Uncovering answers on Ahuahu Great Mercury Island

For Bachelor of Arts (Honours) student Jaiya Bharti, receiving the Natalie Blair Memorial Summer Scholarship for Archaeology was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Having completed a Bachelor of Science in Anthropological Science and already planning to pursue postgraduate study in archaeology, she jumped at the chance to be part of a long-running project exploring the history of Māori occupation on one of New Zealand’s most remote islands. 

Jaiya, along with PhD student Alex Queenin and lab partner and fellow scholarship recipient Tiana Marshall, ventured to Ahuahu Great Mercury Island in the summer of 2023 to conduct archaeological work in the hopes of better understanding its palaeoenvironment. “We were looking at the pre-human environment on the island,” she explains. “What flora was there? And then, when humans arrived, how did that change? Looking at charcoal burn-off and other paleoenvironmental markers, you can see a shift in the landscape. That’s a good way of seeing how humans modified the environment.”

Because of the island’s remoteness, the archaeological landscape has remained largely unchanged since Māori settlement, making it an ideal location to study. The group excavated one-by-two-metre units, a methodical process which involved carefully scraping the dirt back in centimetre layers. Back at the lab, they tested Vibra-core samples for organic material. “We did lots of portable X-ray fluorescence analysis, which tests the elemental composition of the sediment,” she says. “And lots of subsampling, taking continuous samples of the core to further analyse.”   

The findings painted an important picture of early Māori life on the island more than 700 years ago. “We found quite a dense charcoal layer that had lots of fire-cracked rocks and even some little fishbone fragments in it. That’s clear evidence of human occupation. We could say quite definitively, humans were present in this area from this point.”

A highlight of the project for Jaiya was when members of the island’s local iwi, Ngāti Hei, visited them on-site. “We were able to show them around and explain what we were doing. They were really appreciative. That was a really rewarding experience.” Working alongside Alex, Tiana, and her supervisor, Professor Thegn Ladefoged, was another high point. “It was so cool to work with them all, build those relationships and work as a team.”

The scholarship, which was established in 2018 and is funded by Sir Roderick and Lady Gillian Deane through the Deane Endowment Trust, gives students a unique opportunity to gain first-hand archaeological experience. “It’s so generous of them to sponsor it every year,” says Jaiya. “It’s such a niche field where getting opportunities is hard, so the fact that this is available makes a massive difference.” 

The scholarship also helped Jaiya decide which direction to take with her honours. “Before I did [the summer scholarship], I didn’t really know what it was like to be involved in research,” she explains. “After doing it, I realised I really like the process of researching and collaborating with other people. It changed how I wanted to proceed with postgrad; I was thinking of going down a path that limited my research output, doing mostly taught papers. Now, I know I really like being in the lab and doing analyses, so I decided to try research.”

Currently mid-way through her honours, she is busy analysing fortified sites in the Samoan Islands. To do so, she is conducting a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) analysis of the sites. This method uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to examine the surface of the earth, allowing her to see beneath the vegetation and gather data to determine how extensively the islands were used. 

Despite having an extremely full plate – in her spare time, she completes volunteer lab work for a local archaeological consultancy – Jaiya is already looking to the future. She plans to pursue her masters in 2025, before finding work in the industry. “I would love to work in the field,” she says. “Doing something where I’m working outdoors would be amazing.”