Went to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands to see Mick last week. Beautiful place. He's working as a paid intern for the US Park Service doing archeological stuff. Pretty cool. While snorkeling at Cinnamon Bay on St. John island I found an ulna (arm bone).
It probably belonged to a slave who once worked on a Danish sugar plantation in the 1700's.
There are also pre-Columbian indian (Taino) sites around. We hiked to some petroglyphs they left behind.
The Taino Indians were the ones who met Columbus when he stumbled upon the New World. Within 25 years they were essentially wiped out. Lucky they didn't have access to lots of gold. They wouldn't have lasted ten years! Ol' Cristobal may be honored as a great explorer by us, but he was basically just looking to make a killing for himself.
Well, that much he did.
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The thing next to the bone was a piece of a bottle from around the 1700s. I turned them both in to the people at the US Park Service. Whenever bones are found they are re-interred under the auspices of the local clergy.
I just snorkeled. It was such a hassle to get from the island I was on to one which had a dive shop I just decided to forget it. The water was pretty clear all in all. And warm! Like 28 C. Not too much marine life near the beaches I swam in. A spotted eagle ray. I think I got a picture of him with the underwater camera. I'll try to develop those soon.
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