PICTON, NEW ZEALAND—Stuff.co.nz reports that traces of what may be a nineteenth-century wooden bridge have been found in the northeastern region of New Zealand’s South Island. Archaeologist Kirsty Sykes spotted the possible bridge foundations near the Waitohi Stream while playing with her daughter. “In 1866, there was a whole lot of people complaining about the disgrace that Picton doesn’t have a nice big bridge,” Sykes said. She also found a newspaper article published in 1913 expressing concern over the condition of the structure and limiting speed on the bridge to a walking pace. Some of the nineteenth-century piles were left in the ground when a new bridge was built at the site in the early twentieth century, she added. A sample of the old wood will be analyzed. To read about a recent DNA study of some of New Zealand's first settlers, go to "Kiwi Colonists."
Remains of 19th-Century Bridge Found in New Zealand
News April 19, 2022
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2021
Kiwi Colonists
Letter from Turkey May/June 2013
Anzac's Next Chapter
Archaeologists conduct the first-ever survey of the legendary WWI battlefield at Gallipoli
Features November/December 2024
Let the Games Begin
How gladiators in ancient Anatolia lived to entertain the masses
Features November/December 2024
The Many Faces of the Kingdom of Shu
Thousands of fantastical bronzes are beginning to reveal the secrets of a legendary Chinese dynasty
-
Features March/April 2022
The Last King of Babylon
Investigating the reign of Mesopotamia’s most eccentric ruler
(iStock/HomoCosmicos) -
Features March/April 2022
Paradise Lost
Archaeologists in Nova Scotia are uncovering evidence of thriving seventeenth-century French colonists and their brutal expulsion
(© Jamie Robertson) -
Features March/April 2022
Exploring Notre Dame's Hidden Past
The devastating 2019 fire is providing an unprecedented look at the secrets of the great cathedral
(Patrick Zachmann) -
Letter from Doggerland March/April 2022
Mapping a Vanished Landscape
Evidence of a lost Mesolithic world lies deep beneath the dark waters of the North Sea
(M.J. Thomas)