The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino
by Lesley-Gail Atkinson
by Lesley-Gail Atkinson
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
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