- 27

UNDER instructions from the Curator of the Otago Museum, I resumed excavating at this site on 20th January, 1937, and worked, with an interval of two weeks, until 20th March. I was surprised by the amount of erosion, caused principally by wind, that had taken place since my former visit. At the northern end of the site the sandhills rise to about forty feet above the water, and one very windy day, while I was working close by, a large block of soil, on which were growing more than a dozen large manuka shrubs, undermined by the north-west gale, slid down from the summit to the water's edge. Along the foreshore several large totara have fallen, one of these being eleven feet four inches in circumference near the base.

I commenced operations at the extreme northern end of the camp-site, where a small portion of likely-looking ground had been exposed. The deposit was about twelve inches deep, increasing to fully two feet and then petering out against a sandhill. The formation consisted of a thin layer of shells on top, and a layer of black soil containing oven-stones and charcoal below. Moa-ribs, vertebrae, toe-bones, several ends of leg-bones, and fragments of bone were in both layers, but were more plentiful in the lower one. From a space eighteen feet long and twelve feet wide, I obtained nine small adzes in good condition, three rough unfinished adzes, a very small chisel of poor quality greenstone, two sinkers, the shank-end of a one-piece hook, several tabs of ground moa-bone, and many flakes of chert and quartzite. All the adzes and most of the other artifacts were in or just on top of the black layer. The shell layer consisted of pipi-, paua-, mussel-, and periwinkle-shells. Outside the area just mentioned, I got no artifacts, except - 28 a few flakes of chert, although the deposit was the same. I dug on in a southerly direction, until I connected with the northern end of last year's No. 1 trench, 1 finding a large moa-pelvis, some vertebrae, several broken tibiae, femurs, and tarsi, and two unbroken femurs. There were many seal-bones associated with the moa-bones.

I then worked out the deposit in No. 3 trench, getting a moa-pelvis, a quantity of moa-eggshell spread over a space about eighteen inches square, an unbroken slender tibia, a very small metatarsus, and a number of broken moa leg-bones, flakes of red chert, two small adzes, one unfinished, and a fragment of a large adze. At one spot was a small oval hollow filled with shells to a depth of nearly four feet, in which I found a small adze, a moa-bone drillpoint, and a fragment of a one-piece hook.

About midway between trenches No. 2 and No. 3, and near the Sand road, Mr. Lockerbie found a small deposit of moa-bones. From this we obtained four unbroken femurs, three small tarsi, a number of broken leg-bones and many vertebrae. By counting the femurs, we ascertained that at least seven moas of various sizes had been dealt with here. There were many seal-bones also. The only tools were a small unfinished adze, and some flakes of chert.

Starting on the edge of the bay, I worked in to connect with last year's No. 2 trench. The deposit was nearly two feet in depth, and showed in section a thin layer of shells on top and a thick black layer underneath. There were many moa-bones in the bottom layer. I got two unbroken tibiae, two very large and several medium-sized femurs, six tarsi, four pelves, several fragments of broken leg-bones, four moa-crania, a lot of vertebrae and toe-joints, several tabs of worked moa-bone and many broken fragments, chert flakes, and half of a triangular-sectioned adze. In the lower layer, near a moa-pelvis, was a fragment of a greenstone adze. This fragment is three and a half inches square and half an inch in thickness and is greenstone of very poor quality. Close to our former work, I found a small fireplace, and near this was a moa-bone shank of a composite hook (fig. 1) and a large flake of quartzite.

