Great Mercury Island/Ahuahu
Overview with shearers' quarters
In December a group of us, including Professor Geoff Irwin, Professor Thegn Ladefoged, Dr Rod Wallace, Peter Johnston, Pete Johnston, Alex Jorgensen and myself, headed out to Great Mercury Island. While most of the group had visited the island before, it was my first time out there and the experience was nothing short of impressive. We hitched a ride out on the farm boat courtesy of Sir Michael Fay and were able to stay overnight on the island.
Surveying archaeological features
We walked over some of the areas we are interested in working on during February, in addition to visiting some famous locations on the island. These included one of the earliest documented sites on the island and the very impressive Tamawera Pa. The archaeology of the island is incredible and future research carried out here will undoubtedly be significant to New Zealand prehistory. We are all very much looking forward to the opportunity to work on such an amazing location.
Tamawera Pa