Inclusion in an Archaeological Project

8/3/2019 Inclusion in an Archaeological Project

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/inclusion-in-an-archaeological-project 1/16

Inclusion in an Archaeological Project:

Trouvadore Project. A Case Study

Nigel Sadler, Sands of Time Consultancy, 8A Third Avenue,

Walthamstow, London, E17 9QJ, England, UK

E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT________________________________________________________________

Is it the role of archaeologists to lead on community involvement? In 2000 the

Trouvadore Project was launched as a partnership. The archaeologists of Ships

of Discovery were to search for the shipwreck, film makers Windward Media

were to document the project and the Turks and Caicos National Museum was

to research the wrecking and the legacy of the survivors. With its developing

outreach programmes it was natural for the museum to take on the

responsibility of informing and involving the community in the project. This is

the story of community inclusion in the search for the slave ship Troubadour.________________________________________________________________

Resume: Le role des archeologues est-il d’attirer la participation de la

communaute ? Le projet Trouvadore a ete lance dans le cadre d’un

partenariat en 2000. Les archeologues de Ships of Discovery ont ete a la

recherche de l’epave, les cineastes de Windward Media ont documente le

projet tandis que le Musee national des ıles Turks et Caıques recherchait la

cause du naufrage et l’heritage des survivants. Grace a ses programmes de

sensibilisation, il etait naturel pour le musee d’assumer la responsabilite

d’information et d’implication de la communaute dans ce projet. Ceci est

l’histoire de l’integration communautaire dans la recherche du navired’esclaves Troubadour.________________________________________________________________

Resumen: ¿Es funcion de los arqueologos liderar la implicacion

comunitaria? En el 2000, el proyecto Trouvadore se inicio como una

asociacion. Los arqueologos de Ships of Discovery buscaban el pecio, los

cineastas Windward Media documentaron el proyecto y el Museo Nacional

de las Turcas y Caicos investigo el naufragio y el legado de los

supervivientes. Con sus programas de ayuda al desarrollo, era logico que el

museo asumiera la responsabilidad de informar e implicar a la comunidaden el proyecto. Esta es la historia de la inclusion de la comunidad en la

busqueda del barco de esclavos Troubadour._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

R E S E A R C

H

A R C H A E O L O

G I E S

V o l u m e 6

N u m b e r 3

D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 0

Ó 2010 World Archaeological Congress 431

Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress ( Ó 2010)

DOI 10.1007/s11759-010-9140-x



KEY WORDS

Slave ship, Slavery, Turks and Caicos Islands, Community outreach_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

The transitory nature of the work of many archaeologists is often restrictedto short excavation seasons and short term contracts. This can mean that

whilst the archaeologists may have in depth knowledge of the archaeologi-

cal period being excavated, they in many incidents have no infinity with

the locality of the excavation. This is especially so for projects in small

island nations. Also, for many archaeologists their quest is knowledge, anddare one say the desire for academic recognition mainly through publica-

tions which in the past often meant there was little consideration on how

they would either include or inform the local community during and afterthe project.

However, is it the role of archaeologists to do everything in a project?

The term community or public archaeology implies that archaeologists

integrate the community, but it is not implicit that it is the archaeologistswho need to do this. Is it not more effective to work with organisations

that already has connections with the community and has outreach at the

core of its work? Therefore, a natural partner would be museums, which

have over the last few decades moved towards more community inclusion,implemented in a variety of ways to make museums more relevant to the

communities they serve (Pes 2008).One such project is the search for the wreck of the slave ship Trouba-

dour in the Turks and Caicos Islands. As the story of the wrecking of the

slave ship Troubadour has been recounted in other publications (Sadler2004b, 2008a, b) this article will show how the Turks and Caicos National

Museum, in conjunction with its archaeological partner Ships of Discovery,has incorporated and informed the local community of the wrecking and

inclusion of their ancestors into society whilst carrying out the project touncover the story of the survivors from Troubadour .

Turks and Caicos Islands and Its Slave Heritage

The Turks and Caicos Islands is a chain of over 40 islands at the south

eastern end of the Bahamian archipelago (Figure 1). The 2001 censusrecorded the population as 19,886, of which 53% were ‘‘Belongers’’, the

name the locals call themselves (Sadler 2006a). The country is developing

432 NIGEL SADLER



at an extraordinary rate, with a population growth of around 10% a year,

mostly through immigration. This growth, linked to technological advance-

ments permitting easy access to the internet and satellite television, has put

pressure on maintaining a cultural identity for the locals; the youth arenow interested in rap music and not local ripsaw; young children in

Spongebob rather than traditional story telling with its African roots.

