Work on the dune face, and on the flat behind
The garden site excavation has finished and Thegn has gone back to Auckland. Simon Holdaway has arrived to direct excavations in the second week. Simon’s interests are in lithics (stone tools) and formation process (how the tools got to where they are now). We have started work on the dunes in the middle of the island near where we are staying. During a severe storm in 2007 the dunes were cut back exposing a black cultural layer and shell midden. We have relocated this deposit using a GPS, and cleaned up the slumped sand to expose the vertical face again. The intention is to draw the stratigraphy or layers to scale and to take samples of shell and charcoal for identification of wood used to fuel the fires.
Other teams are working further back in the dunes looking at the geomorphology of the dunes and the archaeological or cultural layers relative to natural layers in the dunes by coring metres down into the sand and recording the changes in sand colour. Another team is working on the top of the dune where stone flakes were exposed in an erosion area. Work will progress in each of these areas over the next week. Support teams using geophysical equipment identify anomalies under the surface and potential areas for excavation, and a survey team using a total station records finds and excavation areas precisely.
The different teams are working in different conditions. It has been sunny for the last few days with a breeze from the east. This is perfect for those teams working on the top of the dune but those on the west side of the dune, below a 3 m high scarp, are sweltering in the still hot conditions. Add a lot of physical work of shovelling sand into the mix and some teams finish the day feeling exhausted.
We are always under pressure to recover as much information as possible and it is more difficult to return to the island to take some measurements or check a layer so we are trying to get as much work done as possible before this field season ends on Sunday. We are working longer days – 7.30 to 5, with ¾ hour for lunch and no formal stop for morning and afternoon break. It is interesting to see the students, who have not excavated before, being so enthusiastic about their work and having no complaints about the long days or heat.
Children on Great Mercury Island helping the archaeologists sieve
The team on the beach has cleaned up the slumped dune face to a straight surface and have sieved the sand residue from the cultural layers being excavated to recover any flakes which escaped the sharp eyes of the excavator. On Monday we had a visit from the two resident children doing correspondence school. They were intrigued by our activities and had a go at sieving.
In preparation for the work on the dune face being completed, a team started excavating a large square behind. After the dune section was recorded and photographed, the awesome diggers in the square behind started shovelling out the sterile sand overlying the cultural layer to connect up the two areas. Many cubic metres of sand were shovelled today, and on the last day all the sand has to be shovelled back into the excavated squares. In the meantime, the next three days of excavating will prove exciting as more cultural layers are uncovered.
– Louise