MCYS had remarkable year with its museums
The Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology on Main Street
The Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology on Main Street

MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony, has highlighted the remarkable year the ministry has had with regard to the museums under its umbrella, at a press briefing held in the ministry’s boardroom last week.

Museums under the ministry, inclusive of the National Museum, the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology and the Museum of African Heritage, hosted a number of exhibitions. The National Museum hosted approximately seven exhibitions, a novel number for the museum.
Earlier in the year, the National Museum in its bid to increase interest among youths and children in the institution, launched a successful digitalisation project by installing a touch-screen monitor, which provides instant background for any of the artifacts found in the museum.
Additionally, the museum continued with its school- outreach programme, for which approximately 104 schools have signed up; the programme entails varying artifacts being taken to the schools for incorporation into their curriculum.
The minister further related that The Anthropology Museum gained an Akawaio Funerary figurine from a miner; it is estimated to be about 2000 years old.
Additionally, the museum has been very involved in further archaeology in Guyana, with Boise State University and our own archaeology programme at the University of Guyana engaging in studies at Warapana.
A MOU was signed with the University of Florida which has explored and will further explore the raised mounds found in the Berbice River area that have been dated to about 3000-4000 BC.
A very successful workshop on Ancient Ceramics by Dr Issac Stern was done at the museum. Stern, from the University of Florida, also created 3D maps of the Berbice River areas where the mounds are located.
Social anthropology was pursued by Dr George Mentore and his students who studied different Amerindian villages. Linguistic studies were also done by the ministry with regard to the publishing of seven dictionaries with the languages of seven different Amerindian tribes. More dictionaries for the remaining dialects are currently being put together.
Digitalisation is being done, as well, at the Walter Rodney Archives (the National Archives). The ministry has completed a project to input 9000 Indentureship records. The second phase is now being completed, and it entails uploading pictures of the records. It aims to allow persons to access names and information of their ancestors.

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