For countries going through such rapid cultural change it is essential

that organisations like museums and national trusts encourage the recogni-tion of the country’s heritage and provide ways in which it can be

recorded, preserved and the local population encouraged to participate in,

identify with and value (Clark 2006). Until recently little had been pub-lished on the Turks and Caicos Island’s history. The most extensive,

H. E. Sadler’s 1960s and 1970s series Turks Island Landfall, was combined

into a single publication in 1997 and became the main source for research-

ers (Sadler 1997). Since 1991 the Turks and Caicos National Museum hastaken on the mantle of being the leading historical research centre and

from 1997 has published its findings in the Museum’s quarterly newsletter‘‘Astrolabe’’ in the Times of the Islands Magazine, an international maga-

zine for the country.

One area that had not been given the importance it deserved was slave

heritage of the country. The country is made up of two banks of islands:

Figure 1. Map locating the Turks and Caicos Islands

Inclusion in an Archaeological Project 433



The Turks Islands and the Caicos Islands. Slavery had existed in the Turks

Islands from the days of the Bermudians using the Islands initially togather salt seasonally in the seventeenth century, and later settling there

permanently in the eighteenth century. The salt industry remained the

main user of enslaved labour in the Turks Islands until slavery was abol-ished in all British territories in 1834. The Caicos Islands had a different

history as some Loyalists who had fled from North America after the

American War of Independence were granted land in the Caicos Islands in

the late eighteenth century and set up cotton plantation. Originally success-ful, a combination of pest infestation, poor soils and a devastating hurri-

cane meant the cotton industry had all but collapsed by the 1820s andmany of the enslaved workers were transferred to the salt industry in the

Turks Islands.The Turks and Caicos Islands was on the transatlantic route that many

of the illegal Cuban slave ships took. The slave trade had been outlawed by

the British in 1807 and soon after set up navy patrols to intercept the ille-gal slavers in the Atlantic Ocean and free the Africans on board. On the

other hand, Spain had outlawed the slave trade in 1820 but did little to

prevent the trade, and in fact generally turned a blind eye to the shipment

of captured Africans as the Cuban economy was so reliant on the labourfor their sugar industry. The authorities in the British territories in the

Caribbean were vigilant and would do what they could to halt the trade.However, this was a difficult time and introducing freed Africans into a

society that still employed enslaved workers was challenging, made even

more so by the introduction of the Apprenticeship scheme following the

abolition of slavery in 1834 which allegedly aimed to teach the former

enslaved workers how to be free, but in reality it provided a transitionalperiod for the former slave owners to develop a new system of workforce.

This meant that during the 1820s and 1830s The Turks and Caicos

Islands was undergoing a major shift in its own working conditions anddid not really have the resources either to afford to take large numbers of

liberated Africans who had been settled in the Bahamas after being freed

from slave ships, nor to actively chase down slavers. In real terms their role

was to deal with situations of crisis forced upon them, to provide security to the Africans who landed on the shores of the Islands after the ship car-

rying them to Cuba had been wrecked. This was the fate of those on board

two slave ship wrecks, Esperenza in 1837 and Troubadour in 1841.Up until 2000 the only archaeological project on historical sites related

to slavery was in 1989 at Wades Green Plantation and the findingswere presented in academic publications where most of this informa-tion remained locked. The blame for this can not be laid solely on

the American archaeologists but also at local institutions such as

the National Trust and the National Museum who had done little to

434 NIGEL SADLER



disseminate the information. Since 2000 the National Trust has pro-

moted the slave heritage by developing the ruins of the slave owners’houses at Wades Green on North Caicos, Haulover Plantation on Mid-

dle Caicos and Cheshire Hall on Providenciales as tourist attractions.

Unfortunately, at these sites there was little interpretation about the lifeof the enslaved.

