Postholes
of the main house (see video).
Photo: Janice Adamson, University of Auckland
The weather in the last few days has been a challenge with heavy rain.
By midday today we managed to clean the surfaces in Areas D and E and
numerous postholes have been exposed.
The area we think is the main house showed two posthole rows cut into
each other. This could mean that two houses were built succesively in
the same place.
One working theory is that the Autridges first built a small 'whare'
to provide shelter for their family until such time as they could source
timber and afford to build a timber house. We did not find a fireplace
in this area but it could be 'hiding' under the unexcavated area around
the modern cattle trough.
In Area E, pieces of ceramic vessels were found that would have been
used in a dairy, for example a milk pan. Other pieces of ceramic vessels
seem to relate more to a utilitarian use of the area, compared to the
tableware vessels more common in the main house area.
Left:
Example of utilitarian ceramic for use in the kitchen.
Right: A piece of industrial slipware.
Photo: Janice Adamson, University of Auckland
Some of the ceramic pieces found are not the usual transfer-printed wares
but so-called Industrial Slipware - cheap, sturdy and colourful for use
in the kitchen. After the fire ravaged the property, the Autridge family
claimed for a house, a dairy and stables. We have hopes of finding the
stables, but it's becoming less likely now, with so much still to do in
the areas we are excavating, and little time left on site.
Underground
oven with semi-circular shelter (see video).
Photo: Janice Adamson, University of Auckland
In the area C on the other side of the main house, a second cooking area
was found. It seemed that a Maori-style hangi was used by occupants of
the house. Differently to the usual Maori archaeological finds, this underground
oven was framed by a small semicircular structure, possibly with a roof
- as evidenced by the semi-circular array of postholes nearby.
The amount of finds (mostly glass and ceramics) - all broken and most
in little pieces - has reached the 4000 number now.
The next two days will be excavating and documenting all visible features,
including digging out the postholes (the larger area dug to insert posts)
and identifying the post-casts (the actual area where the post stood).
