02.01.2021 Views

The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino

by Lesley-Gail Atkinson

by Lesley-Gail Atkinson

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Figure 5.1 Road cutting through <strong>the</strong> Taíno site at Barbican, Hanover<br />

infrastructural development to date in <strong>the</strong> country, it is designed to be<br />

Jamaica’s pathway to <strong>the</strong> future (Highway 2000 Supplement, 2002). <strong>The</strong><br />

highway is also designed to open <strong>the</strong> country’s tourism “hotspots” by connecting<br />

<strong>the</strong> tourism centres in Montego Bay, St James and Ocho Rios, St Ann.<br />

Highway 2000 is intended to facilitate direct and efficient links between economic<br />

centres and to stimulate additional economic development in Jamaica.<br />

• Phase 1 – Kingston to Mandeville (74 km)<br />

• Phase 2 – Bushy Park to Ocho Rios (67 km)<br />

• Phase 3 – Mandeville to Montego Bay (85 km)<br />

<strong>The</strong> exact highway path has not been finalized, so <strong>the</strong> anticipated impact has<br />

not been ascertained.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Old Harbour Bypass<br />

<strong>The</strong> Old Harbour Bypass is a 14-km roadway linking Sandy Bay, Clarendon,<br />

and Nightingale Grove, St Ca<strong>the</strong>rine. It is a major part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> South Coast<br />

Highway development programme. Three Taíno settlements were noted – at<br />

Freetown, Inverness and Toby Abbott (all in Clarendon) – by Jamaica<br />

National Heritage Trust archaeologists conducting an archaeological impact<br />

assessment during <strong>the</strong> construction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Old Harbour Bypass (Figure 5.2).<br />

Rescue excavations were conducted on all three sites. On <strong>the</strong> Inverness site,<br />

<strong>the</strong> developers and archaeologists reached a compromise. <strong>The</strong> intended road<br />

could not be moved from its planned location, so it was agreed that <strong>the</strong> road<br />

would be elevated into a gravel foundation, 2 m high, thus saving <strong>the</strong> site from<br />

destruction.<br />

80 T HE E ARLIEST I NHABITANTS

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