Just kidding around

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Presenting a selection of children’s ceramic plates and cups excavated in Christchurch for your perusal, with commentary. Jessie Garland References Riley, Noel., 1991. Gifts for Good Children: The History of Children’s China, Part 1, 1790-1890. Richard Dennis, Somerset.

Around the world in seven plates

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Have you always wanted to travel the world? See the famous cathedrals of Europe? Smell the streets of China? Taste the spices of India? But travelling is expensive and everything’s just so damn far away, right? Well have we got … Continue reading →

OTBC - Crack around base of pillars

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

Oxford Terrace Baptist Church on the corner of Madras St and Oxford Terrace, and alongside the Central City Fire Station on Kilmore St.

Around the motu: David Williams in Christchurch

Audio, Radio New Zealand

What does leadership look like in a disaster? David compares Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's leadership this week with how Bob Parker and Lianne Dalziel coped with the Christchurch earthquakes and terror attacks. He looks at how current Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger's council is faring and whether reality meets the rhetoric and what's happened to the city's Metro Sports facility, one of the anchor projects in the rebuild.

Silence observed around New Zealand

Audio, Radio New Zealand

While thousands gathered in Christchurch, the first anniversary of the earthquake has also been marked by hundreds of people around the rest of the country.

Outdoor recreation areas around Christchurch hit by quake

Audio, Radio New Zealand

While buildings and businesses bore the brunt of the Canterbury earthquake, some popular outdoor recreation places have also been hit.

SydenhamED-5392

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

None

113/115 - Christchurch, NZ, Aug 2015

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

It's five years since the earthquake, and for the first time I feel a sense that the rebuild is taking effect. 113/115 - Natural Framing. In the middle of the rebuild, wall murals are everywhere is Christchurch. The framing is wire fence around ballet dancer, although there is plenty of evidence of framing/boxing around the foundations.

Christchurch Square Clock Tower damaged by Equake

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

The clock face on the left is showing the correct time. The clock face on the right stopped at the moment of the big earthquake in CHCH on Sept 4th at 4.25am. It stayed like that for a week until fixed. Interestingly that face has not shown the correct time since.

Christchurch Press Infographic: 25 June 2011 (1)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A map showing the locations of property developments around Christchurch.

Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV, pages 94-95: Buskers Festival R…

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

A PDF copy of pages 94-95 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Buskers Festival Relocation Around the Events Village'. Photo with permission: Buskers Festival

Gala Day at Wainoni Park – 1909

Articles, Lost Christchurch

There is great excitement in the households around Christchurch today. It’s the Labour Day holiday and many families are going to Wainoni Park for the opening of the season. Everyone has been…

Christchurch Earthquake Appeal update

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal established by the government and spearheaded by NZX Chief Executive Mark Weldon has attracted donor money from companies and individuals around the world. How will that money be spent?

Christchurch Press Infographic: 6 August 2011 (2)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A compliation of photographs of memorials from around the world.

Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV, pages 322-323: The Hope Bear an…

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

A PDF copy of pages 322-323 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'The Hope Bear and Giraffing Around'.

IMG_2584.JPG

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

Christchurch command 2118 keeping track of units around town. Outside art gallery EOC (Emergency Operation Control)

2019: The Best of The Best

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

The temperatures are heating up, there’s Christmas decorations in shops around the city and we’re on the countdown to summer holidays. In our penultimate blog post for the year we’re going to look back on some of our best artefacts … Continue reading →

The archaeology of natural disasters

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

When people first settled in Aotearoa, they had no idea that they were sitting upon a slice of one of two supercontinents; Gondwanaland. Around eighty-three million years ago this slice we now live on, known to us as Zealandia, broke … Continue reading →

Anecdotes from the appraisalists

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

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 →

Making sense of it all

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

It is interesting to consider how we are influenced by an intangible map of our senses and emotions tied to our place in the world. We pay little attention to how we feel walking around a familiar neighbourhood, looking at … Continue reading →

Creating a New Normal

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

This week New Zealand entered its third week of the Covid-19 lockdown, and one of the phrases being thrown around a lot is creating a ‘new normal’. The idea of a ‘new normal’ gives a sense that life, whether for … Continue reading →

Frequently asked questions #1

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Training and working as an archaeologist can be an interesting experience, not just because of the work we do, but thanks to the preconceptions and opinions of the people around us. Like so many other professions, archaeology is an extremely … Continue reading →

A penny for your thoughts…

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Money, as Liza Minnelli has told us, makes the world go around. It is such an intricate and constant part of the societies we live in, a factor upon which so many of our actions – collectively and individually – are … Continue reading →

The Old Sumner Road Cave Dweller

Articles, Lost Christchurch

A Pitiable Case As a man was walking around Sumner road, in October 1901, a lady passed by and drew his attention to a small cave in the side of the hill where she said an old lady and her husband …

Christchurch Press Image: Dean Kozanic 2010:09:10 (09)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Aftermath of the earthquake in Christchurch where the cleanup has begun. Historic buildings around Christchurch received varying degrees of damage. Christchurch Cathedral".

Christchurch Press Image: Dean Kozanic 2010:09:10 17:21:44

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Aftermath of the earthquake in Christchurch where the cleanup has begun. Historic buildings around Christchurch received varying degrees of damage. Christchurch Cathedral".

Christchurch Press Image: Dean Kozanic 2010:09:10 (22)

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Aftermath of the earthquake in Christchurch, where the clean-up has begun. Historic buildings around Christchurch received varying degrees of damage. Christchurch Cathedral".

Seize the means of production! The archaeology of tools and labour.

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

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 →

On the right track: tramways archaeology in Christchurch

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

How did people get around Christchurch in the 19th century? People certainly walked, or rode, perhaps on a horse, or in a wheeled vehicle pulled by a horse, such as a dray, gig, hackney, or hansom. And let’s not forget … Continue reading →

Beauty and the Beast Characters as Nineteenth Century Artefacts

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

As a bit of preface for this blog, for anyone not reading it on or around the 20th of August, 2021, New Zealand is back into a full lockdown and the whole country has gone a bit silly. So, in … Continue reading →