title: Macrofossils and pollen representing forests of the pre-Taupo volcanic eruption (c. 1850 yr BP) era at Pureora and Benneydale, central North Island, New Zealand.

authors: Clarkson, Beverley R.

subjects: macrofossil

abstract: Micro- and macrofossil data from the remains of forests overwhelmed and buried at Pureora and Benneydale during the Taupo eruption (c. 1850 conventional radiocarbon yr BP) were compared. Classification of relative abundance data separated the techniques, rather than the locations, because the two primary clusters comprised pollen and litter/wood. This indicates that the pollen:litter/wood within-site comparisons (Pureora and Benneydale are 20 km apart) are not reliable. Plant macrofossils represented mainly local vegetation, while pollen assemblages represented a combination of local and regional vegetation. However, using ranked abundance and presence/absence data, both macrofossils and pollen at Pureora and Benneydale indicated conifer/broadleaved forest, of similar forest type and species composition at each site. This suggests that the forests destroyed by the eruption were typical of mid-altitude west Taupo forests, and that either data set (pollen or macrofossils) would have been adequate for regional forest interpretation.
The representation of c. 1850 yr BP pollen from the known buried forest taxa was generally consistent with trends determined by modern comparisons between pollen and their source vegetation, but with a few exceptions.
A pollen profile from between the Mamaku Tephra (c. 7250 yr BP) and the Taupo Ignimbrite indicated that the Benneydale forest had been markedly different in species dominance compared with the forest that was destroyed during the Taupo eruption. These differences probably reflect changes in drainage, and improvements in climate and/or soil fertility over the middle Holocene.

text: Macrofossils and pollen representing forests of the pre-Taupo volcanic eruption (c. 1850 yr BP) era at Pureora and Benneydale, central North Island, New Zealand. Micro- and macrofossil data from the remains of forests overwhelmed and buried at Pureora and Benneydale during the Taupo eruption (c. 1850 conventional radiocarbon yr BP) were compared. Classification of relative abundance data separated the techniques, rather than the locations, because the two primary clusters comprised pollen and litter/wood. This indicates that the pollen:litter/wood within-site comparisons (Pureora and Benneydale are 20 km apart) are not reliable. Plant macrofossils represented mainly local vegetation, while pollen assemblages represented a combination of local and regional vegetation. However, using ranked abundance and presence/absence data, both macrofossils and pollen at Pureora and Benneydale indicated conifer/broadleaved forest, of similar forest type and species composition at each site. This suggests that the forests destroyed by the eruption were typical of mid-altitude west Taupo forests, and that either data set (pollen or macrofossils) would have been adequate for regional forest interpretation.
The representation of c. 1850 yr BP pollen from the known buried forest taxa was generally consistent with trends determined by modern comparisons between pollen and their source vegetation, but with a few exceptions.
A pollen profile from between the Mamaku Tephra (c. 7250 yr BP) and the Taupo Ignimbrite indicated that the Benneydale forest had been markedly different in species dominance compared with the forest that was destroyed during the Taupo eruption. These differences probably reflect changes in drainage, and improvements in climate and/or soil fertility over the middle Holocene.

year: 1995-06-01

title: Ashes and allophane: Linking soil science at Meiji and Waikato Universities

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: In September, the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Waikato was pleased to host a soil science group from Meiji University (Ikuta Campus), Kawasaki City, Tokyo. Lead by Professor Hiroshi Takesako, the group comprised three staff and six students (three graduates, three undergraduates). Associate Professor David Lowe, who had visited Professor Takesako's Soil Science Laboratory in the Faculty of Agriculture at Meiji University during his JSPS Fellowship trip last year, was able to repay some of the hospitality and field experience bestowed upon him by various Japanese soil science colleagues by co-leading the group on a six-day central North Island field trip from 8-13 September, 2001, as described below.

text: Ashes and allophane: Linking soil science at Meiji and Waikato Universities In September, the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Waikato was pleased to host a soil science group from Meiji University (Ikuta Campus), Kawasaki City, Tokyo. Lead by Professor Hiroshi Takesako, the group comprised three staff and six students (three graduates, three undergraduates). Associate Professor David Lowe, who had visited Professor Takesako's Soil Science Laboratory in the Faculty of Agriculture at Meiji University during his JSPS Fellowship trip last year, was able to repay some of the hospitality and field experience bestowed upon him by various Japanese soil science colleagues by co-leading the group on a six-day central North Island field trip from 8-13 September, 2001, as described below.

