The first day of an archaeological investigation is
a day of planning and preparation.
The
excavation equipment arriving by helicopter. Photo:
Jean Spinks, Otago University
The first
day of an archaeological investigation is a day of planning, of organising, and
of getting ready for the excavating to begin in earnest. There is no access to
the site via road, so a helicopter was used to transport all the archaeological
equipment into Cook's Cove.
The first job on any excavation is to establish
a grid that is superimposed over the site. This is very important because as the
excavation progresses, spatial information is recorded with regard to this grid.
Sophisticated surveying equipment is used to measure out the areas to be excavated,
based on a 5 x 5 metre grid. Within one 5 x 5 metre unit, two areas (each 4 x
2 m in areas) were chosen to be excavated. Archaeologists mark the edges of their
excavations with string and pegs so that the areas excavated are precisely located
within the site grid.
Left:
Turf being removed from the surface of an area to be excavated. Right: Removal
of thistles prior to excavation Photos: Jean Spinks,
Otago University
Cook's Cove is surrounded
by farmland, so the surface of the archaeological site was covered with pasture
and a lot of thistles! The thistles were chopped out, and the turf was removed
from the two areas to be excavated. The turf was cut out in squares, and was stacked
at the edge of the site so that it can be replaced at the end of the excavation.
The
site viewed from the west; archaeological layers are visible as dark bands in
the bank. Photo: Sheryl McPherson, Otago University
Immediately beneath the turf, archaeological soils were visible as
a dark layer. About 20 cm below the surface, a layer of crushed shell with some
whole Cook's Turban shells (Cookia sulcata) was encountered. Archaeologists excavate
according to the stratigraphy of the site; here, the shell represents a distinct
layer in the soil profile. The site directors decided that to begin with, the
area should be excavated to the top of this layer. By the end of the first day
of the excavation, the surface of the shell layer had been partially exposed.
