Excavations at the Golden Rock site on the F.D. Roosevelt Airport premises. (File photo)
ST. EUSTATIUS--Although there are some points in the report published by the Statia Heritage Research Committee at the end of January with which they disagree, Kenneth Cuvalay and Marjolijn Kok of the St. Eustatius African Burial Ground Alliance (ABGA) consider the report a “way forward” where archaeology and heritage in St. Eustatius are concerned.
Cuvalay, an independent archaeologist, and ABGA member Kok said it was “strange” that the report was made public on the same day of a public discussion, leaving the community no time to read the report thoroughly. “The present Executive Council has problems with informing the public in a rightful manner,” Cuvalay said.
He said the island government is turning a blind eye towards the execution of projects by St. Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research (SECAR) and to the “incompetence” of SECAR itself.
“This leaves one to wonder what will happen now. The proposal to create a Heritage Agency will not happen in a day, so everyone is now in a period of uncertainty with all indications that it will be business as usual,” ABGA said.
“If the recommendations in the report on the guidelines for archaeological research are followed, it will be the first policy where the Malta Convention and the Faro Convention are combined at a basic level. This would be a great step forward in heritage management,” said Kok.
A “major problem” is that private landowners are seen as owners of the archaeological artefacts found on their property. “This may be the case in the United States, but is not part of Dutch legislation on heritage,” Kok said.
ABGA is fearful that when foreigners and non-residents of St. Eustatius buy property here this could mean that heritage may be taken away from the island with the community left with only paper reports.
According to ABGA, the to-be-formed Heritage Agency “should be careful not to work with the usual suspects as they have shown inappropriate behaviour when it concerns African-descendant communities.”
Cuvalay was referring to chairman of the Heritage Research Committee and director of St. Maarten Archaeological Center SIMARC Jay Haviser, “who, against all proper conduct in community heritage projects, inserts his own idea about what the monument should look like before anyone else of the community has been consulted.” This, Cuvalay said, “makes it appear that he wants to put a personal stamp on a project that hasn’t started yet, for his own personal gain.”
Cuvalay also aimed his arrows at SECAR archaeologist Ruud Stelten, who Cuvalay claimed deliberately withheld information about burial grounds of enslaved people of African descent, “as he knew the St. Eustatius African-descendant community would want to have their say in the excavations of their ancestors.”
SECAR, which oversees these excavations, “also has shown not to care about the people of St. Eustatius and their heritage and has conducted in general these projects for their own interest,” said Cuvalay.
“As St. Eustatius is still under colonial rule where the Dutch government makes all the major decisions either directly or through the two commissioners, it is our hope that the new Heritage Agency is not an all-white and colonial-thinking affair,” said Cuvalay.
He said that Haviser and Stelten should not be included in the Heritage Agency.
“The island needs African-centred leadership with people who understand its culture and community, respect their beliefs and traditions and whom the people trust will do the right thing and involve the community. There may not be many Dutch archaeologists of African descent but there are plenty in the Caribbean to choose from,” Cuvalay stated. “To empower us, as the African-descendant community, we have to have a genuine say and lead in the matters and be part of the decision-making process.”
ABGA said it will follow future developments closely and inform stakeholders of their findings. The report is now in the hands of the government. It is unclear whether the SHRC is still functioning.
