This presentation was hosted to present research about Nelson’s Dockyard National Park and the many historical and archaeological sites connected to the prehistoric or historic heritage of Antigua and Barbuda. These sites are intertwined with the many functions and facilities of the area and have been subject to study for many years by a few local and international archaeologists.
Dr. Tamara Varney is a Professor of Anthropology at Lakeheads University in Canada. She has expertise in the recovery and analysis of human skeletal remains. She met Dr. Reg Murphy in 1997 when they were both in school to obtain their doctoral degrees at the University of Calgary, and he invited her to join him in the excavation of the old cemetery associated with the ruins of a Royal British Naval Hospital that served the Navy in the English Harbour area from the mid-1700s to the early 1800s.

Dr. Varney joined Dr. Murphy in teaching an archaeology field school that ran until 2009 and investigated all sorts of archaeological sites across the island. They have only worked at sites that were under threat, whether by modern development or other activities; to collect and preserve the information before it was gone forever. A second burial ground in the area was also excavated after several heavy rains began washing human burials out of the ground.

Much can be learned from even sites from the historic period because historical records tend to focus on the more privileged while ignoring everyone else. The investigations have revealed many aspects of what daily life at the Dockyard was like for lower ranking Naval personnel, including enslaved labourers. These enslaved individuals were often highly skilled workers who served the Navy in such capacities as masons and sailmakers.