In 2000 the Turks and Caicos National Museum became involved in the

UNESCO Slave Route Project and this acted as the impetus for the

Museum to prioritise research on slavery. The Museum uncovered new aspects of the slave history of the country and critically analysed the find-

ings of earlier archaeological and research work. It was the shortcomingsfrom this earlier work that inspired the Museum to be more proactive with

information dissemination to the public (Sadler 2004c). During thisresearch the Museum identified the importance of the wrecking of the slave

ship Troubadour and its ability to encapsulate the story of slavery in the

country through the positive account of the freedom of 192 Africans froman illegal slave ship that wrecked off East Caicos in 1841, and the assimila-

tion of 168 of them into the country, increasing the population by 7%.

This influx of first generation Africans had a major affect on the commu-

nity by reinforcing African traditions, bringing new work ethics as they had never worked under slavery, and by marrying into the population.

The story had initially been uncovered in 1993 by Museum founder,Grethe Seim and Dr Donald Keith of Ships of Discovery, when they found

George Judson Gibbs’ ‘‘letter book’’ held by the Smithsonian in which he

mentioned the wrecking of a slave ship in 1841 (Gibbs 1878:216). The

Museum and Ships of Discovery had other priorities and therefore uncov-

ering the full story was delayed. Occasionally a researcher was hired to visitthe National Archives in Britain1 but this provided limited information as

he had no knowledge of the history of the country and was only seeking

references of the shipwreck and not the context of how the incident fittedinto what was happening in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This early

research was not publicly accessible.

In 2000 the Trouvadore Project was launched as a partnership. It was

clear that a multi disciplinary approach would be needed to uncover the fullstory of the Troubadour wrecking. It would need the skills of historical

researchers, archivists, oral historians, museum professionals, archaeologists

and public relations specialist. The Turks and Caicos National Museum wasbest placed to apply for the archaeological licences, would be central to the

research especially in positioning the shipwreck story into a more generalhistorical context, would provide the laboratories, storage and potentially exhibition space for the objects discovered and with its developing outreach




programmes would be the medium for dissemination of information to

the local community. There was also the added benefit that the MuseumDirector was a qualified archaeologist with 4 years field experience before

retraining in museum management. This meant that the Museum had an

insight not only into its role as a museum but also the needs of the archaeol-ogists. The other partners were the American archaeologists of Ships of Dis-

covery, who were to search for the wreck, and the documentary makers

Windward Media, who were to record the project. There was also an infor-

mal fourth partner; David Bowen, the Director of Culture. In 2002 whilstemployed by the Tourist Board, Bowen become involved in the project fol-

lowing a meeting with the Museum Director who casually mentioned theresearch project. After listening intently he explained his family’s oral history

included an ancestor who arrived on a slave ship that wrecked in the coun-try. As he could identify elements of his family’s traditions in the Trouba-dour story, he understood the importance of the project and became an

essential local team member (Figure 2).The initial decision that faced the team was the name of the project. In

the research work that had already been carried out the ship had appeared

under many spellings including Troubador , Troubadour , Troubadaur and

Trouvadore in the original 1840s papers and Trovalore in a 1984 list of slave ships wrecked in the Bahamas Archipelago (Dalleo 1984). As the first

document uncovered in the National Archives in Britain had called theship Trouvadore it was decided that name would be used, so it became

Figure 2. David Bowen Director of the Department of Culture, talking to local bush

doctor Alton Higgs, during a field trip to gather information from residents on Mid-

dle Caicos

436 NIGEL SADLER



the Trouvadore Project. With hindsight though the research has shown the

ship was probably called Troubadour , French for wandering minstrel andTrouvadore was just the anglicised version of that name. With the project

not using the real name of the ship this may lead to confusion in the

future.The first contact that provided quantifiable returns followed a normal

historical query made by Logwood Development Company to the Museum.

They were impressed by the response and in return offered their helicopter

to the Museum for a half day (Sadler 2003a). The Museum used it for anaerial survey to provide an insight into what an archaeological project

would entail off East Caicos. Wooden shipwrecks would not be visiblefrom the air but the helicopter allowed the team to identify potential

mooring sites for the research vessel, provided a greater view of the topog-raphy of the reef to give clues about the wrecking and gave the opportu-

nity to take photographs to show potential funders what the team would

face in the field.For the 2004 field season the archaeologists at Ships of Discovery had

hoped to secure funding from the usual granting agencies in the USA, but

this proved harder than expected. The Museum became involved in fund-

raising and the most effective contact they had was with Jackie Mulligan,Public Relations Manager at the Tourist Board. Mulligan suggested the

