Maritime Research Esthersrust

In January, three students from the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University - Amber IJsveld, Emma Körnstamm, and Isabella Wlaznik - and their Professor, Martijn Manders of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), travelled to Suriname for fieldwork at the site of a former plantation Esthersrust. The Dutch team joined up with students and project leader, Santosh Singh, of the Anton de Kom University.

Esthersrust is located on the Atlantic Coast and was already in use in the early 17th century. It functioned primarily as a cotton plantation, mainly because cotton is the only plant that can withstand high levels of salt water. Early in the 20th century, the site was abandoned, and the sea flooded the former plantation. This has had a positive effect on the preservation of the site. Everything – machines, buildings, storage, furniture, toys, etc – has been preserved and kept oxygen-free under a layer of mud. However, approximately 15 years ago the site started to surface, and it is now under threat. The site is consequently being monitored to see the effect of the changing environment, and to document everything before it is gone.

The current collaboration aimed to monitor the area that is being washed away by the ocean, due to coastal erosion related to climate change. After the fieldwork, a temporary exhibition Esthersrust: Cotton on the Coast was presented at the National Archive Suriname in Paramaribo.  

This collaborative partnership between Leiden University, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), and the Anton de Kom University, will continue in the coming years and is supported by the International Heritage programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).