Wairau Bar facts for kids
The Wairau Bar, also called Te Pokohiwi, is a long strip of land made of gravel. It is about 19 hectares (47 acres) in size. This special place is where the Wairau River meets the sea in Cloudy Bay, in Marlborough, New Zealand.
Wairau Bar is a very important archaeological site. It was settled by explorers from East Polynesia around 1280. This makes it the earliest known human settlement in New Zealand. When people first lived there, it was likely a low island covered in scrub. It was about 2 to 3 meters (6.5 to 10 feet) high, 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) long, and 0.4 kilometers (0.25 miles) wide.
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Discovering Wairau Bar's Past
The Wairau Bar site was first found in 1939 by a schoolboy named Jim Eyles. In 1942, he found even more old objects. Early studies with Roger Duff uncovered a burial site. The bones were scattered and close to the surface. At first, people thought this was because of farming. However, later work showed that a big storm or a tsunami likely scattered the bones. This probably happened between two times when people lived there.
Using the methods of that time, about 2,000 objects and 44 human skeletons were removed and studied. The people living there used similar cultural methods to those in eastern Polynesia, especially the Marquesas Islands. Many tools were found, including 69 adzes. Only three of these adzes were made of greenstone. Also, 80 small fishing lures made of stone or bone were discovered.
How People Used the Site
Later studies from 2009–2010 used modern methods to date the site more accurately. They used radiocarbon dating to find out that people lived there between 1288 and 1300 CE. It seems the site was used twice over about 20 years. This matches what we know from other early Polynesian settlement sites in New Zealand.
Scientists found moa egg pieces in graves and rubbish piles (middens). These helped them get accurate dates. Buried with the skeletons were necklaces made of moa bone, whole moa eggs (used to carry water), and stone adze heads. They also found carved stone that looked like shark and whale teeth, harpoon heads, and tattoo chisels. Not many nephrite (jade or greenstone) objects were found.
It is thought that Wairau Bar was mainly a factory for making stone adze heads. From the adze heads and stone flakes found, it's estimated that about 12,000 adze heads were made here. That's about 400 to 500 per year! The most common material for adze heads was argillite, a very hard type of mudstone. This stone is found on D'Urville Island, only about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Wairau Bar.
Such a large number of adze heads suggests that people traded a lot in the early times. One adze found in 2009 came from Tahanga Hill, a well-known moa hunter area. This shows that the Wairau Bar moa hunters traveled widely across New Zealand. Adze heads were used for shaping wood, especially for making waka (canoes).
Cooking and Living Areas
A team from Otago University found a huge stone-lined cooking pit, called an umu or hangi. It was 1.5 meters (5 feet) deep and 4 meters (13 feet) across. Local Māori believe it was big enough to feed 1,000 people. These large pits were used to cook the root of the ti plant. This was a common way to turn the root into a sweet pulp. The ti plant can be grown easily but grows slowly. Its root is about 900 millimeters (35 inches) long and 90 millimeters (3.5 inches) wide. It was cooked very slowly in an umu for 12 to 24 hours.
A study using geophysics showed that this was just one of six such pits. They were arranged in a horseshoe shape on the edge of a lagoon. The study also showed the site was much bigger than first thought. It was at least 11 hectares (27 acres) and possibly larger. At least half of the area was still untouched.
By 2007, only 2 percent of the site had been studied scientifically. Skeletons were found in four groups. The oldest group was closer to the sea. DNA studies showed these people had lived in East Polynesia. The largest group of skeletons were in an area to the east. These people are believed to be moa hunters who lived their lives in New Zealand. This is based on DNA analysis of their bones and teeth.
The main living area was in the center, about 25 to 50 meters (82 to 164 feet) from the lagoon. There were three areas for cooking and rubbish. The earliest cooking area was next to the lagoon. The later one was on the ocean side of the island. When people lived there for the second time, the site was protected from the ocean by a long, narrow bank of rocks. There were also two places where adzes were made.
What They Ate: Animals and Plants
After being used for cooking, each umu pit was later used as a rubbish dump. The lowest layer of the rubbish showed that at the very earliest time, shellfish, like mussels, were much larger. They averaged 250 millimeters (10 inches) long. The lower layers also showed that early moa bones were not smashed for marrow, which was common in later layers. Whale bones were found in the lower layer. Mostly moa leg bones were found, meaning moa were hunted inland and brought to the site for cooking. Bones from all five moa species found in the upper South Island were present.
Besides many butchered moa, they also ate seals, porpoises, the extinct Haast's eagle, Eyles' harrier, New Zealand swan, and New Zealand raven. They also had kurī (Maori dogs), tuatara, kiore, and shellfish like pipi, paua, and cockles. Marine bones from eels, skate, sunfish, and sharks were also found.
The local Rangitāne Iwi (tribe) reburied 60 skeletons in a special ceremony at the lagoon site in 2007. They believe these were their ancestors.
Shell Tools from East Polynesia
A study of a turret shell tool in 2011 showed a direct link between Wairau Bar and East Polynesia. This is only the second object found in New Zealand from East Polynesia during the early Polynesian settlement period. The shell tool is a modified spiral shell. These tools were used as small chisels, possibly for making holes bigger. The tip of the shell was removed and sharpened to a chisel point. While found on various East Polynesian Islands, they are most common in the Society Islands. The importance of this find, dug up 60 years ago, was only recently understood.
DNA Reveals Settlers' Origins
Dr. Lisa Matisoo-Smith and Dr. Michael Knapp from New Zealand's Otago University released results from a DNA study in 2012. They studied bones and teeth from early Polynesian migrants who lived at Wairau Bar around 1285–1300 AD. The DNA results confirm that some of these people were original settlers from East Polynesia. Their diet was very different, based on soft, starchy foods. The other two groups of burials showed a more varied diet, suggesting they grew up in New Zealand.
Scientists found a wide range of DNA differences. This means the settlers were part of a fairly large group. This suggests a planned migration rather than just a few random groups. One of the DNA differences was linked to how the body handles insulin, similar to type 2 diabetes. This supports earlier ideas that showed the same pattern. Scientists are now working to trace East Polynesian populations with the same DNA patterns. This will help them find the specific homelands of the Wairau Bar settlers. The DNA pattern is very similar to what was found in the Marquesas Islands in East Polynesia from the same time.
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