Childhood. We all had one. Whether we remember it vaguely or with clarity, we all passed through this phase of life. As infants we shook that baby rattle with all our might or nursed that pacifier until our eyes closed … Continue reading →
Call us appraisalists, historical researchers, or even cyber archaeologists. Most of our day consists of using a wide variety of historical material to pull together the histories of sites around Canterbury (and to make sure those archaeologists in the field … Continue reading →
A poem by Jeffrey Paparoa Holman from "Shaken Down 6.3", Canterbury University Press 2012.
As life-changing experiences go, the earthquake on 22 February 2011 was fairly significant. On the one hand, our house was red-zoned (but still liveable), friends lost their lives and the city lost many of the old buildings that, for me, … Continue reading →
A report created by the University of Canterbury Quake Centre and the University of Auckland, funded by the Building Research Levy. It shows how an innovation process was initiated and managed throughout the rebuilding of the horizontal infrastructure after the Canterbury earthquakes.
A brochure published by Environment Canterbury in January 2003, examining liquefaction and liquefaction hazard ratings.
A brochure covering the causes of earthquakes, how earthquakes could affect Canterbury, and public preparedness.
A brochure created by Environment Canterbury, published in July 2007, covering tsunami risk to Canterbury and preparation for a tsunami.
A short story by Jane Seaford titled, "Finding the Way Home".
“It must have been a happy household,” was the remark made by one of our team members when she saw the artefact assemblage we are discussing on today’s blog post. Whilst children’s artefacts are relatively common finds on New Zealand … Continue reading →
If you walk along the Avon River by Cashel Street you might catch a glimpse of the small gondolas taking their fares for a leisurely punt through the city and botanical gardens. Today this attraction is aimed largely at tourists, … Continue reading →
This week we are treating you to a photographic tale of the life of a Cantabrian abode. Come with us now on a journey through time and space, to the wonderful world of dilapidated Victorian villas… Despite its grandiose design, Mr. … Continue reading →
As one 19th century advertisement begins, “in every civilised country throughout the world the human hair is always found to be a subject of peculiar attention.” For centuries, millenia even, we have tugged and twisted our hair into unnatural and often … Continue reading →
We’ve talked about food in the 19th century before on the blog, but we’ve mostly focused on the weird and wonderful (because, let’s face it, therein lies the fun stuff). In reality, a lot of food in the 19th century … Continue reading →
This week on the blog we’re sending you over to Pieces of the Past, an online exhibition we’ve curated as part of Beca Heritage Week here in Christchurch. The exhibition features the staff of Underground Overground Archaeology and their favourite … Continue reading →
Sometimes we come across such a spectacular artefact, that we are inspired to look a little deeper into the historical industry from which it was used. The discovery of a charcoal clothes iron got me thinking about the domestic lives … Continue reading →
We all know that fish oil is great for our skin and hair but does the use of whale oil tickle your moral compass? It was utilised for many household purposes during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and … Continue reading →
Christchurch has a frontier appearance about it in this photograph taken by Dr. Barker in 1860 from the tower of the Canterbury Provincial Buildings. With little beyond the immediate streets, it c…
The moving of the Post Office from Market Square to its new site in Cathedral Square, was a significant development in Cathedral Square’s importance in Christchurch business and city life. Th…
Imagine you were born 100 years ago… what job would you have done? If you are female, part of the working class and living in England, then there is a one in three chance that you would be pa…
The end of year is upon us again, and Underground Overground Archaeology is closing the boxes on our finds for the year. The year we finished up our Christmas party with a scavenger hunt around the central city using cryptic … Continue reading →
For a lot of us, Labour Day is celebrated in the same way as a lot of public holidays: not thinking about work, catching up the gardening and odd jobs around the house, going away for a long weekend, having … Continue reading →
During excavations under the floor of a house in Akaroa, we found a large assemblage of labelled bottles. Labelled bottles are always an exciting find, firstly because they tell us what the bottle held at the time of its disposal, … Continue reading →
PDF slides from a presentation given by Dr. Thomas Wilson from the UC Geology department on 22 November 2010. The presentation was delivered at a GeoNZ conference in Auckland.
This week’s blog was inspired by a Facebook comment on our previous blog post. You might remember that in the last blog we went through some of the artefacts we’ve uncovered over the past six months. One set of artefacts … Continue reading →
A PDF copy of page 238 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The page documents the transitional project 'The Anglican Cathedral'. Note that images have been removed from the page for copyright reasons.
A transcript of Tim and Sol O'Sullivan's interview for the Church in the Quakes Project. The interview was conducted by Melissa Parsons on 16 November 2012. At the time, Tim O'Sullivan was the Central Council President for St. Vincent de Paul Society in Christchurch. Sol O'Sullivan is a member of the Christchurch Filipino Society.
Shortly after 4 o’clock this morning the whole of the South and a portion of the North Island was shaken by a violent shock of earthquake, the most severe experienced for more than 20 years……
A PDF copy of a page on the EQ Recovery Learning site which linked to a YouTube video. This short video provides an insight into the design and location of the Canterbury Earthquake Memorial, due to be completed in February 2017. We meet its designer Grega Vezjak, who shares his vision for the Memorial
Page 3 of Section C of the Christchurch Press, published on Saturday 9 April 2011.