“With Forest93, I believe the culture of the indigenous people is valued as much as how people treat nature. You don't have an ethnocentric view, but understand and appreciate the impact of man in the past thousands of years on the current state of the Amazon region. This understanding shows a true recognition of the indigenous peoples' way of life and culture.”
Efforts
What Irene Meulenberg has done with Forest93, project by project.
Active
Community-archaeology training in south Suriname
Head archaeologist, trainer and technical adviser
Leads the training and trains the indigenous community in the basics of community archaeology.
- Culture & arts
Completed
The first Forest93 Ambassador Trip, to Kwamalasamutu
Archaeologist
Joined the trip as archaeologist and shared her knowledge of the Werehpai petroglyphs and the pottery fragments found at the site.
- Culture & arts
- Awareness
About Irene Meulenberg
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Irene grew up with parents who loved nature, a passion they passed on to her and her brothers from a very early age.
Irene completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in archaeology at Leiden University, focusing on the Caribbean and South America. Her Master’s thesis researched the use of calabashes from Suriname, a natural product still used today, and how people used the fruit in the past. She was particularly interested in documenting this type of find, because such material perishes over time and is very rare in the archaeological record.
Irene contributed to the book The Archaeology of Suriname: The Werehpai Petroglyph Site (2023), produced by the Stichting Surinaams Museum and written by Aad Versteeg, Abelardo Sandoval, Irene Meulenberg and Dirk Noordam. The book describes all 313 petroglyphs at Werehpai, together with an analysis of pottery fragments and charcoal finds.
Today she is the lead archaeologist at the Directorate of Culture of Suriname’s Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, with a strong passion for Suriname’s heritage and culture. Archaeology studies how people used natural resources in the past, and how they moved through the landscape. “Archaeology should be executed before ground-disturbing activities take place, both in the city or as disturbance of forest. Unfortunately, for Suriname this is often not yet fully known or studied,” says Irene.
She wants to focus her work in Suriname on researching tangible and intangible cultural heritage. In her spare time she passes her love of nature and cultural heritage on to her own children and to other children, teaching them what archaeology is and why it matters to know the past.
In March 2024 Irene joined the first Forest93 Ambassador Trip to Kwamalasamutu and the Werehpai petroglyphs, and in July 2024 she was welcomed as a Forest93 Ambassador.
