Setting: Sited at the head of a spit separating an expanse of lagoons from the open sea (Cloudy Bay). The head of the spit also forms a bank of the Wairau River Estuary. Archaeological Features: An extensive (over 15 acres) Moa -hunter site, containing a large number of human burials, artefacts, remains of slaughtered moas and other wild fowl, cooking and living areas; providing a considerable quantity of data on the site's former inhabitants. Supporting Evidence: The site of the Wairau Bar Moa-hunter camp is the largest (over 15 acres) surviving example of its type known and has already revealed a considerable mass of evidence relating to occupation and burial on the site. Grave goods associated with inhumations and the pattern of occupational evidence so far revealed have lead to a considerable advance in the understanding of New Zealand’s early prehistory but have also posed a number of fundamental research questions that could probably be answered by further investigation of the site. The date of occupation (Duff 1977, p. 354) are indicated by the following results: 1956 Results Y204 charcoal: between 935 years (+/- 110 years) before present. NZ250 duplicate of Y204: 850 years (+/- 50 years) before present. 1974 Results NZ1838 moa bone: 590 years (+/- 60 years) before present. NZ1837 shell: 680 years (+/- 50 years) before present. NZl835 human bone (burial 42): 780 years (+/- 90 years) before present. Assessment The size of the site, together with its range and abundance of scientific data and excellent conditions for their preservation are an extremely rare combination for a site of this antiquity anywhere in New Zealand. It has already provided the key to a new understanding of the changing lifestyles (Mon-hunter to classic Maori) of the country's early inhabitants and, because of the limited nature of previous excavations and the unusual range of previously recovered artefacts, is considered still to hold much, possibly unique, evidence of this early period.
Location
List Entry Information
Overview
Detailed List Entry
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 2
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
5979
Date Entered
5th May 1983
Date of Effect
5th May 1983
City/District Council
Marlborough District
Region
Marlborough Region
Legal description
Pt Marlborough Board endowment, Blk I, Clifford Bay SD