Hundreds of years of Indigenous history have been lost at Brighton Beach due to sand mining for cement. Located on the south-eastern side of the island of St. Vincent, the side that faces the Atlantic Ocean, the archaeological site of Brighton Beach contains the remains of an Amerindian village that has been occupied for several centuries since the Early Ceramic Age. The site’s lengthy occupation has made the site especially important, because it has allowed archaeologists the opportunity to study the culture-historical processes which took place in the Windward Islands during pre-Colonial times and thereafter. However, the site has been subject to severe coastal erosion. Strom surges, hurricanes, and the action of the wind and sea have caused the site the be partially washed away by the sea, thereby taking valuable archaeological artefacts such as Indigenous pottery, lithics, and human remains. It was soon recognized that the rate at which the erosion took place was accelerated by sand mining for cement production. These sand mining activities not only made the site of Brighton Beach more vulnerable to natural erosion, they also caused the removal of sand that contained undocumented archaeological materials which are now lost forever.
Since 1992, people have been mining sand at Brighton Beach. Despite it being illegal at Brighton Beach, people still collected sand for the production of cement. In 2000, sand mining was legalized once again, to fulfil the increasing amount of economic developments in Saint Vincent due to the growing population. More buildings had to be constructed, which meant that more sand was needed to produce cement.
Sand mining at Brighton Beach (photo: Boomert et al. 2017, 17).
Coastal erosion due to sand mining results in the loss of archaeological remains and harms ecosystems and natural habitats. Furthermore, a retreating coastline can cause nearby buildings to be situated dangerously close to the sea. These impacts require the attention of local authorities. However, the safeguarding of local heritage is not always achieved on Saint Vincent, as can be seen by the legalization of sand mining at Brighton Beach in 2000. Another good example in which the preservation of local heritage was not prioritized, can be found at the archaeological site of Argyle. Here, local heritage had to make way for the construction of an international airport.
Supported by the Saint Vincent and The Grenadines National Trust, the Leiden University Caribbean Research Group has visited, researched and excavated the site of Brighton Beach over the past 10 years. During an excavation in 2011, they established that the northern part of the site, around 7000 m², had already been completely destroyed.
In 2015, a lot of archaeological remains lied scattered around the surface and are taken out of their context. This makes the exposed artefacts and human remains even more vulnerable to looting and erosion, as can be seen in the photo below. In 2015, researchers from the Leiden University Caribbean Research Group noted that even though sand mining activities had come to a halt in this area, the site was still experiencing erosion from natural forces such as wind and sea activities. Six months later, in January of 2016, the Caribbean Research Group visited Brighton Beach once again and decided that an extensive rescue excavation would not be possible anymore due to the extreme level of erosion that had occurred in those past six months. This shows that time is of the essence for archaeological sites that are threatened by coastal erosion.
Archaeological remains exposed due to erosion (photo: NEXUS1492).
Text by Nienke Hop, based on original published research (see further reading).
Boomert, A., A.A.A. Mol, C.L. Hofman, M.L.P. Hoogland, J.E. Laffoon and J.L.J.A. Mans, 2017. Archaeological rescue investigations at the multi-component indigenous site of Brighton Beach: New insights into the cultural history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in C.B. Velasquez and J.B Haviser (eds), Proceedings of the 26th Congress of the IACA. Sint Maarten.
Fitzpatrick, S.M., 2012. On the shoals of giants: natural catastrophes and the overall destruction of the Caribbean’s archaeological record. Journal of coastal conservation 16(2), 173-186. DOI: 10.1007/s11852-010-0109-0
Fitzpatrick, S.M., M. Kappers and Q. Kaye, 2006. Coastal Erosion and Site Destruction on Carriacou, West Indies. Journal of Field Archaeology 31(3), 251-262. DOI: 10.1179/009346906791071954
Hofman, C.L. and M. Hoogland, 2016. Connecting Stakeholders: Collaborative preventive archaeology projects at sites affected by natural and/or human impacts. Caribbean Connections 5(1), 1-31.
Lewis, P.E., 2011. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in P.E. Siegel, E. Righter, T. Ahlman, R.T. Callaghan, M.P. Pateman and D.T. Etayo (eds), Protecting Heritage in the Caribbean. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 96-105.
Masalu, D.C.P., 2002. Coastal Erosion and Its Social and Environmental Aspects in Tanzania: A Case Study in Illegal Sand Mining. Coastal Management 30(4), 347-359. DOI: 10.1080/089207502900255
Mol, A.A.A., A. Boomert, 2011. Brighton Beach, St. Vincent, Excavations and Survey 2011. Brighton Beach Fieldwork Report, Caribbean Research Group, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.
NEXUS1492, 2015. Heritage under Threat: Impressions Brighton Beach, St. Vincent March 2015. Leiden University.