Archaeological News: Recovering the 'city below the one we've lost'

archaeologicalnews:

Archaeologists are running out of space to store thousands of items unearthed in earthquake-hit central Christchurch.

One archaeological firm has already filled a 12-meter-long shipping container with tens of thousands of artifacts. The same company recently found hundreds of artifacts under the Theater Royal. That haul includes bottles and ceramic shards, along with earthenware crucibles used by gold prospectors to separate metals.

Finds elsewhere in the city include an old roller-skate, Maori artifacts from before European settlement, gold prospector equipment, shards of ceramic plates and thousands of drink bottles.

Archaeologists have to be called in on any work within the four avenues that may disturb the ground, as well as for work on some pre-1900 residential sites.

Kirsa Webb, of Underground Overground Archaeology, said the firm had filled about 200 boxes with its finds, which filled a large shipping container. “We don’t know what we’re going to do with them.” Read more.