It's summer, and it's hot, so the fieldwork season must be here!
On Sunday 1 February 25 people from the University of Auckland and Auckland Museum travel to Ahuahu Great Mercury Island. Twelve students from the Fieldschool teaching course will be there for two weeks learning the techniques and processes of survey and excavation.
Gear's just been dropped off and we're taking the wee morning walk to site #fs15gmi #gmiproject #hotnsweaty pic.twitter.com/jbBwt98rD7
— Samantha Lagos (@slagolithic) February 1, 2015
Fieldwork is the time when an interest in archaeology becomes a passion, or a future aversion. We hope that the students will be excited by the archaeology and become the next generation of new archaeologists.
This year we are working in the middle of the island excavating an eroding site in Coralie Bay on the eastern side of the tombolo. One of the aims of the project is to "tread lightly" and not cause too much damage to the surviving archaeology on the island.
Although we record, describe and photograph as we excavate, we also destroy the evidence and it cannot be replicated exactly as it was. Therefore, if we can, we try to focus on sites which are already eroding or under threat from storm events.
The site recorded as T10/360 in the NZ Archaeological Association Site Record Scheme is one of those sites under threat from erosion. Large flakes of obsidian (volcanic glass) have eroded out of the toe of the sand dune, and there is a dark charcoal-rich layer indicating burning visible in the exposed section.
We will mark out trenches or squares on the surface, remove the grass, then trowel off the underlying layers to expose what is there.
Follow the progress of the excavation as we reveal what is under the grass.
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