Implementation
Burial Places & Memorialisation
The Burial Places & Memorialisation Group
Archeology will form a critical component of project activities over its first three years, working to locate the burial sites of enslaved persons who worked on the Codrington estates with a view to memorializing those forgotten persons who worked the Codrington estate and connect them with kinship and family groups.
The workgroup will engage with an international community of archeologists to facilitate project work, including UWI and the Universities of Glasgow, Winchester, Leiden, Germany and City University New York. Locally, is expected to provide working unique specialized working opportunities and training for local students. This work will connect closely to the project workstream for Family Research, which seeks to discover potential living descendants of the enslaved to connect them to their ancestors. As most all Caribbean people are descended from the enslaved, great care will be taken to both involve and consult the broader Caribbean community on each step of the process.
To guide this work, the project team will work to implement the guidelines of of the ICCROM Toolkit for Engaging Descendant Communities in the Interpretation of Slavery at Museums and Historic Sites.
Impact & Vision
This workstream is expected to also contribute greatly to the local heritage sector of Barbados. Its collaborative international field schools will develop the next generation of Barbadian archeologists, allowing them to research their own regional history and network with the international community .Ultimately, this work can empower the Trust to form a local archeology team with affiliated students, taking advantage of the regional construction sector to provide local work opportunities for those trained on the project and further develop Barbados’ cultural heritage sector.
Upcoming Activities
If you are curious about your own ancestry or interested in engaging with the project team in this work, please contact Chris Hill at codringtonreparations@uspg.org.uk.
Spring 2025: Geophysical Mapping
The first stage will see the use of geophysical mapping technology to identify potential burial sites on the Codrington estate. Follow-up mapping sessions are expected to take place one per year 2024-2027.
Summer 2025: Archeological Field Schools
Provided as a collaboration between The Universities of the West Indies (Barbados) Glasgow (UK) Winchester (UK) City University (New York) and Leiden (Germany), the project will run archeological field schools each year inviting students from each institution to undertake training, research and, following a process of community consultation and engagement, fieldwork to identify and potentially excavate potential burial sites.
Autumn 2025 – Renewal & Reconciliation Research Symposium
The Executive group plans to host an annual symposium at Codrington College to present initial findings and bring together the cutting-edge academics and thinkers working on issues relating to the project objectives, including those relating to archaeology and family research methods.