project approach the hotels, the Turks and Caicos Hotel and TourismAssociation and the Tourist Board. This non traditional avenue for funding

was not one the Museum or the archaeologists would have taken but Mul-

ligan saw the tourism potential of the international attention that the pro-

ject could bring. Utilising her contacts, and the Museum’s reputation, over

half of the required funds was gathered through these sources, especially through the Hartling Group, owners of the Sands and the Palms resorts,

who became the largest single sponsor. The hotel sponsorship was not just

financial as they supplied rooms for the team, facilities for press confer-ences at the end of the season and a farewell reception. Mulligan joined

the Trouvadore Project as press officer for the 2004 season and the excel-

lent international coverage she created made it easier to raise funds in

2006. The 2006 season saw the archaeologists raise half the funds throughNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Explo-

ration Program and half by the Museum mainly through the Turks and

Caicos Islands Conservation Fund and the Tourist Board. The Museumhad been aided by the fact they had provided the information on the Trou-

badour story and the 2004 season publicly and people wanted to be associ-ated with a successful project.




The Search for the Wreck

In 1991 Ships of Discovery prepared guidelines for the issuing of archaeo-

logical licences in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but since then projectshad been approved without completing this application process. The

Museum submitted the applications for the 2004 survey and 2006 survey

and test excavation so they could be seen following good practice by com-

pleting the process for archaeological licences. When applying for the sur-

vey licence in 2004 the Museum made presentations to both the Chief Minister and the Governor so that the government felt some degree of

inclusion in the project. The Museum and its advisors often providereviews of potential new projects, and by following all guidelines during itsown projects it was hoped that this advice would gain more strength.

One condition of the licence was that a representative from the Depart-

ment of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR) would monitor theteam in the field. The project wanted to make sure it provided the oppor-

tunity for the DECR Belonger representative to feel that they were an inte-

gral part of the team, to fully participate in the project and be trained on

how DECR officers should monitor archaeological projects. The project

was fortunate that the representative assigned to the team in 2004 wantedto engage fully and learn more about the work, for which the team were

very willing not only teach him but also to incorporate him in every aspectof the project. His knowledge of the sea was very helpful as was his boat

handling skills and he promoted the work being undertaken within DECR,

and in the local community. It has been a good learning curve for the

archaeological team working with a local community member and it has

helped impress upon them the importance this project has within thecountry. The team was very lucky that this official was reappointed for the

2006 season.

The Museum, not the archaeologists, was responsible to guarantee thatthe terms of the licence were followed. This did cause some debates in the

field in 2004 as it was clear that the newly uncovered wooden wreck site

had recently been tampered with, probably by treasure hunters who hadbeen issued with a licence a few years earlier. At the wooden wreck a num-

ber 3, probably a water line marker, was found and it was recovered

because otherwise it might ‘‘disappear’’, and this action was detailed in thefinal reports (Keith and Sadler 2005). The Museum had already agreed

with the DECR that if anything found was at risk of theft then the

Museum would recover it, but only with the approval of their official whowas on board. However, the archaeologists wanted to recover some timberwhich might be used for radio carbon dating and tree identification, but

438 NIGEL SADLER



the Museum felt this was outside the licence, where the terms were ‘look

but don’t touch’, and the verbal agreement with DECR.The fieldwork was off the deserted East Caicos and requests by locals to

join the team had to be rejected due to limited accommodation on the live

aboard dive boat, the limited resources and the team having to make dan-gerous crossings each day over the reef (Figure 3). Requests by some peo-

ple to bring their own boats to visit the team were also rejected as the

fieldwork was only for 2 weeks and time could not be spared. As the num-

ber of archaeologists was limited by the number of berths on the boat, theship’s crew became additional team members as boat handlers and field

team members. It is hoped that as these young dive masters move to othercompanies their education on how to read and safeguard shipwrecks makes

them advocates for protecting wrecks.In the 2004 field season tow boarders were used to locate wrecks in the

survey area to the north of East Caicos. Several wrecks were identified and

divers were sent down to map and photograph these wrecks. It was duringthe 2004 season that a ballast mound and a few wooden timbers could be

seen at a depth of around 15 ft, in the area the team expected the wreck to

be. In 2006 the project re-surveyed the area using electromagnetic equip-

ment and extended the survey area. This located no new wrecks in the2004 survey area and showed how effective tow boarding had been. It did

