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Faunal, Microfossil and Tree Ring Analysis	back=>
The ancient environment is an important part of how people lived in the past. Microfossil analysis from soil samples can show through the plants that have been around, how the environment was in the past. It also can show what plants were grown by Maori.
Most excavations in New Zealand directed by Hans Bader made use of environmental analysis. One of issues of special interest is the Maori culture change in the protohistoric period initiated by the introduction of potatoes, left behind by Captain Cook.
The faunal remains usually tell us about the diet of the inhabitant of a site. Resource exploitation is an important part of the story of our ancestors. Tree Ring analysis has been used in New Zealand archaeology as an interpretation tool for an excavation in 2009 for the first time initiated by the excavation director Hans Bader, now a director of ASL. For a site in Auckland a re-building phase could be fixed in time as well as the nature of ancillary construction described.