Dr Basil Reid says, ‘Saladoid peoples were here’

UWI Professor, Dr Basil Reid has found 2000-year-old archaeological evidence (namely a communal family hut) of the Saladoid peoples, located on Blanchisseuse’s Marion Estate archaeological site.

"Our work has been the most extensive to date, but it's certainly of tremendous national importance," said Jamaican-born Dr Reid. "This is one of the few Saladoid sites to be identified along the North Coast of TT, Trinidad specifically. What we found were remnants of an actual communal fireplace along with pottery and stone carvings. This find pre-dates the Caribs and Arawaks, in that it goes hundreds of years before them." The origins of the Saladoid peoples (so named after the archaeological site Saladero in Venezuela) can be traced to the banks of the Orinoco, and they had migrated to TT via that route. These were the first pottery making people to settle in Trinidad and Tobago, with a  time line that goes from 250 BC to 600AD. Evidence shows that the Saladoids had established communities and lived in villages comprising of large extended families. "This is a watershed discovery," said an elated Dr Reid.

"We believe that Marion Estate, along with Manzanilla (along the east coast of Trinidad) are two prime examples of this type of identifiable village layout, based on testing done over the years. To date, Trinidad has one of the oldest archaeological sites, located in Banwarie Trace, discovered in 1969. However, this newest find is a very important watershed site in terms of heritage and culture, as their pottery is more complex, using red slip (red clay mixed with water) and they practiced white on red paintings using kaolin (a white mineral clay) and ochre (a mineral oxide)." The Marion Estate archaeological site has been known since the 1950's and was discovered by HC Potter, who stumbled upon it while the Paria Main Road was being widened. Since that time, occasional archaeological excavations have been carried out in the estate since 1961, 1980 and 1999, when a group of Americans were here doing some limited work. At present, the property is owned by Joseph Elias, of Nagib Elias and Sons. It is hoped that at the end of the project that the artefacts found will be used to create a permanent museum in Chag-uaramas, so people can get a chance to learn about archaeology and history of TT.