Maritime archaeology making a splash

won the New Zealand Archaeology Association’s Public Archaeology Award in 2022.

Pam Bain, Director Regional Services for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, hopes the new podcast episodes will be a popular addition to the Aotearoa Unearthed podcast. “This podcast is a great resource for New Zealanders interested in our nation’s history and archaeology. We are also often amazed to see the international reach. Over a thousand downloads have come from outside New Zealand. There are listeners from America, Asia, Australia, United Kingdom, the Middle East and Europe.” Opportunities to educate New Zealanders about maritime archaeology are available through successful citizen science project GIRT (Gathering Information via Recreational and Technical) Scientific Divers courses, which were run recently over summer.

Both episodes feature Dr Kurt Bennett, Archaeologist for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Auckland office. Kurt moved to Australia to do an MA and PhD in Maritime Archaeology from Flinders University in Adelaide. Now back in New Zealand, he is passionate about promoting maritime archaeology.

In the first episode, Kurt shares some of the incredible projects he has worked on in New Zealand: investigating the first New Zealand European shipwreck, Endeavour, in Fiordland, surveying the site of Cook’s landing at Pickersgill Harbour, and researching the ships’ graveyard on Rangitoto Island. He also outlines the state of maritime archaeology in New Zealand and the techniques and skills needed by maritime archaeologists.

Kurt believes maritime archaeology is so important to understanding New Zealand’s history. “We are an island nation. Before the arrival of commercial air travel, all of our economy, migration and interaction with the world was based on shipping and voyaging. There is so much to learn from maritime archaeological sites, such as shipwrecks.”

The second episode highlights the public archaeology project on the wreck of HMS Buffalo in Whitianga. Kurt, together with Whitianga Museum/Mercury Bay Museum curator Rebecca Cox and maritime archaeologist Matthew Gainsford, led a project in 2021 which worked with recreational divers to conduct fieldwork on the shipwreck in Mercury Bay.

Educational programmes for local schools, where kids pretended to be underwater archaeologists by completing tasks in a school hall, and simulating moving about by lying on skateboards, were a hit. Public talks, museum exhibits and collaboration with Ngāti Hei have all led to a much wider community knowledge about the importance of the HMS Buffalo shipwreck. The team’s contribution was recognised when they

Kurt says, ‘These courses that we support are fantastic, and really help the participating recreational divers understand underwater cultural heritage sites, and the factors that drive their conservation or deterioration.” n