Archaeology Actually

Kia ora, For the last month New Zealand has been in lockdown to try and eliminate the Covid-19 virus. This has temporarily placed considerable restrictions on our normal freedom of movement. For most New Zealanders, this has meant travel outside of one's immediate neighbourhood has been limited to the access of essential services, such as grocery stores and medical care. In response I thought I would write a short blog post about a couple of sites of historic interest I've come across during recent walks in my local area - the North East Valley in Dunedin.   I thought it was particularly appropriate to write a New Zealand focused blog post this week, seeing as it is New Zealand Archaeology Week . This is an annual nation-wide event coordinated by the New Zealand Archaeological Association that is now into its fourth year. In previous years events such as public exhibits, talks and guided tours of archaeological sites and landscapes have been held across th...

Kia ora,  What a surreal last few weeks this has been! I hope everyone reading this is safe and well.  Here in New Zealand we are in the second week of a national lockdown  to try and eliminate the Covid-19 virus. I thought I'd use some of the extra time I now have up my sleeve to start writing for this blog again!  This past week has presented a great opportunity to reflect on and write about a real interest subject of mine - human origins - with the publication of a number of relevant scientific papers reporting the discoveries of important new fossils and the application of new (and refined) analytical approaches to glean new information from older fossils.  Quick side note  here: I'm not a trained palaeoanthropologist and I welcome feedback from those that know the field better if factual errors are spotted, as I would like this blog to be regarded as an accurate source of information. Hopefully I somehow manage to do justice to such a complex and fl...