Protecting Heritage in the Caribbean

16. Netherlands Antilles

16 Netherlands Antilles Jay B. Haviser and R. Grant Gilmore III Introduction The Netherlands Antilles consist of five islands in the Caribbean archipelago. Curaçao and Bonaire (Dutch Leewards) are located off the coast of Venezuela , while in the northeast are St. Eustatius, Saba, and St. Maarten (Dutch Windwards). Although Aruba separated from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, some elements of its cultural heritage management are addressed in this chapter. After October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist as such and will become known as the Dutch Caribbean. Like Aruba, St. Maarten and Curaçao will become independent, while Bonaire, St. Eustatius , and Saba (BES islands) will maintain direct ties to the Netherlands. Currently, we are in negotiations regarding the future of heritage on the islands , which is an ongoing process not discussed in this chapter. We will outline the evolution of archaeological research and early heritage legislation in the Netherlands Antilles. Then we discuss the complex academic and political dimensions of conducting archaeology in the Netherlands Antilles over the past 25 years, both with and without proper legislation and heritage management programs. A Brief History of Cultural Resources Management in the Netherlands Antilles In the Netherlands Antilles, we have no records of antiquities collections made between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Unique antiquarian objects were collected by Father A.J.van Koolwijk in the nineteenth century. Van Koolwijk also attempted to “decipher” prehistoric rock art of Aruba and Curaçao,reflecting theoretical interests of the time.Fortunately,some of the archaeological materials exported from the islands by van Koolwijk were sent to the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden and preserved there. Netherlands Antilles / 135 From the late nineteenth century to the early 1940s archaeology increasingly was sponsored by governments, universities, museums, and academic societies, thus becoming established as a recognized vocation. Some nations decreed laws dealing with archaeological objects and sites. At this time, the Netherlands Antilles were still a colony of the Netherlands, so Dutch laws affected these islands. In the Landsverordening (Federal Ordinance) of June 14, 1944, a 1915 Dutch law was adapted for the Antilles; this law regulated the export of objects,including antiquities.The focus of this law was on customs regulations rather than preservation;however,it specifically allowed for the eventual creation of individual island preservation laws. During this period the primary focus was on antiquities of European design and manufacture ,with little concern for the value of incorporating an Antillean historical perspective. The renowned Dutch ethnographer, Jan Petrus Benjamin de Josselin de Jong, with his applied archaeological work in the Netherlands Antilles, is a perfect example of the purely descriptive interests of the 1920s ( Josselin de Jong 1919, 1947). He conducted surveys and in some cases excavations on all islands of the Netherlands Antilles, and his publications contain welldocumented descriptions of sites and artifacts. However, he avoided making any interpretations as to the lifeways of the prehistoric peoples whose remains he described. The majority of artifacts recovered by Josselin de Jong were shipped to the Netherlands;a few of them were returned to the Antilles 60 years later. Archaeological research became more anthropologically oriented from the early 1940s to about 1960. For the Americas, this was a transitional period in the history of archaeology. Public awareness of the discipline and its increasing popularity presented governments with the need to better define laws relating to archaeological properties. In 1954 the Netherlands Antilles were granted autonomous rule, and an amendment to the 1944 law was enacted in 1960 specifying regulation of archaeological and cultural-historical properties.With a fledgling tourism industry beginning in the latter part of this period,historical architecture was clearly becoming a significant subject for development and preservation.In 1950 a private monuments-preservation foundation was established on Curaçao, the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles. Further, in 1970 another revision of the law identified tourism as a key stimulus for the preservation of historical and artistic monuments.Sadly, the 1960 legislation rarely has been enforced. Throughout the next few decades , archaeological sites in some of the Dutch Antilles experienced extensive looting. In fact, diving magazines advertised St. Eustatius as a perfect place for scuba divers to gather artifacts.Thousands of kilos of St.Eustatius’s heritage were exported, particularly during the 1980s. 136 / Jay B. Haviser and R. Grant Gilmore III As the scientific method in archaeology emerged and tourism rapidly increased across the Caribbean...