Wondering what's known about the beer drunk by the first settlers and how that market evolved during the late 1800s...?
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Most of what we know about beer in the 1800s comes from embossed bottles, labelled bottles and newspaper advertisements. As a rule, we don't find many locally brewed beers in the archaeological record, but this is more likely to reflect the fact that paper labels don't usually survive rather than the absence of locally brewed beer (we know that Christchurch had local breweries as early as 1850). Without those labels, it's impossible to gather an accurate impression of what the settlers were drinking just from the archaeological record. However, with that said, there are a few things we've found that do tell us something. We dug the site of a bonded warehouse a few years ago and discovered hundreds and hundreds of beer bottles, in black and green glass, many of which were still sealed and labelled. The bottles dated to the 1870s and 1880s and two major brands were identified, T. B. Hall and Co. and J. & R. Tennent, both of which were British brands exported to the colonies. We've also found Read Brothers and Bass Ale bottles, but in smaller quantities. In general, the impression we get is that the beers being exported to Christchurch came from large companies with heavy production and the ability to absorb the risk of exporting a product halfway around the world (the journey was fraught with danger, i.e. beer going off, exploding bottles), and this exporting of beer continued throughout the 19th century, despite the presence and growth of a relatively strong local brewing industry in the city.
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Actually, no. Not really like him at all. There have been many, many discussions of this in popular culture over the years (including this memorable letter). It’s generally agreed that Indiana Jones is a terrible archaeologist and most archaeologists would make a terrible, and very probably dead, Indiana Jones. The main differences are in comparative methods and objectives: archaeology is ultimately about understanding people in the past, collectively and individually, through ALL the physical traces they leave behind, while Indiana Jones is about the finding and collection of precious objects with little regard for their surrounding context.
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*Less frequently, Indiana Jones may be switched out for Lara Croft.
You’re an archaeologist? Like Indiana Jones*?
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What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found?
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I’d say that this is probably the question we hear the most. The problem with answering it is that in the course of their careers, most archaeologists will have found a LOT of things, many of which are cool and interesting. Picking just one can be a bit like asking someone to choose their favourite dinosaur (see what I did there?). It’s made even more difficult to answer by the fact that what is amazing to us is not always amazing to other people. The explanation of why an otherwise unremarkable object (like a brick, or a sherd of pottery) is so interesting is usually far longer and much, much, drier than the questioner wanted.
This is one of the more frequent questions asked here in New Zealand and it can be a little dispiriting to be reminded of how many people don’t realise what a rich, interesting and unique archaeological record we have in this country.
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From the very first Polynesian settlers, arriving here c. 1300 AD (Jacomb et al. 2014), through to the most recent periods of immigration and settlement, New Zealand has a fascinating and globally significant archaeological record. It may be short, compared to other places in the world (such as our neighbour, Australia), but that lack of time depth is part of what makes it interesting. Archaeologists have used our relatively condensed archaeological record to look at the impact of human settlement on the environment, to better understand patterns of settlement, migration and trade, motivations for warfare, the processes of social and cultural change, and how people adapt to new social and physical environments (among many, many other things).
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Archaeology in New Zealand is protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, which “defines an archaeological site as a place associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New Zealand” (Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga 2014). The modification or destruction of any such site, which includes standing structures, requires the permission of Heritage New Zealand, and usually involves one or more archaeologists recording and salvaging any archaeological features or material found during that process.
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As those of you who follow our work here in Christchurch will have realised, this means that there is in fact a lot of archaeology in New Zealand. Even more than that, the wide scope of the work that is being carried out throughout the country has huge potential to add to our understanding of people in the past and their influence on the world around them.
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**Apparently, palaeontologists often get the same question in reverse and have responded with t-shirts.
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There’s not that much archaeology in New Zealand though, is there**?
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Huh. Why? What’s the point?
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To put it simply? Because our heritage is important. Because understanding where and who and what we’ve come from, as individuals, as a society, as a culture and as a country, is invaluable in understanding where we are now and where we may be in the future. Because future generations deserve the opportunity to explore that heritage for themselves without wondering why we didn’t do more to save it for them. Because the actions and creations and lives of the people who’ve gone before us deserve to be remembered. Because there are things we learn from the archaeological record that would otherwise be lost to us. Because archaeology allows us to expand our horizons, to catch a glimpse of people and places that are so different to our own, yet linked to us through time and across cultures thanks to the things that they left behind.
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Because, ultimately, people are important, and at its heart, archaeology is all about people.