Queen Elizabeth sends personal message to Christchurch on earthquake anniv…

Articles, Videos, TV3

"You displayed great fortitude in the face of sudden, overwhelming loss."

The changing face of a 19th century farmstead

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

We have published previously on the importance of buildings, be they residential or commercial, as an artefact in understanding 19th century culture in New Zealand. While it’s easy to overlook the humble cottage as a source of archaeological data, houses … Continue reading →

Car-sized rock removed after quake shifting

Articles, TV3

Engineers have removed a rock the size of a car from a cliff face in Christchurch after it shifted during an earthquake.

Why owners of vacant land in Christchurch CBD may face a massive rates hike

Articles, Videos, TV3

The city still has big swathes of empty land after the earthquakes - but critics say fast-forwarding development is the wrong approach.

St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Kilmore and Manchester Street corner

Articles, Lost Christchurch

The wooden church of St Luke the Evangelist, stood in Manchester Street, just north of the Avon, from 1858 until it was pulled down in 1908 to make way for a larger stone and brick structure, faced…

Frequently asked questions #2

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Continuing on from our last FAQ post, here are the answers to a few more of the questions we face regularly here in Christchurch. 1)      Are you doing this for a school project? Yes, seriously. This gets asked more often … Continue reading →

A Brief Foray into Romano-British Archaeology

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Archaeologists are often faced with the question of what happens to artefacts after an excavation is complete? As is the case for a lot of excavations, artefacts can find themselves housed in museums. This centuries old institution found its beginning … Continue reading →

Dallington 6

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph captioned, "Nobody’s trained for this, you go to your lawyer and they can’t give you an answer because they've never faced this before, so yeah, even they are scratching around trying to find out".

A matter of perspective

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Early photographs are the best. They encompass everything from the utterly absurd to the momentous to the mundane. They provide us with a window into the past that is rare and wonderful (especially from an archaeological perspective), putting faces to … Continue reading →

The Big House in a little town

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

“The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” – Fyodor Dostoevsky One of the challenges faced by any new colony is what to do with the non-conformists, renegades, and criminals. The ideal, of course, … Continue reading →

The spice of life

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

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 →

Public faces and private spaces: domestic pride and hygiene in the 19th ce…

Articles, Christchurch uncovered

Today’s post continues the theme of the last one (a little), in terms of exploring the relationship between products and industries in the past and their connection with our lives today. It’s easy to scoff at some of the things … Continue reading →