- 29

There was a shallow deposit of shells showing on the edge of the bay about twenty yards west of No. 3 trench. I started work there and found the shells deepened until the bed was nearly five feet in thickness. The shell-bed lay against a steep sand bank, and gradually got thinner as I worked up the slope. The shells were pipi, mussel, cockle, and paua. The paua were nearly all in the bottom layer, and many were of large size, and sometimes half a dozen would be placed one within another. The deeper part of the midden contained very few bird- or seal-bones and few fragments of moa-bone, but I found a moa-pelvis on the bottom. At the northern end the midden was much shallower, never more than two feet, and gradually thinned out to a few inches of oven refuse, where I stopped digging. The inner part of the midden was covered with a dense growth of totara saplings, whose roots made a thick mat in the upper six inches of the shell-bed. From two to three feet of drifted sand lay around these shrubs. Near the northern end was a small bed of moa-bones whence I obtained eight moa-pelves, three unbroken moa-femurs, one tibia, and a large number of miscellaneous broken moa-bones. Seal bones, some very large, were plentiful. Just under the tree roots and lying alongside a moa-pelvis was a large adze (fig. 2), twelve inches long by two inches wide. Another moa-pelvis was close by and two pelves were on the sand a few inches below the adze. Near the middle of the deeper part of the midden, and about three feet from the surface of the shell-bed, I found a moa-bone pendant (fig. 3). It is in good preservation and very well made, except that the hole for suspension has not been bored. From this midden I also obtained three small adzes, one being hog-backed, five drill-points of moa-bone, several drilled tabs of moa-bone, and a number of tabs showing work, several fragments of one-piece hooks, a few polishers of schist and sandstone, and some flakes of chert and quartzite.

This midden was about sixty feet long and fully twenty feet wide; part of it was fully five feet deep with an additional two to three feet of sand above the shells. A thicket of young totaras, some being ten feet in height, covered the deposit and made the work slow and laborious.

- 30

Midway between No. 2 and No. 4 trenches a totara overhung the edge of the bay, and among its roots was a very thin deposit of Maori refuse containing many small chips of chert and quartzite. I worked out this layer and obtained three small blackstone adzes, two unfinished adzes, and a fragment of a very thin greenstone adze, two boring-tools of moa-bone, and two quartzite drill-points, two sandstone polishers, and an unfinished one-piece fish-hook of moa-bone and many chert flakes, some very large. The deposit contained a large number of seal-bones, a few dog-bones, some moa vertebrae, toe-joints, and ends of leg-bones with the shafts broken away, and a number of fragments of moa-bones. There were bones of many birds including penguins.

Near this spot Mr. Lockerbie found a small adze and an unfinished bone pendant (fig. 4) similar to the one mentioned above.

Small fragments of moa egg-shell were found in all the trenches, but in No. 3 trench four separate patches of egg-shell, each comprising the greater part of an egg, were found adjacent to the bones of a small species of moa. The shell was in comparatively large fragments, and these often lay one within another with the outer surface of one fragment against the inner surface of the other. This shows that the fragments had been peeled off the egg and afterwards placed together, for if the egg had been crushed the inner surfaces of the egg-shell fragments would touch. While examining these fragments at the Museum, Miss Daff discovered several showing marks of drilling, and when these were placed together they formed the greater part of a drilled hole about ⅜ of an inch in diameter. This hole is in the wider end of the egg and suggests the use of the egg-shell as a water container, and is the only instance that has come under my observation of moa eggs being drilled.

In an earlier paper on this site, I stated that there was no fresh water near. I have since discovered that, at low tide, the river water, apart from discolouration and bad taste caused by sawdust from the sawmills, is quite fit for drinking.

- 31

No human bone was found in the middens, although Sir Thomas McKenzie mentions having obtained it when exploring the district about fifty years ago. Probably the midden he examined has been eroded away. Mr. Lockerbie found the bones of an infant on the edge of the bay, and old residents told me of a Maori burying-ground on the seaward side of the Sand road. This was a comparatively modern cemetery, as these residents remembered natives coming to repair fences, etc., but there is no visible sign now, and the exact location has been forgotten

It is, at present, impossible to determine the age of this camp. I have usually been told that the totara is a very slow-growing tree, but two experienced bushmen, who are old residents of Papatowai, told me that young totaras would attain a height of twelve feet in fifteen years. One of the fallen trees, which originally stood above the deposit, is upward of eleven feet in circumference, but my informants could give no estimate of its age. One thing we may be sure of, is that these seaside camps would be where the first inhabitants met the moa. Inland camps, such as Murison excavated at Puketoi 2 would be much later than those on the coast. Since leaving Papatowai, Mr. Lockerbie has written to me, “I noticed a large tree, or remains of a tree, in the reserve near the excavations. The diameter was about three feet six inches, and the tree appeared to have been dead for many years. Among the roots were shells, so even the last occupation must have been a very long time ago.”

