|
 | | |  | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |
^
Back to Overview
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
Chris and Maria recording the north baulk of O11 west(refer site map). |
Today was the last full day of excavations on site, before we backfill tomorrow. As a result, there's an awful lot to do.
Square O11 west was completely finished and the sections drawn for both
the north and east baulks. This involves measuring the depths of the various
layers and creating a plan that depicts what is visible in the wall of
the square.
It was another hot sunny day and this produces all sorts of problems when it comes time to photograph the site. In the end we have often resorted to holding up tarpaulins to block out the sun - the height we have to hold it depends on the time of day. In this photo of O11 east (below) it is near midday so we have had to almost cover the square.
 |
|
Using tarpaulins to screen the sun so squares could be photographed. |
In O11 east the team have been struggling down through the ovens - more than nine in total, one with a large posthole cut through it. To try and speed up the process we resorted to using hoes and spades to carefully, but slightly more quickly, remove the cultural material.
This also resulted in large quantities of shell material being recovered from the wet sieving, but we made good use of the hot conditions to dry the material before it was bagged to be sent back to Dunedin.
|
|
|
Left:
Sheryl hoeing out the base if Layer 5 in O11 east |
Andy's Trench was finally finished and had its section drawn. By the end of the day we had started filling it in again.
 |
|
Large posthole in the base of O12. |
Square O12 was completed down to the natural base, and the large collection of fur seal bones (probably male by size), which were initially uncovered yesterday, were removed.
A large posthole was excavated in the base of this square but there had been little evidence higher up to suggest what layer it had originated in.
|
|
|
Excavation crew at the end of the day - hot and weather-beaten. |
Tonight we gave our final presentation to the local community, at Hauiti Marae. There were more than 50 people there and Richard presented an overview of the excavations, and our preliminary thoughts on what it all meant. It was a wonderful opportunity to give something back to the people who had been so supportive.
 |
|
Presentation of the draft results of the excavation to the community at Hauiti Marae |
Tomorrow is our last day and there is still some work to do to finish cleaning the base of Layer 5 down to natural, then draw the sections, before Pop turns up with the digger to fill the squares in again - something that all archaeologists are obliged to do once the excavations have finished.
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
