Field Notes - Blog Posts

Old and recent photos of UWI Cave Hill Campus, Barbados

The administration building was designed in the shape of an Akan stool, a West African symbol of cultural identity and ancestral wisdom. It was commissioned by Sir Hilary Beckles to reflect a collective will to reconnect with African heritage and envision future bonds rooted in that legacy.

In the 1970s, excavations at the Newton Slave Burial Ground uncovered the grave of a man believed to be a healer or spiritual figure. He was buried with powerful objects: metal jewelry, an iron knife, and a short-stemmed clay pipe likely made in Ghana.

Among his burial items was a necklace made from a mix of beads, some with fascinating origins.

One glass bead, made with European powder glass, was probably crafted in Ghana.

Another, a cylindrical carnelian bead, came from Cambay, India ; a region known for carnelian bead production since the first millennium. These beads were traded through East Africa, across the Sahara, and into West Africa.

Other elements of the necklace could have been acquired in Barbados, but together they reflect a deep continuity of African cultural traditions in the Caribbean.

Scholar Jerome Handler used ethnographic sources from West Africa to interpret the necklace, and strongly argued that the man was likely seen as an obeah or healer by the enslaved community at Newton.

This burial is one of the most powerful archaeological cases for the survival of African spiritual identity through the horrors of the Middle Passage and slavery.

Barbados Heritage District, honoring memory, land and spirit. Designed by world-renowned architect Sir David Adjaye. It will be built next to Newton Slave Burial Ground, the oldest and largest slave cemetery ever found in Barbados. The site will include a memorial, a museum, a global research center, and spaces for performances and reflection.It’s part of a national project called ROAD (Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny), which aims to reshape Barbados’identity and economy by making it a central place for learning about Atlantic slavery, from the Caribbean, not just from the West. Barbados actually holds the second largest collection of slave records after the UK. One key part of the project is to digitize these archives and give access to researchers, families, and future generations. But not everything has gone smoothly. Some activists, spiritual leaders, and museum workers protested the construction, saying it disrespected the sacred nature of the burial ground.Now, discussions are ongoing to create cultural and spiritual guidelines.There’s also talk of founding a spiritual university, in collaboration with Codrington College, to show how different faiths and traditions can live together. The Newton Burial Ground itself is powerful: about 1,000 enslaved people were buried there, between 1660 and 1820.They were laid to rest by their families and communities, often with rituals inspired by African traditions.It’s the only untouched slave cemetery ever excavated in the Caribbean.The artefacts and human remains found here tell us stories we couldn’t get from written documents alone. This project has the potential to transform how we understand slavery, heritage and identity. It also reminds us that healing history must include respect, spirit and the voices of the people.