Twenty-five persons are now certified archaeologists, after completing a course by the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology which included field research in various hinterland communities.
Louisa Daggers and Soyini McPherson were singled out for their outstanding performance at the graduation ceremony, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said. Daggers is the holder of a Masters degree in anthropology from the Boise State University in the US via a scholarship and McPherson is a University of Guyana Environmental Science student. The two are among a group which discovered bone fragments identified as that of a Siriki man 4,000 years old.
In his address Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Alfred King, lauded the students noting that it is during this period, Amerindian Heritage Month that “we are reminded of the rich culture and heritage of the Amerindians, some of those have helped to preserve our rich diversity in the indigenous culture.” He said the students’ work will help to promote the awareness of archaeology locally and aid development of indigenous heritage.
Director of Culture Dr James Rose presented the students with their certificates.
The Walter Roth Museum was founded in 1974 from the collection of late Guyanese archaeologist, Dr Denis Williams. It was first called the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology and Art History and was the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean. The museum’s collection includes excavated artefacts from the ten administrative regions of Guyana and several other small ethnographic and archaeological collections.
