Digging The Dirt On Our History In Kerikeri

March 8

MEDIA RELEASE

Digging The Dirt On Our History In Kerikeri

Bay of Islands people will have a golden opportunity to dig a little deeper into the archaeological history of their district on March 18.

The NZ Historic Places Trust’s Northland Regional Archaeologist, Brooke Jamieson, will give a public talk entitled An Introduction to NZ Archaeology with the NZHPT at the Kerikeri RSA (6pm, March 18).

“We also want to encourage people to come along and share information about the history of the Bay of Islands area, and in particular places where they think archaeological features may exist,” says Brooke.

“There’s a huge amount of local heritage knowledge out there in the community, and we’re very keen to tap into that. We’ll also be running some displays, and a fun quiz for people to test their archaeological wits, followed by supper. It’s going to be fascinating and fun.”

Brooke worked in Ireland as a contract archaeologist for eight years on a number of archaeological excavations in different parts of the country throughout that time. In 2009, she and her husband Wes – also an archaeologist – moved back to New Zealand.

The couple moved to Northland in September last year, where Brooke has been working as the NZHPT’s Northland Archaeologist.

“The Bay of Islands is an archaeologist’s dream. Here you’ve got archaic sites that go back to the earliest time of human settlement, ranging through to first contact sites between Maori and European missionaries, as well as a rich diversity of fortified pa sites like Ruapekapeka – right up to archaeological remains of industries like gumdigging,” she says.

“I’m looking forward to sharing some of that knowledge with people from around the area – and also learning more about the Bay of Island’s wider archaeological and historical landscape from others.”

Caption: NZ Historic Places Trust Northland Archaeologist, Brooke Jamieson.

ENDS

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