A Day at the National Museum

by Jessica Brody This Friday's event with Betsy Carlson, author of Talking Taino, was a great success. Betsy signed copies of her book and she and her team of archeologists revealed the artifacts uncovered at this week's dig on GT-4, the 4th Lucayan site discovered off Cork Tree Beach, Grand Turk. We learned how the island people used small conch shells to break the foot off of larger conch shells releasing the meat. more...

By Rory McEathron The surveying part of the archaeological project finished today. We covered another 15 holes (many of which we were forced to surface collect) and found a wide range of colorful ceramic fragments and broken bottles. I learned today that it is possible to estimate the age of a bottle by measuring how deep the indentation on the bottom is. more...

By Rory McEathron Our archaeological dig led us to 19th-century remnants of an old building behind Corktree Beach today. The building, which the Museum Director believes was originally known as Corktree Plantation, is today simply a pile of burned and broken rocks—however, the ruins are littered with broken ceramic fragments. Most of the shards are blue and white, while others are various shades of red, green and brown. more...

By Rory McEathron We (the Museum Director, two American professionals, and I) continued with the excavation of archaeological site GT-4 today. The project, which I code-named Operation Queen Conch, is starting to move along more rapidly. Over 30 holes have been dug and innumerable conch fragments and bone pieces discovered. more...

Today, we have had a full day of cruise ship visitors, a couple divers, and then at two the six grade classes from Eliza Simmons Primary School came for a field trip. The museum has been full all day. This is at a time when we are down a temporary staff member as Jessica has completed her volunteer work in the archives and has returned to Boston. more...

By Rory McEathron Monday marked the beginning of an archaeological dig that I am getting the chance to assist with. The site is known as GT-4 (GT standing for Grand Turk) and is based around a site located the west side of the island. I am working alongside the Museum’s Director and two professional archaeologists from the United States, and the excavation will run for the week's entirety. more...

Last week was insanely busy! Here's a sampling of what kept us busy: The Fort St. George artifact cleaning continued by Dr. Keith. more...

The after school program is going strong. Everyday there are more students using our newly purchased laptops and preparing their reports. Today I took a step back for a moment to marvel at the success of the program. more...

We are starting a new series tonight called Spring 2 Collections at the museum. The focus of our first event is on artifacts found at Fort George, which are in the process of being conserved. They will be on display in the Museum Science Building tonight from 6:30 - 9:00pm. more...

Yesterday, Museum Trustee Dr. Donald Keith arrived on island. Almost as soon as he was picked up from the airport, he started situating himself in the conservation labs. more...

by Jessica Brody During my last visit to the museum, we applied for a Pine Cay Association grant to resume the after school program. It seemed that every afternoon brought students to our door asking if the program had restarted yet and how long would it be until it did? Just a few weeks after my departure in October, our application was accepted and now we can finally answer “we’re open!” when we hear the knocks on the door. I’ve returned for 6 months to help run the program and continue some of the projects that Tiffany and I started in our visit last fall. more...

Thank you to everyone who attended last night's first event of the Spring 2 Collections series. It was incredibly successful. Everyone who attended seemed to enjoy socializing over wine and cheese and then listening to Dr. more...