In spring 2010, a Jackson Group team member, while working in conjunction with the National Parks Service, undertook Class III PMiS mitigation at the Cinnamon Bay park sewage pumping station. This project was undertaken to fulfill requirements prior to the construction of a pump house on National Park Service (NPS) land in the United States Virgin Islands National Park. The project was conducted following methods set forth in the NPS Management Policies and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation. This project was also conducted to fulfill NHPA, NEPA, and NPS requirements.
The land in which the project occurred was the site of a known 17th century Danish sugar plantation. During excavation four separate phases of habitation/land use was identified. The initial phase identified post plantation habitation. Due to the highly disturbed nature of the site cultural material was identified though out of context. Material recovered was identified as late 19th and early 20th century. The second level of habitation was a slave house associated with the sugar processing industry. Dating to the late 17th to early 18th century, the house yielded several post molds, and an abundant amount of earthenware ceramics. During investigation of the slave house, it was discovered that a portion of the foundation disturbed a Taino period burial dating to approximately 1450 AD. The final phase identified the earliest phase as well as only known evidence of utilization of this region by the Saladoid culture (~2000 BP) with an intact burial. The successful identification an excavation of the cultural material as well as the human remains allowed for the necessary clearance for the planned project to continue as planned and on schedule.
