2011

Investigations during the 2011 season of The SVG Public Archaeology Program were at the site of Argyle 2. Argyle 2 encompasses the current offices of the IADC, extending from the coast one kilometre inland and half a kilometre north to south.  In 2010, preliminary surface surveys and collections indicated that occupation at Argyle 2 spanned from the Saladoid period through Colonial times and up to the present; Argyle 2, therefore, was continually inhabited for nearly 2,000 years. Staff and volunteers mapped 147 features (63 were excavated) and identified 19 burials (six were identified by Mrs. Kathy Martin and Mr. Roydon Lampkin of the National Trust between May 2010 and January 2011). It is from the burials that the most significant findings have been recovered.

Of particular significance is Burial 8 (B8), a secondary burial identified directly above the lower limbs of B11.  No artifacts were recovered in association with B8, with exception of a single stone artifact beneath its lower left leg; B11 is also notably face-down (which may indicate a change in burial practices). B8, which is disarticulated, i.e., its bones are not in anatomically correct position, was recovered with 19 lithic (stone) artifacts (17 pieces of debitage from making stone tools and two ground stone tools), as well as a number of pottery sherds that refit into a complete pot. This pot is highly significant in that its decorative style places B8 definitively in the Saladoid period. Furthermore, a ceramic vessel of this form has not yet been recovered in St. Vincent, and preliminary discussions with Caribbean archaeologists indicate that this form has not yet been identified in the Caribbean.

 This pot, along with all the artifacts recovered during the 2011 season, were presented to the National Trust on Thursday, February 3, 2011, after a press briefing at the IADC entitled, "Public Archaeology - A New Type of Tourism."  It now sits proudly in the National Trust Museum in Kingstown, SVG.