year: 2001

title: 'No-body' is my friend: Cultural considerations of young children's 'imaginary companions'

authors: Hayes (Bluett), Shilo Jane

subjects: imaginary companions

abstract: The variegated relationships young children may have during their early childhood education (ECE) years have long been of interest to theorists and teachers alike.  Relationships, and understandings of companionship, can take multiple forms. Our understandings of what these relationships may look like are frequently informed by complex social and cultural constructs; therefore, seeking to apply a one-size-fits-all interpretation is theoretically and culturally problematic, especially when the companions young children may spend time with may be unseen or unnoticed by surrounding adults.
A common Euro-western notion is that unseen companions are not real; hence they are generally referred to in the literature as being imaginary.  In an extensive literature review, this thesis explores whether companionship with the unseen are one of many possible forms of relationships.  Dominant Euro-western claims that such relationships are imaginary are considered critically before the analysis widens in theoretical scope to draw on various alternative cultural accounts.  The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Karen Barad, in particular.  An additional exploration considers the author’s own situated experiences of parenting a child who during her childhood years had companions that were unseen to the author.  The final analysis, based on a small selection of carefully chosen autoethnographic accounts, draws on the significance of ancestral inheritance. Within this specific research context that inheritance comprises my daughter’s Māori ancestry and our shared Celtic ancestry. 
Ancestral inheritance provides reflexive companionship for the entire thesis.  Examining inheritance sheds light on ways that traditional Euro-western claims of the imagined worlds of children, and consequently childhood, have produced a legacy of ideas which have subsequently held the term imaginary in place.  These dominant worldviews are shown to fall short in their capacity to cover the diversity of lived realities of children and their unseen (to others) companion(s).  Inheritance also denotes the culturally mediated birthright that may travel alongside a young child and how this birthright may provide insight and alternative cultural knowledge and understandings of various multiform relationship companions.
As a result of analysing several possible perspectives on the relationships under study, this thesis proposes the new term culturally compatible travelling companions (CCTC): companions who travel alongside children as ordinary, expected features of their lifespan.  This shift in term acknowledges that diverse notions of companionship, and the forms this may take, are integral and salient constructions of each culture’s historical and narrative accounts.  
This is timely research, as currently nearly 64% of young children aged between birth and four years of age attend some type of Early Childhood Education (ECE) service in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2019).  The national ECE curriculum document Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) recognises the significance of young children’s relationships and understands those relationships within the rich and complex cultural knowledge patterning that travels alongside a young child.  
The aim of this research is to add to the theoretical understandings of the forms, functions and features of the multiple, complex relationship companions who may share the lives of young children, whether or not these companions are seen or discernible to those around the children.  It suggests an alternative perspective to the dominant view and offers provocations for those who work alongside young children to think differently about whether these relationship companions are indeed only imaginary.

text: 'No-body' is my friend: Cultural considerations of young children's 'imaginary companions' The variegated relationships young children may have during their early childhood education (ECE) years have long been of interest to theorists and teachers alike.  Relationships, and understandings of companionship, can take multiple forms. Our understandings of what these relationships may look like are frequently informed by complex social and cultural constructs; therefore, seeking to apply a one-size-fits-all interpretation is theoretically and culturally problematic, especially when the companions young children may spend time with may be unseen or unnoticed by surrounding adults.
A common Euro-western notion is that unseen companions are not real; hence they are generally referred to in the literature as being imaginary.  In an extensive literature review, this thesis explores whether companionship with the unseen are one of many possible forms of relationships.  Dominant Euro-western claims that such relationships are imaginary are considered critically before the analysis widens in theoretical scope to draw on various alternative cultural accounts.  The analysis draws on the theoretical work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Karen Barad, in particular.  An additional exploration considers the author’s own situated experiences of parenting a child who during her childhood years had companions that were unseen to the author.  The final analysis, based on a small selection of carefully chosen autoethnographic accounts, draws on the significance of ancestral inheritance. Within this specific research context that inheritance comprises my daughter’s Māori ancestry and our shared Celtic ancestry. 
Ancestral inheritance provides reflexive companionship for the entire thesis.  Examining inheritance sheds light on ways that traditional Euro-western claims of the imagined worlds of children, and consequently childhood, have produced a legacy of ideas which have subsequently held the term imaginary in place.  These dominant worldviews are shown to fall short in their capacity to cover the diversity of lived realities of children and their unseen (to others) companion(s).  Inheritance also denotes the culturally mediated birthright that may travel alongside a young child and how this birthright may provide insight and alternative cultural knowledge and understandings of various multiform relationship companions.
As a result of analysing several possible perspectives on the relationships under study, this thesis proposes the new term culturally compatible travelling companions (CCTC): companions who travel alongside children as ordinary, expected features of their lifespan.  This shift in term acknowledges that diverse notions of companionship, and the forms this may take, are integral and salient constructions of each culture’s historical and narrative accounts.  
This is timely research, as currently nearly 64% of young children aged between birth and four years of age attend some type of Early Childhood Education (ECE) service in Aotearoa New Zealand (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2019).  The national ECE curriculum document Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) recognises the significance of young children’s relationships and understands those relationships within the rich and complex cultural knowledge patterning that travels alongside a young child.  
The aim of this research is to add to the theoretical understandings of the forms, functions and features of the multiple, complex relationship companions who may share the lives of young children, whether or not these companions are seen or discernible to those around the children.  It suggests an alternative perspective to the dominant view and offers provocations for those who work alongside young children to think differently about whether these relationship companions are indeed only imaginary.

year: 2020