The first weeks of 2009 will see a team of visiting and local archaeologists investigating the site of the old slave village at the Papine Estate, now part of the University of the West Indies, Mona. The dig will also incorporate a Field School for archaeology students at the UWI.

Dr. Jillian Galle, Project Manager at the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in Virginia, USA, is principal investigator, having been granted a three-year license by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. The Papine investigation was initiated in January 2008, with a three-week survey dig.

Some 392 Survey Test Pits (STPs) were dug during that season, providing some 10,000 artifacts for analysis and interpretation. Artifacts included fragments of ceramic, metal and other materials as well as whole nails and buttons.

The Archaeological Dig is expected over the long-term investigation to help to explain the location and shifts of the village over time, as well as the lifestyle of its inhabitants. In addition, the work will check the site, on the edge of the village area, where there are plans to replicate a small cluster of dwellings, with relevant interpretational signage.

From January 1-12 a team of five from DAACS joined the two Jamaican team members and several volunteers, some of them former UWI archaeology students to conduct the Archaeological Dig. Following on the departure of the DAACS members Jamaican archaeologist Ivor Connolley will lead the team in the dig until the end of January.