Michael Heckenberger and Stephanie Alemán of the University of Florida will conduct participatory mapping using differential GPS (dGPS) and GIS of historical landscapes and collaborative research on local knowledge about areas of historical occupations and land-use among indigenous communities. The research will take place among the Amerindian (Lokono) communities in two study areas in the Berbice and Demerera River areas of Guyana. The research builds on previous research supported by NSF Archaeology, which initiated participatory mapping of pre-Columbian and historical archaeological features of the landscape. These features are well known to local communities and reveal the rich cultural heritage of these Amerindian communities, including a dynamic history of interaction with European colonists and imported African peoples. Several major episodes of pre-Columbian landscape modification have been defined, including mid-Holocene villages and late Holocene settled agriculturalists, with earthen agricultural mounds and associated managed wetlands and forest islands. These occupations at their maximal expression in pre-contact and earliest colonial occupations represent the maximal expression of production and settlement networks and are clearly the cultural antecedents of historical Lokono peoples. Historical sites are known from the early 16th century and include several major episodes, including divergent trajectories of missionized Demerera River community and Berbice plantation communities.
Through participatory mapping of these settlements and focused study with specialists on local histories, general ecology and ethno-botanical knowledge, the latter portion of this rich history will be explored, including local knowledge and contemporary land-use of pre-Columbian settlement sites and production landscapes, notably agricultural areas, managed wetlands and forest islands. The project expands participatory research on local knowledge related to the archaeological landscape related to indigenous oral history, contemporary land-use and ethnobotany. All studies will be conducted with indigenous para-technicians with the primary objective of creating geo-spatial data on the Lokono historical landscape from multiple spatio-temporal scales that will be incorporated in project GIS. The project design and outcomes will be discussed during initial training workshop and entrance and exit group forums of research participants and local community leaders, including interviews to gauge changing perceptions and knowledge domains (knowledge maps). The project also involves synergistic activities with project co-director George Simon, a professor at the University of Guyana and Lokono, under the auspices of the Guyana Ministry of Culture and Walter Roth Museum. Results of the project will have important implications for indigenous cultural heritage in the region and sustainable land-use based on historical patterns.
