21. What can we learn from the archaeological excavation at Wairau Bar, near Blenheim?

The Wairau Bar excavation site is one of the most significant archaeological digs in New Zealand due to the diversity and number of artefacts found. Wairau Bar is an 8 km long boulder bank, formed where the Wairau River meets the Pacific Ocean, east of Blenheim. The area is dry, windswept, and covered in low scrub and grasses.

In 1925, a paddock on the Bar was ploughed by Albert Eyles, the leaseholder of the land, exposing numerous artefacts. His son Jim began fossicking and, in 1939, by chance, discovered human remains along with associated artefacts, including necklaces, stone tools, and moa remains. This drew the attention of Canterbury Museum, which then collaborated with Jim Eyles to conduct a more structured excavation of the site.

Excavations uncovered human skeletons, considered to be among the earliest known graves in New Zealand, as well as the remains of the first settlers. Among the artefacts was a tool identified as an import from the tropical Pacific, made from a spiral gastropod shell. Evidence of ancient hāngī pits (earth ovens) was also found. Radiocarbon dating suggests these artefacts date back to around 1300 AD.

The site is believed to have been used as a moa-hunting camp by early Polynesians. For this reason, Wairau Bar is regarded as possibly the most important archaeological site in New Zealand to date and a key clue in answering who were New Zealand's first settlers.

Artefacts were exposed by a plough in relatively shallow topsoil. However, the discovery of this site does not necessarily mean that only East Polynesians were present. This is just one site representing people who were living in the country around 750 years ago.

Each of the nine moa species was distributed in different concentrations throughout New Zealand, and it is estimated that they became extinct by 1440 AD. If the Wairau Bar settlers arrived around 1280 AD as the first humans in New Zealand, it seems unlikely they could have driven the moa to extinction within such a short time frame. Could other groups have been present before them?

What other sites exist? If they do, their evidence may be buried many metres below ground, belonging to a much earlier period.

What archaeological features in New Zealand can you nominate where the identity of the builders remains uncertain or debated?

THE EVIDENCE about New Zealand's first settlers continues in the following Blogs

Your next read in the series: 22. What can we learn from the archaeological excavation at Waipoua Stone Settlement, in the Waipoua Kauri Forest?