Two visits to the refinery
- Details
We got special permission from the management of RdK (Refineria di Korsou, Refinery of Curaçao) to visit the terrain of the refinery; in the past this terrain consisted of a number of plantations, Asiento, a large part of Rio Canario, Valentijn, De Hoop, Bleinheim, Gasparito, part of Heintje Kool, a small part of Roozendaal and a part of Marchena. We, members of the Working group Archaeology of Curaçao, were interested if any remains of the old plantation houses and graves in this area could be found. For the central part where the actual refinery installations are built there is certainly nothing left, but to the West an area is not occupied by installations so maybe there we would be lucky.
Around the Seru Hoba
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Once again the sleuths visited the Christoffel park. This time with a special guest, Gisette Seferina, an entomologist. She brought some equipment to collect insects during this hike. Also Eddy was present after his long vacation.
We had no specific purpose this time, just a nice hike through the beautiful nature of the Christoffel park.
We gathered at 8 AM on Thursday October 8, 2014 at the parking lot of the Christoffel park. From the entrance of the park we drove with two cars to the small parking lot close to Pos Monton. From there we walked to Pos Monton, a nice well; we were very quiet during the last few meters to the pos because we hoped to see some deer drinking from the well. Unfortunately there were none. There were some water birds though and some of the water lilies were open already. This well has water all year round.
Visit to the three caves at Cueba Bosá
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Close to the border between the Christoffelpark and the neigboring area of Wacao there are several caves. At Cueba Bosá three caves are located; the most Western one (cave 1) is easily accessible to the public; the second one is closed to the public but we got special permission to enter this cave; the third cave is open to the public but not so easily accessible because there is no path cleared to this cave.
The archaeology sleuths gathered at the entrance of the park at 8 AM on Thursday October 2, 2014. With two cars the trip was made to the area of the caves. The route to the caves is clearly indicated. Close to the three caves of Cueba Bosá there is also a small cave with indian drawings.
San Juan - hofi
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On Thursday September 25 the archaeology sleuths went to the plantation of San Juan. The cars were parked close to the magazina. From there we walked to the North. We wanted to go to the large roi that flows in the direction of the large San Juan bay. Unfortunately we were blocked by a very dense vegetation of Palu di lechi. We continued looking for a way to enter the area by going to the East. There we found a place where the vegetation was less dense. After a while the area became more open, something we had expected for an area that is shown on the Werbata map as a hofi.
Indigo production in Curaçao
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At the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century there was a blooming indigo production in Curaçao. A lot of the plantations had planted indigo plants and had built indigo tanks to produce the indigo dye for export to the Netherlands. The dye was in high demand there.
I have simulated the indigo production process at a much smaller scale. The original process has been described in a old Dutch document "Brieven en Papieren van Curaçao en Onderhoorige Eilanden" (Letters and Papers from Curaçao and its subordinate islands). More specific in the "Memorie Om Indigo Zaat te planten, schoon te maken, te snijden, te slaan, en voorts tot Indigo te bearbeijden in manieren als volgt" (Memorandum how to plant indigo seed, clean, cut and beat the plants to produce indigo). This memorandum is part of book 204, part (folio) 39 - 41. Full source reference: Nationaal Archief Den Haag (A.R.A.) 2e WIC toegang 01.05.01.02 inventaris nummer 204, folio 39 - 41 transcribed by S. H. Vautier. The text is published in the Archiefvriend in June 2006. I will not translate the old Dutch text into English but will just quote the transcribed Dutch text. After each part of the original text I will describe the process in English as I repeated it in 2014 on a much smaller scale.
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