Archaeology students back from Kabakaburi dig -pottery, tools found
By Zoisa Fraser
Wednesday, July 25th 2007 Zacharias Norman, an Iwokrama forest ranger, cleans one of the artifacts that he and his group found during excavation at Kabakaburi, Region Two.
Eleven persons, including University of Guyana (UG) students, have successfully completed a one-week course in archaeology, opening the gateway for others who are interested in pursuing studies in this field.
This course came into being when UG launched the Denis Williams School of Anthropology two Mondays ago though collaborative efforts with two US universities as a step towards offering full-time studies in the discipline in coming years.
Cultural anthropology has been part of the local university's summer programme for sometime now and this year archaeology was added. The Amerindian Research Unit of the School of Humanities at UG previously worked along with US-based Guyanese Dr George Mentore of the University of Virginia to offer the course in cultural anthropology. Recently Dr Mark Plew of Boise State University (BSU), Idaho, who has ties with UG spanning some 20 years, joined the team to carry the archaeology course.
The archaeology students described their experience as exciting and educational and said they were looking forward to more courses like the one they have just completed.
Four of the participants were from the university's environmental studies course, two from the forestry course, one from the creative arts course, two from Iwokrama and two from Kabakaburi Settlement in Region Two, where the students carried out an excavation exercise. Materials for the course were provided by BSU; UG financed the accommodation and meals and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport provided transportation for the students from Georgetown to Parika. The course for this first batch of students was free.
After three days of digging, the group came across pieces of pottery, stone tools, bones and other items left behind by early settlers. Some of these things will be taken back to the USA for analysis.
Yesterday was the final day of the course and several of the students met at the Walter Roth museum where they cleaned and parcelled off the items found. They will receive certificates for successfully completing the course.
Besides the excavation, the students also had to make detailed recordings of their findings and the area where they were digging. Dr Plew told Stabroek News that he was impressed with the quality of notes the Guyanese students have taken in such a short space of time. Plew said the students were well prepared, having done an introduction to the course.
"I have developed a strong interest in Guyanese archaeology. We talked about this, particularly in the last couple of years. We were also hoping that the project that was just finished would have been done several years ago. It was a great opportunity to work and learn from the local people about the past," he said.
According to Plew, in the past students have studied archaeology at BSU and this batch of students could have the same opportunity.
But he said it could be very complicated if the next group was a large one since staffing would be a problem.
Plew, who had just completed a similar six-week course in Idaho, USA, said he would be taking some of the artifacts as well as animal bones back to the US with him to be studied. However, Dr. Plew will first have to get permission from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport before he takes the artifacts out of the country.
"I hope that we could have a follow-up with these students. When we come back to do another project we will invite some of these students so that they can gain some experience… We have barely scratched the surface. The more students we have that are aware of their cultural heritage, the better off we will be," Plew added.
Meanwhile Jennifer Wishart who lectured to the UG students on Amerindian Studies, which sparked their interest in archaeology, told Stabroek News that the participants signed up for the course after it was advertised. She said they were introduced to the topic in April and classroom training commenced soon after.
"This is an introductory course that I hope Guyana students will be interested in. We don't have many archaeologists here in Guyana. This is just the pioneer group and the others coming after will probably have to pay for the course," she said.
According to Wishart, she had worked with Dr Denis Williams to whom the school was dedicated, for many years. She added that since his death in 1998 government has renovated the Walter Roth Museum.
Wishart also has experience working with primary and secondary school students in the field of archaeology.
She said the students from the cultural anthropology course were completing their six-week course in Nappi, Region Nine. She noted that the anthropology course, which was more complex than the archaeology course, has been in existence since 2002.
The anthropology students have to live in communities for two weeks during which time they record the people's health practices and observe their cooking methods, among other things.
Archaeology club
Mark Szala, a participant of the archaeology course said he was ecstatic about the course since it allowed him to explore and become more aware and cognizant of his environment. He said being a part of the course was a learning experience especially when working with the people in his field.
Szala, a third-year Environmental Studies student at UG, explained that his interest in archaeology was aroused after he completed a course in Amerindian Studies in his first year.
Since then, the young man said, his lecturer had always been behind the students of that course to form an archaeology club, but that did not materialize until he was in the third year.
Szala added that they chose the site at Kabakaburi because excavation work done there did not utilize modernized equipment. He said they excavated a shell mound - where the ancient Amerindians used to dump their kitchen waste and even bury the dead - which is about 5,000 years old. The mound is about five feet high.
According the Szala, they found various artifacts such as pottery, stone tools and animal bones at different depths. He said they spent five days in the village. On the first day, he said, they split into two groups and surveyed the area. The next day measurements were taken to mark the area for future reference, and then the following day the dig began. Szala said he hoped he and the other participants would continue to do work in that field.
Another third-year environmental student Diana Fernandes said she too became interested in the subject after the Amerindian Studies course.
She said she wanted to learn more about the subject so she decided to join up for the course when the opportunity arose. She said they dug about 110 cm and they were able to uncover lots of artifacts.
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56525327
