Among the islands of the Lesser Antilles, Barbuda is unique. Large in area and low in elevation, this sparsely populated outpost balances on the edge of the modern era. The people of Barbuda face a struggle to hold on to traditions, establish connections to the island’s cultural heritage and offer educational opportunities to the youth, all this while developing economically. These are just a few of the considerations in Barbuda’s delicate balancing act.
WEEKender presents a special three-part series on this little-known island of Barbuda. Nearly forgotten, this sister island of Antigua has a surprising history and an uncertain future. Development on a grand scale looms on the horizon, while the rich archaeological heritage, natural resources and the population’s lifestyle and communal rights to the land hold their ground.
Part 1 - The Barbuda Research Complex
A place for scientific study for international archaeologists but also for the people of Barbuda, the BRC, or Barbuda Research Complex, began 11 years ago after professor Sophia Perdikaris was called in to assist with a matter of archaeological site destruction both because of development and natural erosion due to storms. Dr. Perdikaris, an archaeologist from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, is considered an expert on environmental archaeology and was interested in visiting Barbuda. 
What she found on the ground was a big surprise: besides the expected Colonial period artifacts and sites, there were pre-Colombian tools, pottery and cooking debris resting on the surface and in the top few feet of the soil. The prehistory of Barbuda goes back to 5000 years BC, as evidenced by stone blades and axes.
“Because this is such a dry island, there has been no large scale farming and that, along with no big resorts coming in, has allowed the artifacts to remain in place for millennia. The pre-Colombian sites have not been destroyed like other places,” explained BRC collaborating researcher, Dr. Allison Bain. “One site, Indian Town Trail, actually has more artifacts than soil! I’ve never seen anything like it.” Bain has been bringing her graduate students from Laval University in Quebec to help with excavations for the last seven years.
Two of those students are Ann Marie Fauchet and Mark Ladouceur. Fauchet is earning her PhD in part by conducting research on the types of plants the early inhabitants consumed. She has found that during the 1700s, there was cultivation of vegetables including yams, pigeon peas, potatoes and a type of grain known as guinea corn. Ladouceur is working on his Master’s degree under Dr. Bain. His research is more directed towards understanding the buildings constructed at a site called Highland House, appropriately named as it is situated on Barbuda’s tallest ridge, a mere 125 feet above sea level. Another PhD candidate, studying under Perdikaris, is Reaksha Persaud. Her interest is in the artifacts left behind by the Saladoid people and what this tells us about who they were. All these works will help to define the history and thus the cultural heritage of the island’s current inhabitants. It also contributes to the understanding of the long-term sustainable practices that Barbuda’s leadership needs to appreciate at this critical juncture.
Beyond the international researchers and their work, the BRC has a deeper role to play in the Barbudan community. The centre is open to any and all local people who would like to visit or participate, and especially reaches out to teachers and students. Dr. Perdikaris has the ambitious goal of bringing the local and the global together to connect through science, art and the humanities. The government has supported her efforts by granting BRC a long lease of some property in the centre of Codrington, the island‘s capital and only village. A house that had been abandoned and was little more than a shell full of refuse stood at the middle of the property. Dwight Finch the general manager and treasurer for BRC assembled a team that transformed the rubble into a modest field house. This is home base; it houses visiting researchers and provides a work area and a small lab. Once that was done, the real work began.
An aquaponics garden was set up, animals were rescued, and outreach to the schools was established. Networking with other Caribbean archaeologists and international groups, such as the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, began. Teams began to visit for days, weeks or months. During 2011, St. Maarten’s own archaeologist, Dr. Jay Haviser, brought the SIMARC students for a visit. The presence of the scientists in the little community is seen as a positive thing, it’s moved from being a source of curiosity to one of pride.
Local youth from the Holy Trinity Primary School were asked by BRC artist in residence, Noel Hefele, to create a mural that would answer the question, “What does it mean to be Barbudan?” They let the art say it clearly across the garden wall next to BRC: images of the Sun, Fishing Boats, Frigate Birds, Pink Sand, Mangroves, and the Barbudan Express (the ferry from Antigua that brings in supplies, visitors and much of the outside world.)
Perdikaris: “There is a value for science in the lives of all people, but it’s our job to make science approachable, to explain how the career paths of science can offer excitement and fulfilment. We work with youth however we can, through schools, church groups. We do clean-ups, have movie nights, and try to bond with the community in new ways.” It’s something that motivates this tireless lady. “This is what we will do next week when all the university students leave,” she said, bringing out a huge box from the storage closet. “It’s a model solar house that you build and then you can do all these experiments.” Her excitement was tangible, “I can’t wait; it’s gonna be awesome!”
WEEKender visited with Perdikaris, Bain and several of the two dozen or so students at the BRC complex and at various “digs” to gain an understanding of the work that is undertaken there on behalf of the Barbudan people. It’s clearly a labour of love and a passion for all involved, even for the undergraduate students who are earning university credit for their three weeks on the island excavating, sorting artifacts and meticulously recording data. Some of the students will return to Barbuda, either on follow-up studies or as tourists with families and friends in tow. “This is my third time here,” said one nursing student, “I don’t know why I keep coming back, it’s just a very special place. I love it.”
Among the discoveries unearthed by the BRC teams are subtle clues to the past of this island. For instance, the change in vegetation since pre-Colonial days, the importance of dogs to the Amerindians, the significance of cats to the enslaved people, and perhaps most unexpectedly, evidence of Saladoid migrants from South America as early as 100 BC, “that’s much earlier than was previously understood,” explained Perdikaris.
Artifacts from the earliest inhabitants, 5000-3000 BC, suggest that Barbuda was used as a harvesting ground, primarily for conch. The large shells would be pierced and discarded; the meat would be extracted and taken back to Antigua. The large shells began to accumulate, seemingly for generations, thus creating a manmade wall of conch shells which extends across the eastern plains of Barbuda. Perdikaris has named this the Strombus Line, referring to the scientific designation for conch.
By about 500 BC, the island was home to the Saladoid people who spoke the Arawak language and had migrated up the island chain from the Orinoco Valley in present day Venezuela. Their high quality pottery is quite typical of the Ceramic Age, but until Perdikaris and her team unearthed the tell-tale remnants, no researchers thought they had migrated so far north so early. Perdikaris noted, “They weren’t supposed to be here!”
These early people made pottery and adorned it with animal figures and painted patterns, they sustained themselves on conch, snails, birds, turtles and even manatees and monk seals! They wore shells that were incised, or cut, in certain ways. They even appear to have had pets, as some burial sites show dogs buried next to humans, thus indicating closeness during life.
WEEKender gives a huge thank you to those that made this visit possible, including Dr. Sophia Perdikaris, Andrew Rapley, and the students and staff of BRC. Next week, we will find out more about the island of Barbuda, its current people and their culture, lifestyles and laws.
Contrubuted by Lisa Davis-Burnett
