12.6 Warm Wet Periods and the Destruction of Archaeological Evidence
203
the erosion periods there were longer tranquil intervals when erosion and sediment transport
declined, the fresh surfaces were revegetated, and soils formed.
The examples which follow give some idea of the magnitude of the geomorphological
changes brought about by the erosion periods of the last 1600 years. In the valley of the
Wairoa River, northern Hawke’s Bay, there was alluvial infilling of 18m; in the middle
reaches of the Whangaehu valley, in the central North Island, it was 13 m. On the Canterbury
Plain around Christchurch, alluvial accumulation was at least 6 m; on the Wairau Plain near
Blenheim, it was at least 10.5 m; and on Heretaunga Plain, near Hastings, it was locally as
much as 14 m. (pp. 164–165).
An archaeologist would have to dig deep to find evidence only 1,600 years old.
To dig deep enough to find direct archaeological evidence for a first settlement 3,000
years ago may be well nigh impossible. Indeed, Herries Beattie [14] quotes several
examples of archaeological evidence found at considerable depths, although all are
far closer to the surface than the base of the alluvial deposits listed by Grant above:
In 1924 Captain J. Bollons, master of the S.S. Tutanekai, wrote as follows: ‘There is evidence that natives have been in New Zealand for a much longer period (than 800 years). . .To
give one instance of the remoteness of time when people were residing on Rakiura, or
Stewart Island. Some 20 years ago natives were digging a trench round their whare on the
small titi island, Horomamae, situated off the south-east coast of Rakiura. Having cut down
to a depth of six feet through purely vegetable deposit, they came to a layer of shell and
charcoal, one foot in thickness. Amongst this, hangi or food debris was found, four stone
tools of adze or chisel shape, one being of greenstone, all of similar construction and showing the same method of cutting as tools found on the present-day surface at other places.
The plant covering of this islet is principally that shrub with thick leathery leaves known
as pukeretaiko, or muttonwood of the settler (senecio rounitolina), which sheds its leaves
but slowly. An idea of the length of time it would take to form six feet of deposit can be
imagined.’
The New Zealand Mines Record, August 1897, says at Bald Hill Flat , near the foot of the
Old Man Range, Maori chisels, wooden bowls and earth ovens were found in the sandstone
clay at a depth of 16 feet, the bowls being very little decomposed.
The Maoris told me that when the navvies were digging the railway cutting at Puketeraki
they found a shell midden some 16 feet under the surface.
Macmillan Brown wrote: ‘That the pre-Polynesians in New Zealand had used steamovens is evident by their having been found as much as 14 feet below the surface of the
soil, as, for example, on the Manuherikia Plains in Central Otago. . .The slow accumulation
of alluvium, wind-blown soil and humus on such high plateaus forces us to place the age
of this back into the thousands of years. . .The most careful and scientific description of the
find of a stone implement in the soil is that given by Sir Julius von Haast of a partially
finished chert adze and its sandstone sharpener, found by a party of gold-miners in Bruce
Bay, Westland, in 1868. They were lying on a floor of pebble-studded clay, and more than
14 feet of strata of humus, sand and shingle had to be cut through before this was reached.
Totara trees, four feet in diameter, had to be felled before the surface could be broken. . .the
place was 500 feet above highwater mark. . .take us back undoubtedly several thousand
years, and even then we have a neolithic race that polished its weapons and had spread so
far west and south towards the long uninhabited sounds’.
As we shall suggest in Chapter 16, there is a possibility that Mahitahi (Bruce
Bay) may have been the place where the first New Zealand settlers landed. That
artefacts were found there deep below the surface may not be anomalous. For tradition suggests that, rather than being “long uninhabited”, Bruce Bay may have been
203
the erosion periods there were longer tranquil intervals when erosion and sediment transport
declined, the fresh surfaces were revegetated, and soils formed.
The examples which follow give some idea of the magnitude of the geomorphological
changes brought about by the erosion periods of the last 1600 years. In the valley of the
Wairoa River, northern Hawke’s Bay, there was alluvial infilling of 18m; in the middle
reaches of the Whangaehu valley, in the central North Island, it was 13 m. On the Canterbury
Plain around Christchurch, alluvial accumulation was at least 6 m; on the Wairau Plain near
Blenheim, it was at least 10.5 m; and on Heretaunga Plain, near Hastings, it was locally as
much as 14 m. (pp. 164–165).
An archaeologist would have to dig deep to find evidence only 1,600 years old.
To dig deep enough to find direct archaeological evidence for a first settlement 3,000
years ago may be well nigh impossible. Indeed, Herries Beattie [14] quotes several
examples of archaeological evidence found at considerable depths, although all are
far closer to the surface than the base of the alluvial deposits listed by Grant above:
In 1924 Captain J. Bollons, master of the S.S. Tutanekai, wrote as follows: ‘There is evidence that natives have been in New Zealand for a much longer period (than 800 years). . .To
give one instance of the remoteness of time when people were residing on Rakiura, or
Stewart Island. Some 20 years ago natives were digging a trench round their whare on the
small titi island, Horomamae, situated off the south-east coast of Rakiura. Having cut down
to a depth of six feet through purely vegetable deposit, they came to a layer of shell and
charcoal, one foot in thickness. Amongst this, hangi or food debris was found, four stone
tools of adze or chisel shape, one being of greenstone, all of similar construction and showing the same method of cutting as tools found on the present-day surface at other places.
The plant covering of this islet is principally that shrub with thick leathery leaves known
as pukeretaiko, or muttonwood of the settler (senecio rounitolina), which sheds its leaves
but slowly. An idea of the length of time it would take to form six feet of deposit can be
imagined.’
The New Zealand Mines Record, August 1897, says at Bald Hill Flat , near the foot of the
Old Man Range, Maori chisels, wooden bowls and earth ovens were found in the sandstone
clay at a depth of 16 feet, the bowls being very little decomposed.
The Maoris told me that when the navvies were digging the railway cutting at Puketeraki
they found a shell midden some 16 feet under the surface.
Macmillan Brown wrote: ‘That the pre-Polynesians in New Zealand had used steamovens is evident by their having been found as much as 14 feet below the surface of the
soil, as, for example, on the Manuherikia Plains in Central Otago. . .The slow accumulation
of alluvium, wind-blown soil and humus on such high plateaus forces us to place the age
of this back into the thousands of years. . .The most careful and scientific description of the
find of a stone implement in the soil is that given by Sir Julius von Haast of a partially
finished chert adze and its sandstone sharpener, found by a party of gold-miners in Bruce
Bay, Westland, in 1868. They were lying on a floor of pebble-studded clay, and more than
14 feet of strata of humus, sand and shingle had to be cut through before this was reached.
Totara trees, four feet in diameter, had to be felled before the surface could be broken. . .the
place was 500 feet above highwater mark. . .take us back undoubtedly several thousand
years, and even then we have a neolithic race that polished its weapons and had spread so
far west and south towards the long uninhabited sounds’.
As we shall suggest in Chapter 16, there is a possibility that Mahitahi (Bruce
Bay) may have been the place where the first New Zealand settlers landed. That
artefacts were found there deep below the surface may not be anomalous. For tradition suggests that, rather than being “long uninhabited”, Bruce Bay may have been