Setting: Sited at the head of a spit separating the estuary of the Parapara River from the open sea (Cloudy Bay). Archaeological Features: An area of garden soils and shell middens. Supporting Evidence: An investigation by McFadgen and Challis in 1977 identified two areas of garden soils with numerous shell middens. One of the areas of garden soil and 8 of the shell middens were dated by stratigraphic association: comparing the strata with similar geological formations elsewhere in New Zealand. By this method two periods of occupation were deduced; the first in the time bracket 700-400 years before present and the second in the bracket 300-150 years before present. A change in the subsistence economy of the inhabitants of the site between the two phases of occupation was also deduced: garden soil associated with the earlier phase of occupation but not found in the later deposits, contrasted by shell midden associated with certainty only to the later phase. Assessment: The site was assessed by McFadgen & Challis as representing a rare example of an occupational sequence over a significant time span, in which there is evidence of a fundamental change in the subsistence economy. It is rare to find such a site in which there has been little previous disturbance and it is therefore of the utmost importance that it be protected for future research and improved understanding.
Location
List Entry Information
Overview
Detailed List Entry
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 2
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
5729
Date Entered
4th April 1984
Date of Effect
4th April 1984
City/District Council
Tasman District
Region
Tasman Region
Extent of List Entry
Extent includes part of the land described Sec 1A Sec 108 Takaka District (NZ Gazette 1994, p. 2589), Nelson Land District and the archaeological site M25/12 (refer to the map in the Archaeological Site Land Title Form for more information).
Legal description
Sec 1A Sec 108 Takaka District (NZ Gazette 1994, p. 2589), Nelson Land District