As we wind down the end of 2022, a long-awaited report on Sauteurs Bay is finally ready. Hanna first started this manuscript back in 2018, but there was just more and more to add. There is more still, of course -- we hope to have osteological analysis completed on the site's human burials in 2023, as well as aDNA analysis and more excavations. But there's always more to do. It's been four years and 150 pages now, so time to just get it out there! And one of the core issues addressed is quite urgent. The site (and the communities along Sauteurs Bay) have been suffering from extreme erosion every dry season for the past five years. Homes and businesses have been destroyed as well as one of Grenada's most important archaeological sites, as seen through a continuous stream of human skeletons ripped by the waves into the sea. The archaeological site dates as early as AD 300, but the burials falling into the sea mostly date between AD 900-1200. And of course, this is the vill
During this past election cycle, the Grenada National Museum (GNM) was occasionally mentioned in the media, often in conjunction with the National Library. While it is true that the current closure of the Museum risks another defunct institution, such an outcome is unlikely at this stage. For one, there is still a skeleton crew working there. Secondly, it still has a Board, and they want it reopened ASAP (as will the incoming Board). The biggest risk right now is not permanent closure, but rather that the GNM will be reopened ASAP with little improvement and packed with random government offices. The Museum is falling apart. Reopening right away means ignoring all the things that need to be fixed – solely for reasons of perception and politics. That is not how the National Museum should be run. The roofs need replacing, many floors need fixing, the walls need patching and painting, the exhibits need updating — any of those things would require the Museum to (at least partially) close