Text extracted via OCR from the original document. May contain errors from the scanning process.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016 The Virgin Islands Daily News 11
inci : 2 Fort Salé (formerly Fort
Fort Sale : Flamand) at the entrance
to Salt River in St. Croix is
the oldest intact colonial
earthwork fort under
3 United States authority. It
Ancient Taino ceremonial is-also believed to be the
ball court and plaza only extant earthwork fort
in the entire Caribbean.
Begun circa 1640 by the
English, it was occupied in
turn by the Dutch, then the
French. The fortifications
lie directly adjacent to the
Columbus landing site and
an ancient Taino ceremonial
ball court and plaza. All
these features are part of
the National Park System's
Salt River Bay National
Historic Park and Ecological
Preserve, co-owned by and
managed under an agree-
ment with the government
of the Virgin Islands.
The Daily News of May 13,
1938, reported the 1934 discov-
ery by Alvarez Julien of skeletal
remains and pottery sherds on
Water Island. Based upon the
direct association of shells,
stone implements and pottery
in the area, Julien suspected
the remains to be Carib Indian
in origin. In 1936 he brought
news of his find to the atten-
tion of J.C. Trevor, who was
conducting field work on the
Negroes of the Eastern Carib-
bean under his fellowship in
thy | t North t
University. The skeletal remains An old scale found on St. John and donated to Cruz Bay Museum on July
had been re-interred and while 4 2 8, 1974, by Russel Dennem.
all could not be relocated,
those that could were donated
by Julien to Oxford University
for further identification and
study. Provisionally they were
classified as pre-Columbian
with further characteristics
to be defined and confirmed.
The images above and others
appeared in the article “Skel-
etal Remains from the Virgin
Islands” in the April 1938 issue
of “Man, A Monthly Record of
Anthropological Science,’ pub-
lished by the Royal Anthropo-
logical Institute of Great Britain
and Ireland (Vol. XXXVIII, 47-65).
According to The Daily News, : ‘ aes Ris
Virgin Islands “Governor Law- pot a eS as
rence Cramer gave permission TWO SKULLS FROM THE VIRGIN ISLANDS. Photo courtesy of ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF THE ISLAND OF ST. JOHN,
for the material to be excavated 1-8 male : 2-4 female : abet one-thint waturot size. UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS, PLATE VII
and sent to England” Petroglyphs at Congo Cay, north of Cruz Bay off St. John.
About the Images: Images provided by the Territorial Archives of the Government of the Virgin Islands, a unit of the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums of the Department of Planning and
Natural Resources. Additional images sourced as otherwise noted. For more information on the holdings of the Territorial Archives, contact Territorial Archivist Susan Lugo at 340-774-0630, or email
susan.lugo@dpnr.vi.gov.
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