Today we once again woke to the familiar tones of an alarm, featuring the voice of a British lady who informed us that it was time to get up because it was 6 o’clock.
After the mad rush to make our lunches and jump in the van, we drove out to the drop-off point and began our trek up to the Tamawhera site. We have been excavating some trenches on the terraces, and our first job of the day was to remove the leftover topsoil from some of the excavation squares. The two of us were working in adjoining units on the lower terrace. The previous day had not uncovered many objects that caused excitement. However, this changed after the first few sifts of soil. We found two small (but still exciting) pieces of obsidian (volcanic glass) and fish vertebrate. These findings indicated that we were on the right track. Not long after this, our excavations showed a change in the archaeological layers.
Excavation progresses
In Victoria’s section, she initially noticed small scatterings of shell through the soil. When excavating these areas, large amounts of fish bone and complete shells were uncovered. Due to the high density of artefacts, a larger sample of the deposit was taken, which will be looked at on return to the lab at university. After this material had been removed and the last of the topsoil had been swept away, this section had finally reached the white clay layer of the original terrace. This terrace was in no way uniform, as we noticed a few darker areas coming through after dusting away the final bits of topsoil. These are currently thought to be post holes, which could possibly be a foundation for a house. Surrounding these post holes were also a few possible stake holes. This particular section can be summed up as having obvious occupation and an abundance of bones.
Lauren’s section of trench was very similar to Victoria’s. While removing the topsoil with a trowel, she and the other excavators discovered that the white clay was not smooth – there was a patch where the topsoil continued deeper. We excavated until Lauren’s unit was at the same level as Victoria’s. While digging out the topsoil, we also found some pieces of shell and fish bone, as well as a piece of obsidian. We did not dig further down into the dark patch of topsoil, but instead left it intact so that we could clearly see the contrast with the white clay. At this stage we are not completely sure what the patch represents, but it may be part of the structure in Victoria’s unit. By the end of the morning we completed the excavation in these squares and moved onto removing topsoil in the surrounding units to create a broader picture of the terrace.
Everyone worked hard in the afternoon heat. However, due to the draining conditions, we returned to the house half an hour earlier than usual to a well-anticipated swim.
This is Lauren and Victoria signing off from Great Mercury Island Field School, 2014.