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A Long Hiatus (December 2015)

A lot remains to be done with the materials from this project, but we are slowly putting together a site report that will hopefully be available at the Grenada National Museum, as well as online. I also plan to write a short article for an open-access journal such as the Journal of Caribbean Archaeology in 2016. In the meantime, though, I thought I would upload the paper Michael and I wrote for the 26th IACA meetings (link here and below). As is evident from the 2.5 year hiatus between my posts, maintenance of this website has been a low priority in the face of so many other responsibilities. I will do my best, but all of the data (incl. raw data) will eventually get uploaded to Penn State's ScholarSphere repository for safe keeping. ScholarSphere will maintain the links, file formats, etc. for free and indefinitely! The SGCAP collection can be found here: https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/collections/ng451h51g

Lab Work Completed (March 2013)

We've just completed analyzing all the artifacts- something we had completely underestimated! Thanks to the Grenada National Museum for providing space for a makeshift laboratory, and to the TAMCC students and Peace Corps Volunteers that helped make this possible. As the analysis phase took longer than expected, a report of our findings will not be released until later this year (hopefully by the end of the summer).

Site Updates (January 2013)

Now that the program is over (for a while anyway), the majority of updates on the site- following this overhaul- will likely be in the Research section. We're currently analyzing thousands of artifacts, and will issue a final Site Report for St. John's River by the end of March, 2013.

SGCAP Comes to a Close... For Now (August 2012)

The St. George’s Community Archaeology Project (SGCAP) was a summer program in Grenada, West Indies conducted from July 9th through August 8th, 2012. Financial support was provided by a generous grant from the Public Affairs Desk of the US Embassy-Barbados (see 2012 Project Proposal). The aim of the program was to engage young people and community members in science and history through the investigation and preservation of a local archaeological site.

Nineteen students attended in 2012, with twelve successfully completing the program. All goals of the project were met, though the program was slightly restructured to meet the needs of the participant demographic (all Secondary School students).

The program focused on core skills in science that reinforced the current public school curriculum. Participants were taught basic techniques in archaeological excavation, laboratory processing, record keeping, technical drawing, surveying, scientific method, and how the information they collect fits into larger patterns and theories about the region. More general areas of study included connections in anthropology, geology, history, geometry, and critical thinking.

Participants emerged from this program with a strong, well-rounded foundation in scientific thought and an appreciation for Grenada’s history. For 5 weeks, nineteen students (twelve consistent) came to Mr. Hanna’s classroom at the Methodist School every day from 9am to 3pm in Queens Park to learn about archaeology. They were able to hold things in their hands that were thousands of years old and imagine who last held it. Hopefully we've opened up their minds just a bit and got them thinking about the past in a new, exciting way!

SGCAP was designed by Jonathan Hanna, Peace Corps Volunteer/archaeologist, and Michael Jessamy, historian/Ministry Heritage Officer, in partnership with St. George’s Methodist School, District 6 Secondary schools, and the Grenada National Museum.

For more information, please contact Jon Hanna by:

email: hannaj5 (at) gmail.com

cell: 416-1344

Pictures from the 2012 program

(see Outcome Report)

Our site, ~100 years ago

So that's why it was so disturbed!

(More to come in the Research section)