On 30 May, Dan and Alison Witter loaded the truck up with boxes of wet-wood artefacts on route to the Canterbury Museum.
The artefacts had surfaced during the Pegasus Town archaeological operation (2005-2009), and the Witters have been preserving them since, in a wax-like solution that draws the water out and replaces it with wax. This has taken a long time and huge thanks is due to Dan and Alison for the care they have taken.
Our thanks too, to Dilys Johns from the University of Auckland, New Zealand’s pre-eminent specialist in this field, who continues to preserve the larger wet-wood artefacts in Auckland (ready by the end of this year) and who has supported the Witters throughout this journey. Our on-going gratitude also to Roger Fyffe and his team at the Canterbury Museum, who have offered to store the artefacts until another facility is available.
Finally, aku mihi nunui ki a James Robinson, nāna te wharau whakaruruhau taonga rākau i whakawātea, nōna te reo whakamihi i te hunga wairua, nāna hoki te mauri o te whānau rā i whakatau. Kei whea mai koe e tā!
Boxes of artefacts being loaded for the journey to Canterbury Museum.
Dan and Alison Witter, of Woodend Lab, who have helped preserve the artefacts.