Dear Dig Diaries,
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to wake up in the mornings despite the sheep calling in our ears. However, once we are up and running its all action at base camp (queue epic explosion soundtrack). Bags packed, sunscreen on in large amounts fuelled with the anticipation of finding artefacts that will make all the other students jealous.
Cut to scene…
Picture this, students labouring in the blistering heat with sweat dripping down their soil-covered faces; muscles twitching under the strain of the trowel shifting earth to reveal the precious material below (mostly fire-cracked rocks that have been superheated to the intensity of 10,000 suns) for us to find.
NZ archaeology
As we toiled in the field, digging into the past and scaling cliff faces like mountain goats, a herd of sheep came to see what we have uncovered, all 800 of them as they were off to frolic in the paddocks on the other side of the island.
Cut to trench…
Trenches were removing vast amounts of artefacts such as obsidian and basalt flakes, precious materials sourced from great distances by prehistoric occupants. Deep post holes were uncovered, hinting at the possibility of structures covering the site. Excavation of sites is not as simple as just digging in the ground but has a technique to record each level of soil deposit (change in colour of the soil as it excavated down) which is very time consuming. Only small pieces of deposits can be uncovered at a time, beckoning curiosity and leaving students eager to tackle the site the next day to see what emerges.
Cut to cliff face…
Students are frantically scaling a steep, eroding bank like hungry mountain goats, in search of the precious grass that is artefacts. Lasers are shot from the total station (Think R2-D2 sitting on a tripod) to record and store the position of every single artefact in space into our database. This can be used to create a map displaying the distribution of all artefacts across our site. The artefacts are falling out of the cliff at the speed of a chuck Norris round-house kick to the face due to erosion building up at the bottom of the bank.
Although it is all fun and games at camp, when we are in the field the work and artefacts being produced is a real eye opener to the immense power of the human brain and its ability to create the material goods we are finding in the trenches.
– Kody and Mana