Summer Conservation Season
Our 2024-25 conservation season saw teams working in three areas of Antarctica: Cape Adare, the site of Borchgrevink’s 1899 expedition base and Scott’s Northern Party hut; Ross Island, at the explorer bases of Scott, Shackleton and Hillary; and the Antarctic Peninsula with the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust.
The Trust’s team began with conservation tasks in Hillary’s TAE/IGY hut and conservation treatment of artefacts while at New Zealand’s Scott Base, before deploying to Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds. Severe winds and snow battered the team for a few days while they repaired storm damage there, treated artefacts, progressed monitoring work, archaeological surveying and assessed building conditions.
A break in the weather allowed a site inspection at Mt Cis, a supply depot established during Scott’s Terra Nova expedition. The team had three different snowstorms in the first seven days, with winds in excess of 50 knots at times, requiring onerous manual clearance of large volumes of snow.
Exploring Below the Surface
Archaeology was a major focus when the team moved to Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans. The team set up work tents to process and document their findings from assessment areas set out in 1m x 1m grids. String lines and select pits were dug to ascertain the contextual use of the site, stratigraphy of soils and how subsurface streams had moved material. The team sieved and sorted finds, took care of artefacts while they were temporarily out of the ground for analysis, and processed and documented findings.
Dr Emma St Pierre, Radarch’s Principal Archaeologist, says “One of the most remarkable things about excavating at Cape Evans, was the amazing level of preservation of organic materials. I was regularly uncovering cans with food still in them, seeds, wood, burlap, leather and other fabrics, including hand-stitched pieces, paper with print still legible, as well as animal remains including a penguin steak with bone, flesh and feathers still intact.
“Being able to refer to the brilliantly conserved collection of artefacts within the huts, allowed archaeologist Jeremy Moyle to immediately identify the function and provenance of many of the items observed in the field, which was a real treat.
“As a first time Antarctican, I was blown away by the incredible work the Trust’s building and artefact conservators have done. Walking into the huts really is like stepping back in time, and a beautifully unique experience.”
This was the first time in many years that the Trust had brought archaeologists to site. Learning from the season, the Trust will now consider the strategy moving forward for ongoing management of archaeology at the sites.
The team also undertook significant treatments of mould within Scott’s hut, and, to keep the building weathertight, carried out repairs to the building and to the deflection dams which defer meltwater away from entering the hut. They also audited and assessed the condition of collections to inform future season planning for the artefacts programme, as well as returning artefacts conserved in the lab at Scott Base.
The shoreline was surveyed to add data to longstanding records monitoring coastal erosion. Assessment of the building condition and repairs to the wind vane and other small tasks were completed, including a trial of subsurface matting to combat dust issues in the stables.
Monitoring Erosion
After five weeks in the field, the Trust’s team returned to Scott Base. They then worked at nearby Scott’s Discovery Hut, where work included making repairs to the entrance step and southern window.
On the Hut Point headland close to Discovery hut is a memorial cross erected in 1904 by Scott and his men for fellow expedition member George T. Vince. It is also the site of coastal erosion where the rate of loss has been slowly increasing, likely because of longer periods of open water and an increasing frequency of severe storms. These have raised concerns of the potential future risk to this historic memorial.
To gather more data, the Trust was fortunate to have support from Snowgrass Solution to provide a solar powered timelapse camera, United States Antarctic Program to assist with the installation location at McMurdo Station, and Antarctica New Zealand for assisting with the freight logistics, camera commissioning and ongoing operational checks.
The camera was installed at the beginning of January 2025 and will run until the sea ice reforms or darkness falls. The data capture will be analysed for reporting back to our international conservation advisors to develop the next steps on the care of this historic site.
Canterbury Museum Collaboration
Team members were joined over Christmas and New Year by Adele Jackson, Canterbury Museum’s Curator Human History, who was hosted by Antarctica New Zealand.
Adele says the visit to the historic huts has had a lasting impact on her and the experience and knowledge shared by the Trust team deepened her understanding of historic Antarctic exploration.
“It means I understand the stories and expeditions associated with Canterbury Museum’s collection in a much richer context,” she says. “I have a much more visual and spatial understanding of the huts, the landscapes and the landmarks of Ross Island, and I understand more vividly how the heroic age expeditions relate to each other. The experience is already proving to be enormously valuable at work, especially for developing ideas for the Museum’s new Antarctic gallery.”