indicate that the most likely wreck site for Troubadour was larger in areawith buried metal signals extending for some distance. Some of these ‘hits’

were excavated and found to be metal fittings from a wooden ship, and

several test pits in the area around the ballast mound located substantial

Figure 3. The remote location off East Caicos where Troubadour wrecked




timber remains from the hull of a ship, with an estimated length of about

120 ft. Unfortunately, the 2004 and 2006 seasons uncovered no diagnosticfinds but the archaeologists felt confident that this was the Troubadour because further research in the archives could not identify any other woo-

den ship wrecking in this area.2

To maintain public interest during the fieldwork a daily diary was

included on the website, not an easy task as the only means of updating it

was via temperamental satellite phones. The diary provided a challenge in

meeting the demands for public information and for safeguarding potentialwreck sites that were found. It was known that the local television and

radio were monitoring the website and the team did not want any majorfinds announced to the world in this manner but through press confer-

ences at the end of each field season. For example, in 2004, the announce-ment of the discovery of a wooden wreck was delayed for 2 days so that

the team could be sure of their facts about what had been found.

For the 2004 and 2006 seasons there was no secrecy about what hadbeen found. The Museum had been concerned in the past that previous

licence holders would not reveal the location of their finds, even though it

was required in the terms of the licence. They often claimed supplying the

data to the government and other agencies such as the Museum, wouldput the sites at risk. The Museum argued that as all wrecks in the Turks

and Caicos waters are the responsibility of the government they needed theinformation to help safeguard them. The project made sure that during the

2004 and 2006 seasons all man made items found were recorded and their

reference points included in the reports supplied to the government (Keith

and Sadler 2005). This did not mean the project was not concerned, but

the principal behind the project was that the work was being carried out toincrease the knowledge of the country and therefore needed to present this

information to the government agencies and the community.

Not everything ran smoothly. As part of the deal with the sponsors in2004 their logos were included on the official team shirt which would be a

main part of the promotion of the project, and was a visual indication of

the support from within the country the project had. All project partners

agreed to the shirt and in conjunction with Windward Media, the shirtswere designed to be tan in colour so they would appear better on film.

Unfortunately, when the research ship set sail in 2004 the project team

were notified that the tan shirts were no longer acceptable as potential pur-chasers of the documentary felt that sponsors’ logos should not be visible.

The archaeologists had clearly been informed in advance and presentedeach team member with a blue shirt with the simple logo of the words‘‘Trouvadore Project’’. This was the first real divide in the project and led

from miscommunication. The Museum was not happy that it had not

been notified in advance of this late change and it was only through extra

440 NIGEL SADLER



promotional work that prevented this development from upsetting the

sponsors.The issue over the tan shirt was unfortunate. The Museum staff contin-

ued to wear the 2004 project shirt for events and whilst travelling in the

Turks and Caicos Islands. It was common for members of the public toapproach the Museum Director when wearing the shirt to ask for the latest

updates and information about the project. The Director also wore the

shirt when travelling to, and whilst presenting papers at, international con-

ferences. On one such trip whilst passing through Miami International Air-port members of the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board saw the Director

wearing the shirt and they commented on how this was promoting notonly the project but also the Turks and Caicos Islands—justifying their

sponsorship in 2004 and 2006.

Promotion and Presentations

The data collected by the Museum for the UNESCO Slave Route Project,

including the Troubadour story, was published in the booklet ‘‘Slavery in

the Turks and Caicos Islands’’ (Sadler 2004c) and the ‘‘Finding our RootsStudy Guide’’ (Sadler 2004a), the latter being distributed to every second-

ary school child in the country. The Trouvadore Project was heavily pro-moted in the country as the Museum had at the heart of its work the

desire to keep the public informed of the latest developments. This started

off with two articles in the Museum newsletter putting the story into its

historical context (Sadler 2003b, 2004b), updates on the field seasons in

the Museum newsletter (Mulligan 2004a; Sadler 2006b) and a community magazine (Mulligan 2004b) and the tourist magazine given to all passen-

gers on American Airlines flights from Miami to Turks and Caicos (Sadler

2007). The project also gained international coverage through involvingTim Ecott, a British journalist, in the 2004 season (Ecott 2004, 2005), and

the development of the website www.slaveshiptrouvadore.com, by the

Museum in 2003. Other organisations have also used the research made

available to create small exhibition panels on Troubadour such as those atthe National Trust’s Visitor Centre in Middle Caicos, the Department of

Environment and Coastal Resources’ National Exhibition Centre in Provi-

denciales and at the Grand Turk lighthouse site developed for the cruiseship audience.

