More vegetation clearing!
So it’s definitely nothing like Indiana Jones or Time Team. It’s really dirty, it’s extremely hot, and it’s hard work – but it’s really enjoyable.
Today our team of three trekked out to try and make sense of the massive amounts of rock formations and terraces covering the hill at the Tamawhera site. Using GPS units with archaeological software, we marked out the exact position of terraces and stone features such as rock walls, alignments and terrace retaining walls. Unfortunately a large amount of these formations were covered by long grass and thistles, which meant our entire crew (excavators included) had to spend an hour each on the weed whacker in order to clear the formations. Our surveying team had to climb up and down the steep hill area many times over the day in order to get our eye in to some of the more difficult to see formations. These structures can tell us a lot about what archaeology may lie beneath the topsoil, and help us find potential housing, living, and gardening terraces.
Meanwhile, at the excavation site… Midden Man is a super-human entity, with a single purpose – to find midden. He can detect shell in up to 50cm of soil, which turns to annoyance as he realises he’s going to spend yet another day bulk sampling tons of shell. Seriously though, midden is important. It contains a wide variety of material that can help identify diet, environments, behaviours or the use of spaces. Finding and excavating it is fiddly and slow going but an interesting challenge as you attempt to define its extent while maintaining as much of the material as possible.
Archaeological work is hard, physically and mentally. Everyday has its own challenges from baking in the sun while digging, to hiking up and down the side of a large hill repeatedly attempting to identify features in a maze of stone. There are many opportunities to feel defeated, disappointed and generally exhausted. However when the alarm goes off at 6am, there is no hesitation in leaping out of bed and rushing into the field to continue your work. The excitement of finding a small window into the lives of those who have lived before us whether through a tool, a structure or a collection of midden material manages to overcome any exhaustion.
by Alex and Midden Man