Monthly Archives: February 2012

Today we opened a test pit (a 1x1m hole) in a new excavation area. It was a place that was selected near the beach for its unnatural flat plateau, and was run with the geophysical survey a couple of days … Continue reading →

The garden site excavation has finished and Thegn has gone back to Auckland. Simon Holdaway has arrived to direct excavations in the second week. Simon’s interests are in lithics (stone tools) and formation process (how the tools got to where … Continue reading →

After six days of digging we finally got our first day off, with a fantastic sleep in till 7:30am! Our great Pa adventure started at 10 am where we were driven to the outskirts of Tamawera Pa. While waiting for … Continue reading →

After several days of excavation, I can confidently say that I am enjoying myself! Starting out my first day of excavations, we opened a 1×1 metre test pit across a section of the stone alignments, in the garden zone. After … Continue reading →

Excavations are well underway. Today was fine and very warm, and an improvement on the steady rain yesterday. Although we had shelters over the excavation areas on Day 2 the soil was very wet and water was seeping through the … Continue reading →

The geophysics team studied a 20m2 area on a terrace above the rock gardens under excavation. Geophysics is a non-intrusive survey technique that allows us to have a picture of what is underneath the ground without having to dig it … Continue reading →

Students and staff awoke to clear skies and the promise of a good days work ahead. Setup on site began early with the GPS base station being positioned and theodolite stations setup, ready for a day of garden and trench … Continue reading →

While booking a bus for 7.50am seems like a good idea a month ahead of time, it was not looked upon favourably once the first alarms were set to organise waking in time for it. Departing from Sky city bus … Continue reading →

We’re here on Great Mercury Island after months of planning. This morning we awoke to rain and travelled to Whitianga with no improvement to the precipitation or greyness. However as we approached Whitianga the rain stopped and the situation improved … Continue reading →

Before starting an archaeological fieldwork project it is important to research background information about the place. This includes having some understanding of geology, soil types, endemic vegetation and geomorphology. Researching previous archaeological work in the area is also important, including … Continue reading →