Bicento - plantation house and well
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On August 18, 2016 the Archaeology sleuths went to Bicento. Bicento is a so called kunuku (smaller area than a plantation, used for agriculture) and can be found along the road from the Weg naar Soto to Ascencion. At the corner of this road there is a bistro called Laternu. We got permission from the owner of this restaurant to park our cars in his parking lot. We met at 7.45 AM at this parking lot. The group consisted this time of Hetty, François, Fred, Carel, Eddy and me. Around 8 AM we started our hike along this road to the kunuku Bicento. In front of the kunuku we found a sign that announces that this 'plantation' (according to the sign) is for sale. There we entered the area.
Kunuku Striebeek
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On Thursday May 26 2016 the archaeology sleuths parked their cars along the road to Westpunt close to plantation house Ascension. Our target for that day was de Kunuku Striebeek, one of the old kunuku's along a dirt road visible on the Werbata map. This kunuku Striebeek looks rather undisturbed on Google Earth so we hoped to find foundations or other remnants of the many houses that are marked on the Werbata map in this kunuku.
When we arrived at the border between kunuku Caridad (a small kunuku) and kunuku Striebeek we entered the vegetation. Between these two kunuku's there seems to have been a path with on both sides a fence, a rather new one on the Caridad side and an old one on the Striebeek side. We entered the kunuku Striebeek.
Indian site at Santa Crus
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There is a small island in the saliña of Santa Krus. That was our target for today's hike. It is a real island, so it is surrounded by water. How deep is not known, but probably not too deep. So we came prepared with old shoes or special water shoes. But first we had to get to the island. We parked our cars in Hofi Mango with permission from the family Ooms. From there we walked through the beautiful hofi with Barba di Yonkuman trees, some Kapok trees and a lot of high mango trees. A rich nature because of a relatively humid underground.
Manganese mining - Newtown and Seru Francisco Jobo
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The last few times
we canvassed the slopes of the Seru Francisco Jobo from the Christoffel national park. We covered most of the slope on the side of the Christoffel park and found several locations where surface mining was done. We also covered part of the Seru Francisco Jobo on the Western (Jerimi) side but didn't find remains of manganese mining at that side. But the buildings of the mining plant are located on that side of the mountain so it is probable that also at that side mining has been done.
So this time we went from Lagun to the Western side of the Seru Francisco Jobo; along our route we passed the Newtown buildings and the large dam with on both sides of the dam mining buildings. The other sleuths did this already during a trip a few weeks ago that I couldn't attend so our focus was mainly on the Western slope of the Seru Francisco Jobo, but I took the chance for a quick look at all the buildings that we passed.
Read more: Manganese mining - Newtown and Seru Francisco Jobo
Seru Francisco Jobo - more to the South
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On Thursday March 10, 2016 the archaeology sleuths went once again to the Seru Francisco Jobo for further investigation. The previous weeks we had searched the Eastern slope and a small part of the Western slope (Jerimi side) of this mountain for traces of manganese mining. Apart from the two already known tunnels, one accessible, the other closed, we found several previously unknown locations where surface mining for manganese was done. This led us to the conclusion that the two tunnels were not actual the result of mining but are trial pits to determine if manganese was also present inside the mountain. Apparently this was not the case in sufficient quantities and that explains why there are no more tunnels in the mountain. Almost everywhere else in the world manganese is found in surface mines. Apparently that was also the case in Curaçao, although not in such quantities that profitable mining was possible. The mines were apparently abandoned after one year.
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