Valued by archaeologists around the world, the sacred 7,000-year-old pre-Columbian burial grounds in Penal are falling into ruins, despite the allocation of money in the 2013/2014 budget for protection of heritage sites. Banwari Trace is the oldest pre-Columbian archaeological site in the West Indies, dating back to about 5,000 BCE or 7,000 BP (years Before Present).
In 2004, the Banwari site was listed as one of the world’s endangered heritage sites by the internationally-acclaimed magazine World Monuments Watch. It is where Trinidad’s oldest resident, Banwari Man (Woman), is buried and where middens of extinct fresh water shellfish can still be found. The heritage site, virtually unknown to most T&T locals, sits in the Prime Minister’s constituency.
In the last budget, preservation of T&T’s heritage was outlined as a top priority for the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration. However, historian Angelo Bissessarsingh said not enough is being done to protect T&T’s heritage. When the T&T Guardian visited the historical Banwari Trace site in San Francique, Penal, last week, an unfinished concrete structure was seen in the centre of the site. Two signs giving details of the site’s discovery lay on the ground, rotting away in the dirt.
Hamlet Harripersad, who lives next to the burial grounds, said it was a tragedy that few Trinidadians knew or appreciated the value of the Banwari heritage site. He said monies were spent to fence the property and start construction of washroom facilities, but this was not in sync with the vision of the National Trust.
“What they envisioned was a re-creation of an old Amerindian community, complete with the thatched houses and hammocks. They planned to put the artefacts on display so that people will be educated on how they lived,” Harripersad said. He added that bureaucratic wranglings between the Siparia Regional Corporation and the National Trust stymied the realisation of this vision.
Harripersad said he could still remember when Prof Peter Harris and an archaeological crew made the astonishing discovery of the ancient remains. “They used to sit right here and educate me. They said this shows the patterns of migration of the archaic peoples from the South American mainland to the Lesser Antilles.” Bissessarsingh said the migration occurred via Trinidad between 5,000 and 2,000 BCE.
But he explained that many historical sites were not on the gazetted list, and thus were often left to ruin. “That site in Banwari Trace is an example of how little we take care of our heritage,” Bissessarsingh said. He explained that a private developer had destroyed a large portion of the site before it was officially acquired by the government.
The site was visited last week by US-based environmental scientist Dennis Ramdahin, who said it was important to protect the site, which is a short distance away from the disputed Debe point of the Debe to Mon Desir leg of the Point Fortin Highway, which is currently being challenged by the Highway Re-route Movement.