stluciatimes, caribbean, caribbeannews, stlucia, saintlucia, stlucianews, saintlucianews, stluciatimesnews, saintluciatimes, stlucianewsonline, saintlucianewsonline, st lucia news online, stlucia news online, loop news, loopnewsbarbados

spot_img

New Human Remains Discovered At Cas En Bas Amerindian Site

spot_img

In January, the Saint Lucia Archaeological & Historical Society (A&H) and the Saint Lucia National Trust (The Trust) were made aware of the exposure of skeletal remains at the Amerindian Site at the north end of Cas en Bas Beach and bordering the Cabot development site.

The Trust recalls the recent commitment of the government to ensuring this area and others like it would be appropriately preserved and developed as important heritage of the nation and has called on the DCA to lead the action in this urgent situation.

Concerned citizens who noticed the remains – believed to be exposed by runoff from recent heavy rains- did their best to protect the area from further damage and called upon government authorities and relevant agencies to take immediate action to secure this site.

This group made a report to the police and accompanied them to the site and also called upon authorities to follow up with immediate action to secure this site which has been recognised as a “Site of Memory” by the current administration.

The Trust and the A&H have been calling on the DCA and related agencies to improve access to monitoring reports on development in the area, to provide the assurance that appropriate measures are instituted to mitigate any potential damage to natural and historical national assets.

The call has also been made for increased collaboration between the DCA and its referral agencies to ensure that developers conserve our national assets in accordance with international heritage conventions and sustainable development and climate change resilient practices and policies.  

 Based on this recent hard evidence of further archaeological remains, the Trust and A&H have now called for:

 Access to the reports of the Check Consultant;

  1. Access to the entire site to ascertain the extent of the damage to natural and historical national assets;
  2. Increased collaboration between the DCA and the referral agencies to ensure that the developer is implementing the necessary mitigative measures (against runoff and coastal erosion); and
  3. Convening of a meeting, including all the referral agencies, with the DCA to discuss the ongoing issues and to develop a plan of action.

The two agencies are further concerned that there are imminent developments in areas recognised as being of archaeological importance that have not been fully investigated, if at all: Best practice requires that investigations and identification of acceptable mitigative measures, are completed and incorporated into an approved management plan before ground-breaking.

Additionally, The Trust notes that as the travel world is rapidly moving towards recognition of the rights of a nation to ownership and responsibility for preservation of its heritage, destruction of local remains, historical and cultural identity in the development of touristic and other industrial sites, is likely to negatively impact Saint Lucia’s promotion of heritage tourism.

The Saint Lucia government confirmed its support for the rights of a nation to its heritage – natural and historic – in the signing and ratification of:

  • UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage;
  • UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage;
  • Sustainable Development Goals; and – the ESCAZU Agreement.

which enshrine the right of every person of present and future generations to live in a healthy environment and to sustainable development; the ESCAZU Agreement in particular promotes “public access to information, public participation, access to justice in environmental matters, and the creation and strengthening of capacities and cooperation”.

The Trust and the A&H encourage others to join their institutions and become engaged in learning about the value of heritage in our lives and how, through effective conservation and sustainable development, these assets can contribute to livelihoods, national pride and opportunities for improved quality of life.

SOURCE: Saint Lucia National Trust

Please note that comments are moderated. When commenting, please remember: 1) be respectful of all, 2) don't make accusations or post anything that is unverified, 3) don't include foul language, 4) limit links, 5) use words, not volume, and 6) don't add promotional content. Comments that do not meet the above criteria or adhere to our "Commenting Policy" will not be published.

11 COMMENTS

  1. we are to primitive to care about history, books, ancestry. All we care about is bum bum music and rum. Please excavate these remains and then ship them off to some university in north America so it can be kept safe in capable hands. Never to be seen by our eyes again, after all we burnt our folk research facility to the ground. We have no history. Just rum and bum bum music.

  2. But the trust have the same shit happening in the pegion island national park. There was a full sketel exposed by the turn going to the back no one pay heed it washed away because I monitor it now they making a mockery of it.

  3. @ JK I got your point and sadly I tend to agree with you. Saint Lucians are quick becoming a people with no identity. We importing more foreign cultures than we are importing food. Most people stand for nothing hence our current situation. No love for each other. Casing point, a toddler is spotted on a beach with no supervision and no one take notice or failed to react. Killing off each other for the name of gang and profit. Working against a government because its not my party colour. 🤦‍♀️

  4. The entire Cabutt should be hindered and halted bc adjacent land is still and always will be St Lucian land no matter what name u put on the land papers, Cabutt has told neighbors recently they are only allowed to walk to secret and donkey beach plus on Sunday mornings because of construction that has been goin on for 4 years now…… smph Housing and planning , DCA, Govt and all World heritage sites protectors from across the globe need to get involved in this deploracy and devastation to our island. Cabot first thing they did was put up 6-7 threatening road signs on finch road threatening people of no access and no trespassing and now they “” ssu cabot telling everyone they can only walk to these beaches on Sunday after permission is granted by them is BULlSHeEt and deplorable behavior on their part. The Cabot VP thinks he has everyone in his pocket, this needs to be addressed along with the destruction and infringement of our Public access to ANY Beach on this island! Govt! What do u say about this? You got 60 acres back but this is not enough! Cabutt needs to pay more to the people of this island ………

  5. What happened to the first set of excavation findings? I have been asking. No solid response. I was hoping they would be on display somewhere for our students to see.

  6. No protest now that the white man is no longer the Prime Minister. Couldn’t they have appealed to the relevant authorities as they are doing now. I know for a fact that nothing will come out of these appeals that’s why I support JK’s suggestion that these remains be sent to a museum in some country that cherish history.

  7. The story is about skeletal remains being found but extended emphasism is rumbled about the heritage site and developers and overseeing by current administration…I see it as nothing but political …who is to say that they themselves unearthed the skeletal remain just to get their incentive across….I stopped reading at some point but I didn’t come across anywhere it said remains is highly that of heritage site,wouldn’t that be a very relavant factor especially knowing we have anxious families desperately wanting answers for missing love one’s..just a bunch of rah! rha! rha! with no relevance,I guarantee you 90%of st.lucians don’t even venture that region.JUST SAYING!

  8. The last time the European university students found Amerindian artifacts and bones at Cas En Bas, they were left completely exposed and unprotected. The National Trust did nothing. Vehicles used to pass up and down over the excavation on the northern side of the beach. Maybe a company like Cabot can protect them as National Trust is useless.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

TRENDING

Subscribe to our St. Lucia Times Newsletter

Get our headlines emailed to you every day.

Share via
Want News Alerts on Your Mobile? Join Our WhatsApp ChannelJoin
+ +
Send this to a friend