Removing
the thick layer of sterile material that overlies the early occupation layer.
Photo: Lizzy Dacker, Otago University
Six cubic metres of soil was removed from one of the excavation units
today with buckets, shovels and sweat. Two of the directors of the excavation
were conveniently away attending an "important" meeting for the duration
of this task. The early occupation layer (about one metre below the ground) was
revealed as a dark surface mottled with yellow clay. A number of features were
encountered on this surface including seven possible post holes that appeared
as regularly spaced patches of sand and crushed shell. It is not yet certain what
these represent but as the excavation progresses deeper into the early occupation
layer all will become clear.
Recording
the details of the oven; only half of the oven has been excavated. Photo:
Sheryl McPherson, Otago University
Meanwhile,
in another of the three open areas, an oven (hangi) was encountered just below
the crushed shell layer. About a metre in diameter, it contained many large oven
stones and charcoal pieces amongst charcoal-stained soil. The oven was half-sectioned;
that is, half of the contents of the oven were carefully excavated. This means
that a cross section of the oven can be viewed, and allows the archaeologist to
determine its depth and construction details. Two beautiful bone fish hook points
were recovered from in and around the oven. These are shown in the photograph:
both are would have been lashed to wooden shanks to form a hook - the one on the
left is a point for a minnow lure, used for catching surface-feeding fish (such
as barrcouta), and the one on the right would have been attached to a shaft and
is a bait hook for bottom-dwelling fish.
Examples
of artefacts that were recovered. From the left: worked moa bone; two moa-bone
fish hook points; obsidian flake knife; chert flake. Photo:
Jean Spinks, Otago University
Stone artefacts
were also recovered during the day's work, including examples made from two stone
types; a flake of obsidian (volcanic glass), second from right in the photo, and
a flake of locally available chert (a fine-grained material that flakes easily),
on the extreme right. Obsidian is available from several sources around New Zealand,
but the colour of the obsidian from the Cooks Cove site matches that from the
Mayor Island source in the Bay of Plenty.
Also shown on the left of the
photo is a worked piece of moa bone, probably waste material from fishhook making,
with clearly visible cutmarks which may have been made with a cutting tool such
as the obsidian and chert flakes in the photo.
