More petroglyphs discovered at Argyle

Additional petroglyphs have been found on a rock at the site of the Argyle international airport.

The rock carvings were discovered last Wednesday and Lawson Bonadie, who has been appointed by the St Vincent and the Grenadines National Trust (SVGNT) to examine and {{more}}care for the petroglyphs spoke to SEARCHLIGHT about the find in an interview at Argyle.

Bonadie said after finding the petroglyphs, the next step was an assessment to determine if the rock with the carvings could be removed whole, or if the surface with the petroglyphs could be cut off.

Two days later, on Friday, July 24, immediate past chair of the SVGNT Louise Mitchell-Joseph told SEARCHLIGHT that the rock was successfully split with all the images protected and fully intact.

“[The] rock [is] now smaller and easier to move to a safe, new location,” she said.

One year ago, Bonadie was on site as the handy-man who repaired any tools that went bad, but today, he is knowledgeable of how to handle rocks and petroglyphs.

He said his interest in archaeology started last year when the first set of petroglyphs at the Argyle international airport site was removed by a group of Argentinians.

“…I was fortunate enough to be on site from the beginning of the removal until the end and they shared a lot of information and I gained a lot of knowledge from the Argentinians as to how to go about doing works like this…”

Bonadie said he combined what he learned from the Argentinians with what he had already known from breaking rocks locally.

However, he thinks that the Vincentian public needs to show more interest in their history and to embrace it.

“I think every Vincentian should take the opportunity to come and have a look, especially when these petroglyphs are being relocated.”

He described the support of the National Trust as “very cooperative.”

Mitchell-Joseph told SEARCHLIGHT the aim of her organization is to build a Heritage Park near to the airport, which will feature the petroglyps.

“The plan would be to put all of the petroglyphs that have been removed on display to the public at that park.”

The Heritage Park is to be located on a plot of land at Escape, which was acquired by the International Airport Development Company.

One year ago, a team of three geologists and an archaeologist from Argentina visited St Vincent and the Grenadines and extracted five petroglyphs from a rock face at the site of the Argyle international airport free of charge, through the assistance of the government of Argentina.(AL)