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  • 3 months ago
Slave and Indigenous artifacts are said to have been discovered at a site in Lopinot by a foreign archaeologist.
However, it is being stated that only some of them were handed over, and the whereabouts of the others are uncertain.
There is a call for the man to return the items, and possible government intervention may be needed.
Alicia Boucher has the details.
Transcript
00:00Items, including Zemmys from the indigenous peoples and shackles from the enslavement of Africans,
00:07a part of the historical collection that was discovered at the La Reconnaissance Estate in Lopino.
00:13The artifacts, which are said to be a small portion of what was found,
00:16were delivered at the estate about three weeks ago by an archaeologist who resides in Canada.
00:22According to co-director of the Crossroads Freedom Project, Dr. Claudius Fergus,
00:26the man is said to be a descendant of Count Charles Zlopino, the initial cocoa plantation owner.
00:33I was told that the archaeologist took most of the artifacts away.
00:41Did he take them out of the country? I cannot confirm, but he took them away.
00:48Those artifacts should belong to the government and the people of Sinhala and Tobago,
00:53not to a foreign archaeologist.
00:56It is being stated that the archaeologist has in his possession hundreds of artifacts recovered from the site over time,
01:03so much so that the exact number is unknown.
01:06According to Chief Executive Officer of the Lopino Tourism Association, Donna Mora,
01:11the pieces were being returned at one point on what she termed a go-and-come basis.
01:16Somehow he has stopped bringing them back, and this is 10 years running,
01:22so we need him to bring back everything that belongs to the estate.
01:26Another thing he did was he started giving people who had them there,
01:30so some people have artifacts in their home and so forth, like in Lopino, and I don't know where else.
01:37However, we know that they have it.
01:39We're asking them to bring it back to the estate because wherever you're finding the estate belongs to the estate.
01:44Dr. Frigga says it's an issue the government may have to intervene in.
01:49If we are to really engage him in a serious way,
01:53we would have to get the Attorney General involved and perhaps the Prime Minister involved
01:59because we cannot afford to have artifacts like this leave the country unauthorized.
02:07The only reason things like this should leave the country is to get them assayed in a scientific lab overseas
02:13to tell you whether they are authentic, what is the possible age, and so on.
02:18As for what is to happen to the pieces that were handed over
02:21and are presently being held by the Lopino Tourism Association,
02:25The National Museum, you would know, is not really operational now.
02:29So to say to donate it to the National Museum would be the ultimate destination perhaps.
02:34But right now, I believe Huey might be the next best.
02:39I can't speak for Huey now, but I believe Huey might be the next best place to store these
02:44until such time perhaps that the National Museum can, you know,
02:50curate these things properly and have them there.
02:53Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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