Representatives of several Bahamian families laying claim to a disputed parcel of land on San Salvador traveled to the historic island yesterday to ensure that the Watlings Archaeological Company had stopped its excavations as ordered by the government.
Although the company has not said so, speculations are rife that it is actually digging for “buried treasure” or other valuables, as reported in The Bahama Journal last week.
The San Salvador jaunt to inspect the site of the digging was the latest move in a bid to end a land dispute between the families – who chartered a flight to the island – and the archaeological company.
“There is an access road going into the property, that has been blocked,” Garnell Bethel told The Bahama Journal. “A gate has been put up and they have security posted there telling us that we cannot come on the land.”
The Bethel family claims to be descendants of the rightful owners of the land along with members of the Major, Rolle, Butler and Black clans.
The land in question, at the eastern end of the island, has been in the families for generations, they claimed.
When the group arrived on the island, it was met by a sizeable crowd of curious residents who had renewed interest in the situation. Among them were members of a private security detail that has reportedly been contracted by the archaeological company.
Another family member told The Journal that he is confident they got their point across; that they will continue to challenge the company’s right to access their property and excavate the land.
Last week The Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture ordered those excavations stopped, but the notice did not say much more than that.
Ms. Bethel claimed that the land for which the private company had a license to excavate is not the actual property on which it was digging.
“We want them to know that they are on the wrong land. That has to be cleared up,” Ms. Bethel said.
This is not the first time that the families have attempted to stop the digging on their property. They had contracted a quantity surveyor and took other measures to determine correct ownership.
The matter has also reached the courts.
“We had like four or five generations that lived [on the land in question]. That land was given through a grant to my forefathers back in the 1800’s. People lived there so how is it that someone else owns the property?” Ms. Bethel said.
The Bahama Journal attempted to contact the law firm that is representing the company Brave Davis and Co., but was unable to reach a spokesperson up to press time.
Bert Deveaux, a leading San Salvador resident who is involved with the Watlings company told The Bahama Journal that the company is looking for anything of value that it can find at the site but declined to say if excavators are looking for so-called buried treasure.
“I am looking for everything, artifacts, murals, whatever is in the ground and has value,” he said before learning that the government had issued an order for the digging to stop.
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
