Persons interested in becoming a part of unearthing the archaeological history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines now have the opportunity to do so, as the first ever Public Archaeology programme comes to this country.{{more}}

The programme, which is done in collaboration with the International Airport Development Company (IADC), the National Trust and the University of Calgary, is ongoing at the Argyle 2 excavation site.

Speaking at a press conference at the IADC on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, Director of the programme Marguarita De Guzman of the University of Calgary stated that the programme was started to create a presence of archaeology in St. Vincent.

“We know that currently there is no archeological presence in St. Vincent, so we hope to maybe raise a new generation of archaeologists, here on your island,” De Guzman said.

De Guzman stated that the team of University students, which did excavation studies at Argyle in 2009 and 2010, hopes to come back every year to continue to build an archaeology programme in St. Vincent. She added that a few schools, as well as members of the public, have already visited the team at the Argyle site.

Co-Director of the programme Jode Mackay stated that the team is working with volunteers from Florida, Canada, New York and Greece. Highlighting the importance of the preservation of history, Mackay mentioned that the public programme includes the promotion of archaeology of St. Vincent internationally. He added that it would be important for the team if they can make connections between the petroglyphs at Argyle and the artifacts that they have excavated, in terms of the similarities in the signs or pictures on both the petroglyphs and artifacts.

The programme will last for a period of four weeks.

Interested persons can contact the National Trust for more information on becoming a volunteer. (OS)