The material obtained here confirms my observations, at Shag river and elsewhere, that the culture of the moa-hunters was virtually identical with what we call Maori culture, and there was not a scrap that did not pertain to Polynesian. The differences that may be detected between the culture of the moa-hunters, and the culture of, say, the top layer at Murdering beach, require nothing more to explain them than the passage of time. They are not due to any intrusive culture. It also showed the hunters' knowledge and use of greenstone; the poor quality of the stone suggests that the source of supply was the district - 32 at the head of lake Wakatipu. As is usual on these southern camp-sites, the majority of the flakes are of a red or purple chert, unlike those of the Dunedin sites, which are generally quartzite. I made many enquiries as to the source of this chert without success, but at last was told it was found in situ at Slope point near Tokanui.

The material secured from these excavations was packed to the Otago Museum, where it has been sorted, cleaned and registered, and may be studied by those who are interested.

The moa-bones secured at Papatowai and also at the Waitaki river mouth were sent to Dr. W. R. B. Oliver for identification. The following passages from his letter and his table of species will give some idea of the labour involved. “I have now been through all the moa-bones, from which I took useful measurements. These results I now send you in tabulated form. You must be careful as to any conclusions you draw regarding the distribution of the species in the middens. Obviously, in situations were the bones are well preserved, the largest number of species occur. Where the conditions of preservation are very bad, as at Waitaki, only the larger ones are preserved. Altogether, I have labelled about 250 bones; and of these I have taken measurements of approximately 200. The following list of these will give an idea of the relative abundance of the species:

This table gives thirteen species of moa found at Papatowai, a surprising result that is unprecedented in Otago and Southland. Von Haast recorded five species from Rakaia, four species from Moa-bone cave, and six species from Shag river. B. S. Booth recorded four species from the latter place. It is also the first time that bones of Dinorins maximus, the largest of all moas, have been recovered from middens. Although these large bones were found associated with other moa-bones, it would be - 33 rash to assume without further evidence, that moas of the species Dinornis maximus were eaten here, for the bones of moas long dead may have been brought in for manufacturing purposes. As bones of Dinornis ingens, the second largest species, have been found on all sites, it may now, I think, be regarded as certain that at least a few specimens of this species were still surviving when man came on the scene. The evidence from Papatowai suggests that thirteen out of the sixteen species of moa in the South Island were used for food by man. Waitaki shows seven species which closely agrees with the Rakaia and Shag river sites. Mr. R. Gilkison 3 records finding near Luggate, Central Otago, an oven with the bones of a moa of the largest size around it, but this oven had been used only for the one bird. In my opinion these bones belong to Dinornis maximus. They are being sent to Dr. Oliver for an authoritative judgment.

The thanks of the Otago Museum authorities are due to Dr. Oliver for undertaking this laborious but important work; to the members of the Papatowai Scenic Board for allowing excavation to be carried out; and to Mr. Leslie Lockerbie for his assistance. Finally I have to express my thanks to Miss L. A. Daff for preparing the drawings for the illustrations.

- 34

FIG. 1—Shank of composite fish-hook; moa-bone. Scale 1/1. Otago Museum, D. 37.161.

FIG. 2—Adze found in contact with moa-pelvis; greywacke. Scale 5/12. Otago Museum, D. 37.164.

FIG. 3—Unfinished pendant in form of killer whale tooth; whale bone. Scale 1/1. Otago Museum, D. 37.162.

FIG. 4—Unfinished pendant in form of killer whale tooth; whale bone. Scale 1/1. Otago Museum, D. 37.163.

- 35

FIG. 1

Illustration

- 36

FIG. 2

Illustration

- 37

FIG. 3

Illustration

FIG. 4

Illustration