Through its publications, presentations, radio and television appearancesthe Museum has also made itself accessible and by providing the materialit has opened itself up to receive comments about its work (Figure 4). The

feedback has been extensive and has led to some new research avenues in

connection to the project, both archival and archaeological. It has also


http://www.slaveshiptrouvadore.com/

http://www.slaveshiptrouvadore.com/



allowed public debate on whether research on slave heritage should be

undertaken, with views ranging from those who believe that this type of history should be left in the past to those who believe an understanding of the past is essential to identify with their roots.

There was also the personal approach of making presentations to locals,

residents and tourists in the Turks and Caicos Islands. One of the most

uplifting moments and justification for the work being undertaken cameduring a presentation to some of the staff and guests at The Sands Resort

in 2004. As a condition of the sponsorship from the Hartling Group theproject was to help educate the hotel staff who had been unable to answer

the simplest questions about their heritage when asked by guests. Hotelstaff members were soon enthralled as they were drawn into the story

about how these survivors were their ancestors. How this story was their heritage. At the end of the presentation a staff member publicly thankedthe presenter as this was the first time anybody had tried to inform her

about her roots, her family’s links to the past and how it fitted into the

history of the country. The staff member’s comments about only beingtaught Jamaican history whilst at school clearly illustrated the issues that in

the past the country’s education system concentrated on Caribbean history

and not local history, mainly because there was little information available.This is now being rectified by a combination of the Trouvadore Project,the Museum’s research and publications, the recently introduced Commu-

nity College local studies course and the text book for students published

in 2009, which does include a section on Troubadour (Mills 2009).

Figure 4. Project members during a live questions and answers session on local

radio

442 NIGEL SADLER



The presentations given at the Museum following the 2006 season bene-

fited from including a tour of the laboratories to show the excavated itemsin their initial stage of conservation. The public were not only interested in

what the objects were, but more importantly what the process would be to

get these items ready for display at the Museum. Officials from DECR werethe first to see the items as they had been immediately invited to visit the

Museum on the return of the team. Over a period of several months

school groups that visited as well as passengers from cruise ships were also

allowed to view the items during special tours.The project did not forget its obligations for presenting the data to its

peers. International conferences are the main medium where archaeologistshave traditionally shared recent findings. The Trouvadore Project was no

different and continued this tradition, but only as one strand of a broadermeans for information dissemination. Papers have been presented at the

Museums of the Caribbean’s annual general meetings in 2001 (Turks and

Caicos Islands) and 2002 (Cuba), World Archaeological Congress (WAC)2003 in Washington, USA, International Council of Museums conference

2004 in Seoul, Theoretical Archaeology Group conference 2005 in Sheffield,

UK, a whole session at the Society for Historical Archaeologists conference

2007 in Williamsburg, USA and at the WAC Inter-Congress 2007 inJamaica.

Conclusion

Archaeologists can often work with sensitive subject matters and slave heri-

tage sites falls within this realm. It is in these areas that archaeologists haveto be aware to the needs of the local community as well as the local issues

with this past heritage. Archaeologists have to remember that their work is

not only to uncover the past for their peers but also to be there for thegreater public meaning. Concerns had been voiced within the project that

information was being released in the popular media first rather than

through academic media. However, hindsight has shown that there has

been no detrimental effect from this approach as the information has beenequally distributed through many mediums.

The Trouvadore Project is a good case study for community involve-

ment in a small island nation but it is not claiming to be perfect. Much of what happened between 2000 and 2007 was positive but it showed the will-

ingness of team members to engage with the community varied greatly.Any successful project is also down to the interest of the local populationand their desire for involvement. In this case, the expectations of the public

were pretty low at the beginning so it was easy to count even the smallest

steps as a success. At the start the Museum had a more paternalistic




approach as they felt the population needed to know the story of the survi-

vors of the shipwreck. Up until this project most of the community hadno real involvement with the Museum, or had any particular view on how

the Museum or the archaeologists should operate to benefit the commu-

nity.As the project developed the public began to request information and

lectures from the Museum. The project would have benefited from com-

munity involvement at a practical level but due to the location and nature

of the archaeological work this was not a reality. If further work leads toan excavation on the wooden wreck the objects would be conserved in the

