Shelter for the total station!
We only had one week to complete the excavation on the beach, begun in February. We began by clearing away the sand covering to excavation until we reached the protective layer of tarpaulin covering the archaeological material still in situ. Once uncovered we continued excavations, targeting the units we had left unexcavated in February. We quickly discovered this included as very large haangi, clearly defined by densely pack stones and charcoal. The units at the end of the trench furthest from the sea continued to yield large numbers of stone artefacts. Perseverance in this area was rewarded however, at the end of the week when we discovered four postholes along the back of the trench. With all this information we can finally begin to reconstruct the occupation of the beach. Now we have to process thousands of artefacts….Watch this space!
Post holes along the back wall