Jeremy Moyle, Archaeologist and Heritage Consultant, spent the summer in Antarctica.

Over the 24-25 summer Antarctic season Jeremy Moyle (Origin Heritage) and Emma St. Pierre (RADARch) conducted survey and excavation work at historic sites cared for by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. While Jeremy and Emma were lucky enough to have a run of amazing weather, they were still treated to the special aspects of Antarctic archaeology: the occasional -20 degrees wind chill, excavating snow from your trench after a blizzard, and taking down a lab tent in a howling gale. 

Fieldwork chiefly involved the partial excavation of a large midden adjacent to the front door of Scott's Terra Nova hut. This formally stable feature was identified by the Trust as now being at risk from the effects of climate change and potentially holding significant material relating to the historic occupation of the site. Excavation revealed a substantial quantity of artefacts dating from Scott's occupation (analysis is ongoing). Lessons learned will inform the ongoing monitoring and management of this feature and other buried material around the site. A preliminary GNSS survey of the environs of each historic hut on Ross Island was also carried out, with site features beginning to be brought into a GIS environment for the first time.