Museum laboratory rather than sending the material overseas, allowingthe locals to watch the process and hopefully get involved as volunteers in

the post excavation work. As the Museum moves forward the lessons learntthroughout the Trouvadore Project will be used not only by the Museum

and the archaeologists but also as a benchmark of what the government

and population should expect from future archaeological work in thecountry. More importantly it is hoped that the project gives the commu-

nity confidence to ask questions of the archaeologists and researchers and

of any future projects, for it is theirs and their ancestors’ history that is

usually being uncovered.

Acknowledgments

The 2004 and 2006 seasons were only possible through the financial sup-

port of Hartling Group (Developers of Sands at Grace Bay and the Palms),

Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board, Royal West Indies Resort, Turksand Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association, Ocean Club Resort, Friends of

the Turks and Caicos National Museum, NOAA Ocean Exploration Pro-

gram, Turks and Caicos Islands Conservation Fund, Teddy Foundation,Dayton Foundation and San Francisco Foundation.

Notes

1. Much of the original material used to uncover Troubadour story can be

found in the National Archives, Kew, London under Colonial Office Records

(CO 23/105, CO23/109, CO23/113) and Customs (Cust34/228).

2. Following the 2008 field season the archaeologists publicly stated that they had found the wreck of Troubadour.

444 NIGEL SADLER



References

Clark, K. (editor)

2006. Capturing the Public Value of Heritage: The Proceedings of the London Con-

ference. English Heritage, Swindon.

Dalleo, P. T.

1984. Africans in the Caribbean: A Preliminary Assessment of Recaptives in the

Bahamas 1811–1860. Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society 6(1):15–24.

Ecott, T.

2004. Hunting the Slave Ship. Geographical December 2004: 65–71.

2005. The Search for the Trouvadore. Diver February 2005: 59–61.

Gibbs, G. J.

1878. Letterbook. Unpublished, Washington, USA.

Keith, D. H., and N. Sadler

2005. The Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore, 2004 Season: A Report to the

Department of Environment and Coastal Resources of the Turks and Cai-

cos Islands. Unpublished, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mills, C. (editor)

2009. History of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Macmillan-Caribbean, Jamaica.Mulligan, J.

2004a. Trouvadore: A Search, a Story. Astrolabe, Times of the Island Magazine

Winter 2004/2005: 96–103.

2004b. 160 Year Old Mystery May Finally Be Solved. Baller Magazine Novem-

ber/December 2004: 8, 15.

Pes, J. (editor)

2008. Working Knowledge: Community Projects. Museum Practice Magazine

Winter 2008: 49–65.

Sadler, H. E.1997. Turks Island Landfall: A History of the Turks and Caicos Islands. United

Cooperative Printers Ltd., Jamaica.

Sadler, N.

2003a. Aerial Reconnaissance. Astrolabe, Times of the Island Magazine Summer

2003: 74–77.

2003b. Liberated Africans Putting Right the Wrongs of the Past. Part 1:

1807–1860. Astrolabe, Times of the Island Magazine Winter 2003/2004:

79–84.

2004a Finding Our Roots: A Study Guide for Children, Turks and Caicos NationalMuseum PublicationTurks and Caicos Islands.

2004c Slave History of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Turks and Caicos National

Museum PublicationTurks and Caicos Islands.




2006a. Keeping Count: Population Growth in the Islands. Astrolabe, Times of

the Islands Magazine Summer 2006: 97–106.

2006b. Search for Trouvadore: 2006 Season. Astrolabe, Times of the Islands

Magazine Fall 2006: 97–105.

2007. Trouvadore: Legacy of a Slave Ship. Discover Turks and Caicos September:

26–28.

2008a. The Sinking of the Slave Ship Trouvadore: Linking the Past to the Pres-

ent. In Underwater and Maritime Archaeology in Latin America and the

Caribbean, edited by M. E. Leshikar-Denton, and P. L. Erreguerena,

pp. 209–220. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.

2008. The Trouvadore Project: The Search for a Slave Ship and Its Cultural

Importance. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 12(1):53–70

446 NIGEL SADLER

Documents

Inclusion in an Archaeological Project