Wairau Bar
Encyclopedia
The Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi, is a 19 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 gravel bar formed where the Wairau River
Wairau River
The Wairau River is one of the longest rivers in New Zealand's South Island. It flows for 170 kilometres from the Spenser Mountains , firstly in a northwards direction and then northeast down a long, straight valley in inland Marlborough.The river's lower reaches are noted for the surrounding...

 meets the sea in Cloudy Bay
Cloudy Bay
Cloudy Bay is located at the northeast of New Zealand's South Island, to the south of the Marlborough Sounds. The area lends its name to one of the best known New World white wines although the grapes used in production of that wine are grown in the Marlborough wine region further inland.The bay...

, Marlborough
Marlborough, New Zealand
Marlborough is one of the regions of New Zealand, located in the northeast of the South Island. Marlborough is a unitary authority, both a region and a district, and its council is located at Blenheim. Marlborough is known for its dry climate, the picturesque Marlborough Sounds, and sauvignon blanc...

, north-eastern South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. It is an important archaeological site, apparently settled within one or two generations of the arrival of Polynesians
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...

 in New Zealand. It is the earliest known human settlement in New Zealand. At the time of the occupation it is believed to have been a low island 2–3 m high, 1.1 km long and 0.4 km wide.

History

The site was discovered by a schoolboy in 1939 and, later in 1942, the 16-year-old discovered more artefacts while digging. Early investigations with Roger Duff found a burial site
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...

.Bones were found scattered around the site close to the surface. This was originally believed to have been due to ploughing of the site but work by Bruce Mc Fadgen shows that at some stage,probably between the two periods of occupation, the site was subject to either large storm surge waves or a tsunami which probably contributed to the scattering. Using the techniques of the time about 2000 artefacts and 44 human skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...

s were removed and examined in detail.The record seems to show that the partial skeletons of several children were found in shallow graves but these were in such poor condition and scattered that Duff was either unable or unwilling to keep the fragments using the methods of those days. The examination showed that the people were using the same cultural methods as those in eastern Polynesia, particularly the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...

.

Skeletal analysis

In 2009 a more modern analysis by Buckley et al found the skeletons had a wide range of estimated ages. Twelve of the 35 adults with assigned ages were over 50. There was only one child's skeleton. The 21 skeletons with teeth
Tooth
Teeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...

 all exhibited some developmental enamel disorders, showing they had suffered long stressful periods during childhood but survived to heathy adulthood. Tooth decay
Dental caries
Dental caries, also known as tooth decay or a cavity, is an irreversible infection usually bacterial in origin that causes demineralization of the hard tissues and destruction of the organic matter of the tooth, usually by production of acid by hydrolysis of the food debris accumulated on the...

 was rare, especially amongst males (a similar trait to neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 North American Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

). Tooth wear was substantial among older individuals, with teeth worn to the roots, but this did not seem to be due to bracken
Bracken
Bracken are several species of large, coarse ferns of the genus Pteridium. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...

 fern root chewing. All the adults showed healed bone fractures, indicating a well-balanced diet and a supportive community structure. The skeletons were all found in shallow graves, with the heads pointing towards the east and the feet to the west, as was the practice in eastern Polynesia. The archaeological layers were shallow.

Site use

The later 2009–2010 study, using more precise modern methods, resulted in the site being more accurately dated by the radiocarbon
Carbon-14
Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...

 method to 1288–1300 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

. The site appeared to be occupied twice over a period of about 20 years, which is consistent with information from other early Polynesian colonisation sites in New Zealand. Accurate dates were obtained fron moa
Moa
The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....

 egg fragments found in grave
Grave
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried.Grave may also refer to:*Grave accent, a diacritical mark*Grave , a term used to classify sounds*Grave , a term for "slow and solemn" music*Grave , an old name for the kilogram...

 and midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...

 sites. Buried with the skeletons were moa bone reel necklace
Necklace
A necklace is an article of jewellery which is worn around the neck. Necklaces are frequently formed from a metal jewellery chain. Others are woven or manufactured from cloth using string or twine....

s, whole moa eggs (used as water carriers), argillite
Argillite
An argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The argillites grade into shale when the fissile layering typical of shale is...

 adze
Adze
An adze is a tool used for smoothing or carving rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards towards his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind...

 heads, carved serpentine that looked like shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....

 and whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

 teeth
Tooth
Teeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...

, harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...

 heads and tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...

 chisel
Chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...

s. Few nephrite
Nephrite
Nephrite is a variety of the calcium and magnesium-rich amphibole mineral actinolite . The chemical formula for nephrite is Ca25Si8O222. It is one of two different mineral species called jade. The other mineral species known as jade is jadeite, which is a variety of pyroxene...

 (jade or greenstone) artefacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 were found. It is believed the site was primarily a factory for making stone adze heads. It has been estimated from the adze heads found and the large area of stone flakes that about 12,000 adze heads were made here or about 400-500 per year. Such large numbers have implications about trade in the early archaic period.

An investigation by a team from Otago University found a huge stone-lined umu or hangi
Hangi
Hāngi is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven still used for special occasions.To "lay a hāngi" or "put down a hāngi" involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of food on top of the...

 pit (earth oven) 1.5 m deep by 4 m across – estimated to be big enough to feed 1000 people by a local Maori familiar with modern hangi. However these large hangi or umu pits were identified in 1968 (in the Kermadecs
Kermadec Islands
The Kermadec Islands are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga...

