Occupation

GOLDEN BAY

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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.

Occupation | NZ Historic Places Trust

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

5728

Date Entered

4th April 1984

Date of Effect

4th April 1984

City/District Council

Tasman District

Region

Tasman Region

Legal description

Sec 1A Sec 108 Takaka District (NZ Gazette 1994, p. 2589), Nelson Land District

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