Setting: The site consists of a generally flat area of 2500 square metres lying between the Kinloch Road and the Dart River. Thickets of matagouri are scattered across the site, but it was formerly covered in beech forest.

Archaeological Features: The following features were visible in January 1981: two large raised-rim pits, another large pit associated with a low mount and several slight depressions; some four to seven areas of barely perceptible mound and depression features, and alignments of cobbles showing through the soil.

Supporting Evidence: Artefacts from the site, including worked nephrite, were presented to the Otago Museum in 1919. In 1967, D.R. Simmons carried out a survey of sites in the Upper Wakatipu area and undertook a small test excavation within the Dart Bridge site. He interpreted it as a greenstone workers’ village. Prompted by Simmons’ broad interpretation, and the recent loss of site material through river bank erosion, Anderson and Ritchie undertook a major excavation of the site in 1981. They concluded that it was a temporary Archaic phase settlement at which ti [cabbage tree] and moa cooking occurred, and where there was greenstone working on a modest scale as well as the manufacture of flake and blade implements of porcellanite and silcrete. Two areas of stone paving are associated with lithic scatters from tool production. Radiocarbon dates suggest two periods of occupation c AD 1200 and c AD 1500.

Assessment: The site is a valuable source of information on interior Archaic subsistence economy. It has a proven association with the exploitation of the nearby Routeburn nephrite source. The stone paving is a rare but significant archaic feature. The site is believed to have considerable further excavation potential. The site is visually interesting to the casual visitor because of the numerous pit features. It. is in a picturesque situation easily accessible (50 metres) from the Kinloch road