) by Roger Duff, as being typical Polynesian Umu Ti. The purpose of the large pit was to cook the tap root of the Ti plant. This was a common method of reducing the tuberous root to a sugary pulp. The Ti can be cultivated easily but is slow growing. The root is about 900 mm long by 90 mm wide, to a point. It is cooked very slowly in an umu for 12–24 hours. The plant is usually associated with the far north of New Zealand but may have been grown further south during the warmer climatic period associated with early Polynesian settlement. A geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...

 study showed that it was only one of six such pits in a rough horseshoe shape located on the edge of a lagoon. The study also showed the site to be much bigger than previously thought – at least 11 ha and possibly larger as two boundaries have not been accurately plotted. At least 50% of the area was intact.

By 2007 only 2% of the site had been scientifically investigated. "Intact" skeletons (many minus the head) were found in four groups, with the oldest (1-7) being closer to the sea and at the western end of the site. The largest group of skeletons (15-43) were in an area to the east which covered an oval area 30 m x 50 m. The main habitation area was central,about 25–50 m from the southern lagoon edge. There were three zones of cooking and surface midden debris, all about 100 m x 30 m approximately. The earliest zone was alongside the lagoon and the latter on the ocean side of the island. At the time of the second occupation of the island, the second site was protected from the ocean by a long and narrow boulder bank. There are two tool-making sites - one adjacent to the early occupation zone and the second adjacent to the later burial site. It is apparent that bodies were commonly buried about 60 m from the cooking and working zones.

Exploitation of fauna

After being used for cooking, each umu had subsequently been used as a midden. The bottom layer of the midden showed that at the very earliest occupation time shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

, such as mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...

s, were much larger, averaging 250 mm long. The lower layers of the midden also showed that early moa bones were not smashed to get at the marrow
Bone marrow
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...

 as was common in the upper layers. Whale bones were found in the lower layer. Mainly moa leg bones were found indicating that moa were hunted inland and brought to the site for cooking. Bones from all five moa species located in the upper South Island were found. As well as the remains of numerous butchered moa, seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

s, porpoise
Porpoise
Porpoises are small cetaceans of the family Phocoenidae; they are related to whales and dolphins. They are distinct from dolphins, although the word "porpoise" has been used to refer to any small dolphin, especially by sailors and fishermen...

s, the extinct Haast's Eagle
Haast's Eagle
Haast's Eagle was a species of massive eagles that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand. The species was the largest eagle known to have existed. Its prey consisted mainly of gigantic flightless birds that were unable to defend themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles,...

, Eyles' Harrier
Eyles' Harrier
Eyles' Harrier is an extinct bird of prey which lived in New Zealand.It was an example of island gigantism, weighing over twice as much as a Swamp Harrier. It was a generalist predator, taking prey of the same size as small eagle species do – land animals weighing one or a few kilograms...

, New Zealand Swan
New Zealand Swan
The New Zealand Swan is an extinct swan from the Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand. It was originally described as a separate species from the Black Swan based on the slightly larger size of the fossil bones found and the apparent absence of the Black Swan from New Zealand prior...

 and New Zealand Raven
New Zealand Raven
The New Zealand Raven was native to the North Island and South Island of New Zealand but is now extinct. There were two subspecies: the North Island Raven and the South Island Raven...

, Kurī
Kuri
Kuri can refer to:*Kurī, Māori dog*Kuri , West African breed of cattle*Kuri , kitchen in a Zen monastery, Japanese Chestnut*The Kuri subgroup of Yuin–Kuric indigenous Australian languages...

 (Maori dogs), Tuatara
Tuatara
The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common...

, Kiore, shellfish such as Pipi
Pipi
Pipi may refer to:*Plebidonax deltoides, an edible clam known as pipi in parts of Australia*Paphies australis, a mollusc endemic to New Zealand*Pipi A, a High Priest of Ptah during the Ancient Egyptian 21st Dynasty...

, Paua
Paua
Pāua is the Māori name given to three species of large edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs which belong to the family Haliotidae , known in the United States and Australia as abalone, and in the United Kingdom as ormer shells.-Species:There are three species of New Zealand pāua:New...

, cockle
Cockle
Cockle may refer to:* Cockle , a group of edible saltwater clams * Lolium temulentum, a tufted grass plant* Berwick cockles, a confectionery from ScotlandCockleshell* The Mark II canoes used in Operation Frankton in 1942...

s, and marine bones from eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

s, skate
Skate
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. There are more than 200 described species in 27 genera. There are two subfamilies, Rajinae and Arhynchobatinae ....

, sunfish
Molidae
Molidae is the family of the molas or ocean sunfishes, unique fish whose bodies come to an end just behind the dorsal and anal fins, giving them a "half-a-fish" appearance...

 and sharks were found there. Anderson and Smith in their 1996 study stated that the first colonists enjoyed a sustained assault on the local megafauna
Megafauna
In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...

.

At the time of the latest investigation the local Rangitāne
Rangitane
For the famous ship see RMS RangitaneRangitāne is a Māori iwi of New Zealand.-External links:* in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand...

 Iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...

reburied 60 skeletons claimed to be their forebears in a formal ceremony at the lagoon site.

Further reading

  • Antiquity. June 1999.T Higham,A Anderson,C Jacomb :Dating the first New Zealanders.
  • Wild Tomato Story.Steve Austin .Marlborough Museum. 2008
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