In an unprecedented international collaboration, the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University, Conseil Général de la Guadeloupe, Musée du Quai Branly, the Service Régional de l’Archéologie de Guadeloupe, and the Edgar Clerc Museum are inaugurating the exhibition “Espaces amérindiens – Amerindian Spaces” that traces the archaeological research undertaken in the 1990s in Guadeloupe by the Direction Régionale d’Archéologie de Guadeloupe and Leiden University in the Netherlands under the direction of André Delpuech, Corinne Hofman and Menno Hoogland. The archaeological investigations have been financed by the French Ministry of Culture, the Faculty of Archaeology and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

The exhibition highlights the main investigations conducted at the archaeological sites of Morel (Le Moule) and Anse à la Gourde (St. François), as well as on other sites at Grande-Terre, La Désirade and Petite-Terre. Other research was also conducted at Marie-Galante, in the Folle Anse region, at Terre-de-Bas in Les Saintes, and on the rock carvings at Trois-Rivières. All these sites date between 200 BC and AD 1500 and therefore highlight the entire pre-Columbian history of the Guadeloupean archipelago. The excavations have revealed important new insights into the lifeways and deathways, subsistence patterns and mobility and exchange of the first horticultural communities of the Caribbean.

The Franco-Dutch research conducted in Guadeloupe between 1993 and 2000 involved many Guadeloupean partners. Throughout the investigations, particular attention has been focused on the distribution and promotion of the results. Each year, open houses welcome the public, particularly public schools, to promote the participation of young Guadeloupeans in the excavations. Also, extensive promotion in the news has helped strengthened the first Guadeloupeans important place in the island’s history.

The “Espaces amérindiens. Archéologie en Grande-Terre de Guadeloupe” [Amerindian Spaces. Archaeology on Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe] presents new knowledge acquired through very substantial research from ambitious and unprecedented multi-disciplinary and international cooperation. Many Leiden undergraduate and graduate students have written their theses related to this project.

This exhibition is curated by Corinne Hofman, Menno Hoogland and André Delpuech, with the collaboration of Susana Guimaraes, curator of the Edgar Clerc Museum. Anne-Marie Fourteau and Elise Cousin, from the Service Régional de l’Archéologie de la DAC also contributed to this project.

The production team is composed of: Arlene Alvarez, editorial coordinator; David Marte, designer; Julijan Vermeer, designer; Pauline Kulstad, Katarina Enggist and Angus Martin, translators; Eric Pélissier, models, molds and installations; and the technical staff of the Conseil Général de la Guadeloupe. Funding for this exhibit has been is provided by the Faculty of Archaeology, the Neherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the Conseil Général de la Guadeloupe, and the Direction des Affaires Culturelles de la Guadeloupe.