Last Monday evening we had a fantastic presentation from Mary O’Keeffe. Mary is a professional archaeologist, who has run her consultancy, Heritage Solutions, for about 30 years. Her presentation, entitled Life as a consulting archaeologist - small things tell big stories, included some of the sites around New Zealand where she has worked, sharing what can be learnt from these sites, and what they can tell us about being New Zealanders.
At the Tisdall site in Willis St, Wellington she described excavating an old well, with evidence of an early stream, and finding many artifacts, including bottles, ceramics, clothing and buttons.
Mary shared how a house in Normanby St, Newtown, Wellington revealed evidence of a seamstress once living there, with the finding of many tools of that trade – pattern, clothing, detachable neck collars, as well as a wall covered in pages from a Fashion Journal of 1875.
Mary’s work at Mount St Cemetery, Wellington, has helped to reveal that there are more than double the number of gravesites here, than can be seen.
Mary’s extensive work on the new Mackays - Peka Peka (M2PP) expressway, while it was being built, revealed 233 new archaeological sites (84% were middens, and one burial site).
This was a fascinating presentation, with a huge amount of information, and gave us all a better understanding of archaeological work and the history of our region.