) under its Community Support Fund 2021, the Institute for People’s Enlightenment (IPE) held a formal opening ceremony for SCHAP on 20 July 2021, to commence the training of its first batch of Archaeologists. To date, 18 participants (9 students attending the Mc Donald College, St Mark Secondary and TAMCC, 6 young adults from the community of Mt Craven and 3-secondary school teachers) have benefited from the programme, which saw them engaged in both interactive classroom sessions and mini-workshops and field activities including bus tours, pedestrian survey-surface finds, shovel and auger testing.

Dr Jonathan Hanna is the lead Archaeologist and instructor of the Grenada Public Archaeology Network (GPAN). He imparted invaluable skills to the participants, such as key concepts in site recognition and recording, basic cartography and survey methods and practical knowledge about Caribbean history and prehistory. These skills were reinforced through field activities at Pre-Columbian archaeological sites around the island.

As part of the programme, participants from the Grenada Public Archaeology Network (GPAN) in Sauteurs and La Sagesse got to assist Dr Kendra Sirak from Harvard University on her visit to Grenada. Dr Sirak collected samples from Amerindian skeletons held at the Grenada National Museum to analyse their DNA. Aside from determining their relatedness to each other and nearby regional groups, the study may also help determine whether the Ceramic Age peoples were genetically distinct from those that came before and what the nature of their interaction was.

Alexandra Baptiste-Mirjah, one of the 5 recipients of the (GUTCU) Le Morne des Sauteurs Heritage Archaeology Excellence Award, feels very strongly about cultural heritage preservation. “I had previously studied tourism with business, and one of my modules was heritage tourism, so ideally learning about culture and history and when I heard the programme was going on, I quickly decided to get involved, and I have not regretted because it has been a really good experience. We got to do a lot of cool stuff in terms of how to record the artefacts using GPS, which I never thought that I will be able to do.”

Amonie Holas, was also the recipient of the (GUTCU) Le Morne des Sauteurs Heritage Archaeology Excellence Award, was indeed impressed with the level of knowledge received during the programme. Holas, a part-time tour guide and a recent graduate of St George’s University, believes the newfound knowledge can be utilised to enhance his tour guide skills further.

“Honestly, for me, the training will play a pivotal role in what I do, so I am one of the local tour guides, I do tours with kayaks as well as island tours and just getting to know a lot of this integral information about my cultural heritage will be great for transferring that knowledge not only to tourists but locals on a whole.”

Speaking on behalf of all the participants at the closing ceremony on Sunday, 6 March 2022, Tiandra McKenzie, GPAN-SCHAP 2021 Participant, TAMCC Student and a Recipient of the Grenada Union of Teachers Credit Union Le Morne des Sauteurs Award Heritage Archaeology Excellence 2021-2022 said in her “Participants’ Remarks.”

“We also got the opportunity to learn the techniques and procedures used by archaeologists and the hands-on application of doing them ourselves. We learnt how to do shovel testing and Auger testing while using a GPS which made us feel like true archaeologists. We even got the chance to collect pottery and was able to identify the time period from which they could have possibly been from. Seeing this many potteries made us realise that we pass by these things without even giving it a second thought. I am sure that there is a possibility of you having pieces of pottery in your backyard.”

Dr Jonathan Hanna indicates that participants’ understanding of the past is not just about objects, but is about identifying the cultural experience and expressions of people living in the present. “A lot of the students just needed a nudge and now they are really interested in things and that is one of the best outcomes for me. Some of the participants can now be great tour guides and one of the things that we do want to develop in later phases of the programme, is a walkabout of the Sauteurs area and other historical points of interest that the participants can offer,” Dr Hanna said.

Dr Hanna said the archaeological training provided to members of the Sauteurs and surrounding communities will encourage a sense of community ownership, resulting in increased awareness of cultural resource management in the area. He applauded the participants for taking a keen interest in this project to ensure its successful completion. He stated that one key highlight during the project was the unearthing of a style of ceramics that suggest a much earlier settlement in the Sauteurs area than previously expected.

“There is evidence that some of the earliest settlers were in this area. So we have been able to expand our knowledge on the extent of the site and how long the chronological occupation,” he said.

Upon completion of the programme, The Institute for People’s Enlightenment (IPE) and GPAN held an official closing ceremony on Sunday, 6 March 2022, at the Mt Craven Human Resource Development Centre where participants were presented with their certificates of attendance and their Project T-Shirts in the presence of their parents and guardians, and other community members, some of their teachers and people who provide support services to the project.

Assisting in the handing out of certificates were the Parliamentary representative for St Patrick East  Pamela Moses; MP Saint Patrick West, Cabinet Minister with responsibility for ICT, Prime Minister’s Ministry and Claudette Pitt; Director, St Patrick’s Environmental and Community Tourism Organisation (SPECTO) Marcus Purcell; Marketing and Product Development Officer, Grenada Union of Teachers Co-operative Credit Union and Simon Green, IPE Chairman, Manager RDF Enterprises, River Antoine Estate delivered brief remarks.