Archaeological discovery exciting and unique

April 8, 2010

Archaeological discovery exciting and unique

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is hailing an archaeological discovery on Auckland’s North Shore as exciting and unique.

Moa bone and other artefacts found on a site currently being developed for the new Devonport Naval Museum have added a new dimension to urban archaeology according to the NZHPT’s Regional Archaeologist, Bev Parslow.

“The discovery of worked moa and bird bone and of moa bone in a hangi feature in this particular location is incredibly exciting as few stratified sites of this nature have been found in an urban context in Auckland. They reveal that even in a heavily built-up and modified urban environment old reclaimed foreshore areas still contain intact early Maori pre-historic sites,” she says.

“Other artefacts, including an adze and pearl shell fish hooks, indicate that the site is likely to be very early – possibly 500 years, or even older.”

The age of the site has been further reinforced by the discovery of evidence showing that moa were eaten on-site, whereas early indications were that this material was retained for the manufacture of tools.

“The find is particularly amazing given the amount of work that has gone on around here since the 1800s – including reclamation in 1886, and the laying of a concrete slab for a naval building that was put down here in 1889,” says Ms Parslow.

“The fact that this site has survived with all its archaeological materials intact in this heavily modified urban setting makes it amazing, unique and rare.”

The site is likely to have been part of a broader settlement – a theory that oral history would appear to support.

Austrian-born geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter, for example, recorded references made by local Maori in the late 19th Century to a large pa and settlement that had been established in the area centuries before.

“It’s quite possible that what has been found is part of this larger earlier settlement,” says Ms Parslow.

Once the excavation work has been completed and the artefacts sent for further analysis, the site will be backfilled, enabling work on the new Naval Museum to continue.

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