Tūhura Ahuahu - cultural and ecological stories from Great Mercury Island.
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Background reading, images, narrations, keywords and quizzes.
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Insights into people and their careers, and the chance to replay questions and answers from a live web conference.
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Videos and more showcasing places, people, ideas and initiatives on this field trip.
Open the diary about Ahuahu Great Mercury Island
Field trip diary about the archaeology and ecology of Ahuahu.
About this trip
Our understanding of the settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand is developing and becoming clearer as archaeological sites unveil their secrets. Nowhere is this more evident than on Ahuahu Great Mercury Island. Recent excavations are telling new stories of ancestors of modern Maori; their origins in Polynesia, their voyages, lives and lore.
Your journey includes special permission to visit Ahuahu - Great Mercury Island, where a long-term ecological restoration project is bearing fruit. It has archaeological sites that are under examination by Ngāti Hei, Auckland University and Auckland Museum.
On this field trip you will journey back in time to hear from descendants of early Māori, from archaeologists who will explain what they do in a dig, and from conservation workers restoring habitats and species.
Travel online to Ahuahu and find out how:
- people from the tropics adapted to life in colder climates
- people created a sustainable living from a small island environment
- the island has responded to a human presence and the plants and animals they brought with them
- we can bring environments like Ahuahu back to what they used to be like.
This online field trip supports a STEAM-based, cross curricular approach to teaching and learning. Participation encourages curiosity, citizen-science and student inquiry. Access the glossary and the Class Ambassadors.
This online field trip supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 15: LIFE ON LAND: To halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.
This trip is kindly supported by:
