Astrolabe
- Written in Stone March 22, 2011 Saving rock inscriptions on Sapodilla Hill, Providenciales By Dr. Donald H. Keith, Chairman, TCI National Museum It’s 2 PM on Friday, December 10, and I’m sweating bullets. Not just because it’s hot but because with only 18 hours to go before we’re scheduled to remove 40 fragile boulders covered with ancient inscriptions from the top of Sapodilla ... Read more about this post
- Archimedes, Archaeology & Artifacts March 22, 2011 “Old Heads” come to the rescue to solve the mystery of the screw. Story & Photo By Sherlin Williams I’ve been doing projects at the National Museum on Grand Turk for the last 15 years or so. I rebuilt the mechanism that used to turn the light in Grand Turk’s lighthouse. Then I worked on making a ... Read more about this post
- What If? January 12, 2011 What if Providenciales had a National Museum? By Dr. Donald H. Keith, Chairman, TCI National Museum This year, 2010, marks the 30th anniversary of the archaeological investigation of the Molasses Reef Wreck, the event that led to the establishment of the Turks & Caicos National Museum. As the archaeologist who directed the excavation, I received a government ... Read more about this post
- Snap To! October 19, 2010 Collecting images of the US Military on Grand Turk By Dr. Neal V. Hitch, Museum Director ~ Photos Courtesy TCI National Museum During the early 1950s, the US Military constructed two facilities on the remote, out of the way isle of Grand Turk. The base to the extreme north of the island served as a listening post ... Read more about this post
- Cultural Connection June 29, 2010 Archaeological study of new Grand Turk site links settlers through time. By Betsy Carlson Photos Courtesy Turks & Caicos National Museum For a week in February 2010, two archaeologists from Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. (SEARCH) out of Gainesville, Florida joined Neal Hitch of the Turks & Caicos National Museum and Brian Riggs of the National Environmental Center to ... Read more about this post
- Vanishing Culture: Preserving the Images of Provo’s Past April 23, 2010 By Jessica Brody ~ Photos Courtesy Turks & Caicos National Museum, Ludington & McCollum Collection The beaches, diving, snorkeling and remote location of the Turks & Caicos Islands create the ideal image of a “get-away” spot for many visitors, but in the 1970s, the Islands were truly a place to get away from it all. The ... Read more about this post
- Lock, Stock & Barrel February 11, 2010 Abundant “musket furniture” gave the Ft. George site a distinct military flavor. Story, Photos & Illustrations By Dr. Donald Keith The sheer variety of artifacts found during our work on Ft. George and in collections donated to the Museum is surprising: plain and fancy tableware, iron fasteners and hardware, brass and pewter buttons, glass bottles and drinking ... Read more about this post
- Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button? February 11, 2010 Button artifacts provide clues to the tale of Ft. George Cay. Story & Photos By Dr. Neal V. Hitch, Director, Turks & Caicos National Museum Buttons. They are intriguing to me. There have been many buttons found on Ft. George Cay. Many of these are now in the collection of the National Museum. Some are still in ... Read more about this post
- Pine Cay Pioneers February 11, 2010 Although recent field work revealed more Ft. George history, will time run out? By Dr. Donald Keith, Trustee, Turks & Caicos National Museum & President, Ships of Discovery November 7, 2009 marked the end of our two weeks of field work on Ft. George Cay. It was a little sad to backfill the test excavations, take down ... Read more about this post
- Vanishing Culture February 11, 2010 Preserving Turks & Caicos’ historical archives. By Dr. Neal V. Hitch, Director, Turks & Caicos National Museum Photos Courtesy Turks & Caicos National Museum This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists on August 15, 2009, as part of a symposium on sustaining Caribbean archives. The theme of the symposium was the ... Read more about this post
- Making a Mural June 1, 2009 Transformational community art comes to Grand Turk. By Leah Samuelson, Artists on Call Photos By Artists on Call From mid-January to mid-March, 2009, I spent eight weeks leading community mural projects in the Turks & Caicos Islands with an organization called Artists on Call. During this time, we completed three murals, two on Grand Turk and a third, ... Read more about this post
- The Oldest Image? March 25, 2009 The museum acquires the earliest painting of Grand Turk. By Dr. Neil Hitch, Director, Turks & Caicos National Museum Photos Courtesy Turks & Caicos National Museum Collection In the Spring 1998 Astrolabe, Barry Dressel, then museum director, wrote a brief article describing the oldest image of the Turks & Caicos Islands. This image is a woodcut of South ... Read more about this post
- Vanishing Culture January 1, 2009 pa lottery Where did all the donkey carts go? By Dr. Neal Hitch, Director, Turks & Caicos National Museum Photos Courtesy Turks & Caicos National Museum Collection Much of the history of the Turks & Caicos Islands is unrecorded. It is mix of oral history and hearsay. The mission of the National Museum has been to put facts behind ... Read more about this post
- Uncovering Chippewa September 1, 2008 powerball By Dr. Toni L. Carrell, Ships of Discovery The surge was particularly strong along the fringing reef off Northwest Point, Providenciales, as James Hunter, Joe Lamontagne and I dropped over the side of our inflatable boat. We were there to look for the remains of the U.S. Navy brig Chippewa. It was the second attempt of ... Read more about this post
- Carved Histories September 1, 2008 illinois lottery Ceremonial duhos from the Turks & Caicos Islands Story & Photos By Dr. Joanna Ostapkowicz During the second half of the 19th century, nine elaborate wooden ceremonial stools — or duhos —were recovered from caves in the Turks & Caicos Islands. In their time (ca. AD 1000–1500), these low stools — often carved in the form ... Read more about this post
What's Inside The Latest Edition?
On the Cover
Photographer Marta Morton was enjoying another spectacular sunset when she spotted this lovely scene—a picture-perfect clump of Old Man Cacti and the pastel colours of what she later learned were crepuscular rays (see page 18). For more of Marta’s images, turn the pages of this issue and visit www.harbourclubvillas.com.
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