A Caribbean feasibility-the Nevis Heritage Project

A team of archaeologists organized by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton (UK), in association with the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society, conducted a series of feasibility studies in 1999 to determine whether the prehistoric and historic social landscapes of the Caribbean could be researched from one island, as a case study, in advance of both rapid development and frightening natural destruction. On the tiny island of Nevis, one of the Leewards in the Eastern Caribbean, the airport expansion scheme recently destroyed one of the oldest standing English fortifications in the Caribbean (Figure 1) (Morris et al. 1999), while Hurricane Lenny removed sand and palm trees to reveal two new colonial forts just last year. Torrential rainfall, uncontrolled by centuries of sugar-cane production, erodes prehistoric sites daily (Figure 2). These sandy middens are prime landscaping resources for new golf courses or building materials for hotels and homes

Archaeology · Colonialism · Geography · Landscaping · Prehistory · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Ecology · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

• ‘… The old stone fortt at Newcastle …’ The Redoubt, Nevis, eastern Caribbean

  Elaine L Morris, Elaine Morris et al.•Post-Medieval Archaeology•1999

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• The Prehistoric Settlement Pattern of Nevis, West Indies

  Samuel M Wilson•Journal of Field Archaeology•1989

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