In Jamaica, the construction process for Digicel’s headquarters at the Kingston waterfront has uncovered 21 cannonballs, nine cannons, and other historic artifacts. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) intends to put some of these objects on display at the telecommunication company’s new location once construction is complete. The discovery was made last Friday by construction workers and JNHT archaeologists were brought in to confirm the origins of the find.
Dorrick Gray, acting executive director and technical director of archaeology at the JNHT explained that the waterfront location “used to be the ordnance yard for the British military.” According to Gray, the ordnance yard was active in the 1700s and 1800s. One of Jamaica’s national heroes, George William Gordon, boarded the HMS Wolverine there and was taken to St Thomas where he met his fate and was hanged for his revolutionary role in the Morant Bay Rebellion in the late 1800s.
Gray emphasized that there was no reason to make the location a heritage site because “development is taking place” and that Kingston has “to balance development and heritage.” “We could make all of Jamaica a heritage site, but we can’t preserve everything, otherwise there will be nowhere to live and work,” he stressed.
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Photos: above, cannons at Fort Charles; below, new cannons being unearthed.
