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Whether you share your home with one or not, they say that you’re either a cat person or a dog person. Hamish’s mid-week ‘hands up if you’re a dog person or a cat person’ office poll revealed that most of … Continue reading →

Hotels, what versatile places!

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

It’s been a busy month for Underground Overground Archaeology as we’ve been actively involved in New Zealand Archaeology Week 2018 running displays, historical tours, and talks – all of them highly successful thanks to history and archaeology lovers across the … Continue reading →

What we find from the Antipodes

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

‘If you dig a hole through the centre of the Earth, you would arrive in New Zealand’. As Spanish children, we learnt that at school. Spain is the Antipodes of New Zealand. Both countries are at the same time joined … 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 →

2018: We Out

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

And just like that another year has passed us by. 2018 has been a year of changes here at Underground Overground. It’s with a very heavy heart we’ve said a few goodbyes to some tremendously talented archaeologists; Chelsea, Shana, Matt, … Continue reading →

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 →

A tea cup as a symbol of political change

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

As a 90s baby millennial, Helen Clark was Prime Minister from the time I started primary school to the time I started high school. I grew up in a world where in the eyes of a child there was never … Continue reading →

Chew with your mouth closed, my dear

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

The dinner party; a minefield of social etiquette and proper behaviour for both the host and the guests. For the host – the pressure of who to invite, where to sit them, what to serve them? Having the right invitation … Continue reading →

In which a teacup is smashed against a wall in a fit of rage

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

One of the most fascinating things about studying and interpreting the past is the possibilities it holds. Could the broken tea cup I’ve found been smashed against a wall in a fit of rage after a wife found her husband … Continue reading →

Doe, a Deer, a (Possibly) Female Deer

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Bones, of the animal variety, are a common find on historic archaeological sites in Christchurch. The vast majority of the bones we come across are sheep and cattle, with the occasional pig and chicken showing up as well. From these … Continue reading →

‘Archaia’ and ‘Logos’, what even is archaeology?

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

The word archaeology comes from the Greek archaia (“ancient things”) and logos (“theory” or “science”). So, archaeologists study past societies through the material culture. In other words, we write the history analysing what people threw away or left behind. That’s … Continue reading →

Early Christchurch women, breaking the rules: the exhibition.

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

The ideal Victorian woman In Victorian society, a woman was to be meek, mild, virtuous and peaceful (Whiteside 2007). She was expected to marry and have children. She would stay at home, looking after her children and her husband and … Continue reading →

Discovering Christchurch’s Classical past

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Being a Roman archaeologist by trade, wherever I go in the world I seem to sniff out some classical antiquities. Some call it a talent, some call it an obsession (I’ll leave that to you to decide…). There’s something about … Continue reading →

Picture perfect – a gallery of archaeologist’s art

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Today we would like to take you through some art work created by our team over the years. But this isn’t for your local charity art auction – these images illustrate the archaeological process we undertake on a daily basis. … Continue reading →

O flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again? Well, maybe in Chr…

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Christchurch is rightly or wrongly traditionally thought of as an English city, but at every turn we can see a glimpse of England’s arch enemy…the Scots. While they may now technically be at peace, they do still meet annually on … Continue reading →

Walk this way

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Lyttelton is a fun and exciting place to do archaeology. I’ve been lucky enough to get to do a bit of archaeology in Lyttelton in the last few months, mainly out in the road, because of the digging that’s been … Continue reading →

Toys through the years

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

“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 →

Touring the past

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

It seems almost expected now that many of us will go on semi-frequent overseas jaunts and visit the spectacular local scenery that New Zealand has to offer. However, most of us probably don’t often think about when these destinations became … Continue reading →