Archaeologists have dug up New Zealand's oldest school, revealing 200-year-old toys, pencils and parts of writing slates.
The school was attached to the country's first mission station, which stood at Hohi Bay in the Bay of Islands from 1814 to 1832.
After two years of field work, University of Otago archaeologists excavated the mission, which is believed to be the house of European missionary Thomas Kendall.
Artefacts including glass, buttons, jewellery, smoking pipes, fragments from plates and cups, coins and gunflints were found.
"We uncovered significant archaeological features that have added to our understanding of the Hohi mission and the people who lived and worked there - as well as those who were impacted by the mission," University of Otago anthropology and archaeology associate professor Ian Smith said.
"Overall the archaeological evidence paints a picture of the hard struggle that these first European settlers had in making a living here, and how dependent they were on local Maori for food supplies and protection."
Missionaries began arriving in New Zealand 200 years ago.
