Climate change presents a major threat to archaeological heritage in the small islands of the Eastern Caribbean. The effects of tourism-based economic development in island economies also poses a significant threat to cultural heritage. We will reflect on our experience documenting heritage resources in this perfect storm and discuss major issues and initiatives in the region including capacity building and community engagement.

John G. Crock is an Associate Professor and Director of Consulting Archaeology Program in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Vermont. He is an archaeologist specializing in pre-Contact northeastern North America and the pre-Columbian Caribbean with research interests including human-environment interaction, maritime adaptation, trade and exchange, the development of inequality, and heritage management. Dr. Crock received his B.A. from the University of Vermont in 1989 where his experience as an Anthropology major inspired him to become a professional archaeologist. After conducting cultural resource management archaeology in New England and the Caribbean, he went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. That same year, John returned to UVM, joined the faculty and also became the Director of UVM’s Consulting Archaeology Program (CAP).

Jay Haviser, Director of the St. Maarten Archaeological Center (SIMARC), is an archaeologist and anthropologist who has conducted archaeological fieldwork in St. Martin and Curacao. Dr. Haviser received his BA and MS from Florida State University, and his Ph.D. in 1987 from the Royal University of Leiden. He was formerly was a researcher at Leiden University and has served as vice president of the International Association of Caribbean Archaeology.

This webinar is part of the series New Directions in Caribbean Archaeology.

Jason Laffoon is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Archaeological Science, Faculty of Archaeology, at Leiden University. His main research interests focus on integrating bioarchaeological and biochemical approaches to the study of patterns of mobility/migration, diet, and exchange.

This webinar is part of the series New Directions in Caribbean Archaeology.

Dr. Alicia Odewale is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa. She specializes in African Diaspora archaeology in the Caribbean and Southeastern United States. Since 2014 she has been researching archaeological sites related to Afro-Caribbean heritage on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands but continues to research sites of African heritage in Oklahoma, Virginia, Arkansas, and Mississippi. While she continues to research both urban and rural sites of enslavement in St. Croix, her latest research project based in Tulsa, OK seeks to reanalyze historical evidence from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, launch new archaeological investigations in the historic Greenwood district, and use radical mapping techniques to visualize the impact of the massacre through time on the landscape of Greenwood, utilizing a slow community-based approach. Her research interests include the archaeology of enslavement and freedom in urban contexts, Caribbean archaeology, rural and urban comparative analyses, community-based archaeology, ceramic analysis, transferware studies, mapping historical trauma from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and investigations into different forms of cultural resistance. Her research has received awards and support from the American Anthropological Association, the National Science Foundation, the Society of Historical Archaeology, the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, and the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS). In addition to her role as faculty, she also serves as the director of the Historical Archaeology and Heritage Studies Laboratory at TU and serves as the co-creator of the Estate Little Princess Archaeological Field School in St. Croix that trains local students in archaeological methods and other STEM related skills for free.

This webinar is part of the series New Directions in Caribbean Archaeology.

Peggy Brunache is Lecturer in the History of Atlantic Slavery and Director of the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies at the University of Glasgow. Her talk is entitled, “A Negro in the Shire: A Black Woman’s Journey for Activism through Scottish Academia”.

This webinar is part of the series New Directions in Caribbean Archaeology.