Wairau Bar
The Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi,
Discovery
The site was discovered in 1939 by then schoolboy
Human remains
In 2009 a more modern analysis by Buckley et al found the skeletons had a range of estimated ages. 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.
DNA study
Lisa Matisoo-Smith and Michael Knapp from New Zealand's Otago University have released the results of a recent bone and teeth DNA study carried out on early Polynesian migrants to New Zealand who lived at Wairau Bar about 1285–1300 AD. The results of DNA analysis reinforce the idea that some of these people were original settlers from East Polynesia, as they had a very different diet based on soft starchy food. The two other burial groups showed a very different, more varied diet consistent with being raised in New Zealand. Scientists found that there was a wide range of DNA mutations indicating that settlers were part of a reasonably large group. This indicated a planned migration rather than isolated random groups. One of the mutations was associated with insulin rejection as found in type 2 diabetes[5][6] This reinforces the mathematical modelling done in the past that shows the same pattern. Work will now begin on tracing East Polynesian populations that have the same DNA mutations in order to discover the specific homelands of the Wairau Bar settlers.[7] The DNA pattern is very similar to that found in the Marquesas Islands in East Polynesia at the same time.
Site use
The later 2009–2010 study, using more precise modern methods, resulted in the site being more accurately dated by the
An investigation by a team from
By 2007 only 2 percent 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. These have been shown by DNA studies to be people who had lived in East Polynesia. The largest group of skeletons (15-43) were in an area to the east which covered an oval area 30 by 50 metres (98 by 164 ft). These people are believed to be moa hunters who lived their lives in New Zealand, based on bone and teeth DNA analysis. The main habitation area was central, about 25 to 50 metres (82 to 164 ft) from the southern lagoon edge. There were three zones of cooking and surface midden debris, all about 100 by 30 metres (328 by 98 ft) 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 adze-making sites—one adjacent to the early occupation zone and the second adjacent to the later burial site. The most intensely studied indicates a right handed person sitting in the porch area of a small whare. They sat in front of a flat stone on a path cobbled with small round rocks, chipping off flakes of argillite with a hammer stone of quartzite. The limited studies done so far indicate a sizeable village. It is apparent that bodies were commonly buried about 60 metres (200 ft) 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
At the time of the latest investigation the local Rangitāne Iwi reburied 60 skeletons claimed to be their forebears in a formal ceremony at the lagoon site.[9][10]
Shell link to East Polynesia
A study of a turret shell artifact completed in 2011 shows a direct link between the Wairau Bar site and East Polynesia. This is only the second artifact found in New Zealand originating from East Polynesia dated to the early Polynesian colonial period. (The other is the early East Polynesian pearl lure found at Tairua[11] identified by A. Powell of Auckland Museum.) The shell tool is a modified spiral gastropod shell. These tools were used as small chisels or gouges, possibly for enlarging holes. The point of the turret shell was removed and the remains honed to a chisel point of about 60 degrees by grinding. Although found in various East Polynesian Islands the most common site by far is Fa'ahia, Huahine, in the Society Islands, where many have been located from the same period.[12] The significance of the find that was dug up 60 years ago was not realised until recently.
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Wairau River
- ^ Struggle Without End.R Walker. Penguin.2004.
- ^ Buckley, H., Tayles, N., Halcrow, S., Robb, K., & Fyfe, R. (2009). The People of Wairau Bar: a Re-examination, Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 1(1), 1-20.
- ^ Journal of Pacific Archaeology Vol 1, No 1, 2010.
- ^ ABC Science.23 Oct 2012. Ancient DNA sheds light on Maori settlement.
- ^ Otago University Media release.
- ^ ABC Science. 23 October 2012. Ancient DNA Sheds light on Maori Settlement.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of NZ. Kohatu. The Maori Use of Stone.
- ^ "When was New Zealand first settled? - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". www.teara.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 4 November 2005.
- ISBN 978-0-306-46158-3.
- ^ "Tairua trolling lure". Auckland Museum. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ Journal of Pacific Archaeology, Vol 2, No2, 2011.Connections with Hawaiki the evidence of a shell tool from Wairau bar in Marlborough NZ.J. Davidson, Findlater, Fyfe, MacDonald and Marshall
Further reading
- Antiquity. June 1999. T. Higham, A. Anderson, C. Jacomb: Dating the First New Zealanders.
- McFadgen, B. Hostile Shores. Auckland University Press. 2007. ISBN 978-1-86940-390-4
- Wild Tomato Story. Steve Austin. Marlborough Museum. 2008
- Eyles, James R. (2007). Wairau Bar Moa Hunter. Dunedin, NZ: River Press. ISBN 978-0-9582779-0-7.
- Duff, Roger (1950). The Moa-Hunter Period of Maori Culture. Canterbury Museum Bulletin No. 1, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.