Today was a little different; after working all week at Te Mataku, the team piled in the van (very very early in the morning) to visit the Tamawhera site. A casual stroll through the thistle forests later we arrived at the excavation site. After warning of the difficult road ahead, we tackled the terrain with ease due to the momentous mountain we were faced with every morning to reach our own site.
We checked out their excavated house and subsequently we were delayed in reaching our own site. This resulted in Louise pushing the turbo speed button. The first obstacle faced by the Mataku team was the hill mentioned above. We quickly realised we only had the one climb in us that morning and we struggled up the jagged cliff. The second obstacle for the day came in the form of a fire cracked rock overload. Our 1×1 metre square was choc-a-block with FCR, which slowed down the excavation process.
Even with both Katherine and I squashed into the square we were unable to conquer the rock continuously erupting from the rake out. The third obstacle was the total station threatening to shut down at any moment as the battery slowly drained as more FCR surfaced.
Wet sieving material
Crowded in the trench!
Meanwhile Liam was having all the luck finding lots of artefacts in his 1×1 metre square. Finally in the afternoon we struck shell, as a 30cm long shell zone became present under the masses of FCR.
Trench photography
At the end of the day, covered in charcoal we wandered on home around the reef, thankfully the tide was low, lugging our FCR behind us. Fortunately we were able to have a shower, however despite the intense pressure and scalding temperature, we doubt we will ever be clean again.
– Emma