Historical Archaeology of Virgin Islands Fort Salé and Skeletal Remains

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 [email protected]. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_014508