Kohika: The Archaeology of a Late Maori Lake Village

Kohika

Ko whakapaukorero te maunga Ko Tarawera te awa Ko Ngati Awa te iwi Ko Mataatua te waka Ko Te Kohika te pa Ko Tupai, Ko Tutarakauika, Ko Te Rangihiiria, Ko Tuara nga taniwha Ko Matataketake me Tiki nga mauri kohatu Ko Te Awa o Te Atua te kotore Ko Otamaroroa te papa whenua Ko Tamarau te kaitiaki wairua Ko Te Kaokaoroa te akua Ko Waimea, Ko Waitepuru, Ko Awatarariki, Ko Awaitipaku, Ko Awaiti, Ko Omehue, Ko Awakaponga, Ko Te Waikamihi, Ko Mangaone nga awa Ko Te Otaramuturangi, Ko Tiepataua, Ko Te Awakaponga, Ko Te Ahikokoai, Ko Awatarerehika, Ko Te Umuhika nga urupa. Ngati Awa pepeha

Whakapaukorero is the mountain Tarawera is the river Ngati Awa is the tribe Mataatua is the canoe Te Kohika is the pa Tupai, Tutarakauika, Te Rangihiiria, and Tuara are the guardians Matataketake and Tiki are the talismans Te Awa o Te Atua is the estuary Otamaroroa is the locality Tamarau is the spirit guide Te Kaokaoroa is the coastline Waimea, Waitepuru, Awatarariki, Awaitipaku, Awaiti, Omehue, Awakaponga, Te Waikamihi and Mangaone are the streams Te Otaramuturangi, Tiepataua, Te Awakaponga, Te Ahikokoai, Awatarerehika and Te Umuhika are the cemeteries. Ngati Awa proverbial saying

Kohika The archaeology of a late Maori lake village in the Ngati Awa rohe, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Edited by Geoffrey Irwin

Auckland University Press

First published 2004 Auckland University Press University of Auckland Private Bag 92019 Auckland, New Zealand www.auckland.ac.nz/aup © the authors 2004 ISBN 1 86940 315 0 This book is Memoir 9 of the Whakatane and District Historical Society, which has provided assistance with its publication.

National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Kohika : the archaeology of a late Ma¯ori lake village in the Nga¯ti Awa rohe, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand / edited by Geoffrey Irwin. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-86940-315-0 1. Ngati Awa (New Zealand people)—Antiquities. 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—New Zealand—Kohika (Rangitaiki Plains) 3. Kohika Site (N.Z.) I. Irwin, Geoffrey. 993.4201—dc 22

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the prior permission of the publisher. Designed and typeset by Amy Tansell Printed by Printlink Ltd, Wellington

Contents

List of tables

vi

List of figures

vii

List of plates

ix

Acknowledgements 1. An introduction to Kohika in historical and archaeological context G.J. Irwin, R.G. Law, I. Lawlor and P. Ngaropo 2. Kohika in the geomorphological context of the Rangitaiki Plains G.J. Irwin

xiii 1 11

3. The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 20 M.S. McGlone and K.L. Jones 4. Excavations and site history at Kohika G.J. Irwin

45

5. Site chronology G.J. Irwin and M.D. Jones

76

6. The wooden artefacts from Kohika R.T. Wallace and G.J. Irwin

83

7. Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika R.T. Wallace, G.J. Irwin and R. Neich

122

8. Kohika fibrework S. McAra

149

9. Artefacts of bone, tooth, pumice and pounamu G.J. Irwin

160

10. Sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts P.R. Moore

168

11. The Kohika obsidian artefacts: technology and distribution S.J. Holdaway

177

12. Faunal remains from Kohika G.J. Irwin, R.K. Nichol, M.A. Taylor, T.H. Worthy and I.W.G. Smith

198

13. Evidence for diet, parasites, pollen, phytoliths, diatoms and starch grains in prehistoric coprolites from Kohika 217 G.J. Irwin, M. Horrocks, L.J. Williams, H.J. Hall, M.S. McGlone and S.L. Nichol 14. Kohika as a late northern Maori lake village G.J. Irwin

239

Appendix Inventory of wooden and fibre items R.T. Wallace and G.J. Irwin

249

Index

260

List of tables Table 1.1 Table 3.1 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Table 7.1 Table 8.1 Table 8.2 Table 8.3 Table 8.4 Table 8.5 Table 8.6 Table 8.7 Table 8.8 Table 8.9 Table 9.1 Table 10.1 Table 10.2 Table 11.1 Table 11.2 Table 11.3 Table 11.4 Table 11.5 Table 11.6 Table 11.7 Table 11.8 Table 11.9 Table 11.10 Table 11.11 Table 11.12 Table 11.13 Table 11.14 Table 11.15 Table 11.16 Table 11.17 Table 11.18 Table 12.1 Table 12.2 vi

Frequency of sites by type in the Rangitaiki Plains and surrounding area Radiocarbon dates, Kohika pollen site (Square D17) Chronometric data used in the current analysis Summary posterior distributions for Phase 2 start, Phase 2 end and Phase 2 duration Characteristics of the bird spear fragments Comb dimensions (mm) Estimated dimensions of excavated houses and pataka Single spiral-wrapped bundles of harakeke (1SWB) Two-ply spiral-wrapped bundles of harakeke (2PSW) Three-ply cordage Three-ply braid variants Plaited twill with narrow strips Plaited check with broad strips Netting and component parts Other pieces: fragments whose technique is unclear Contents of boxes (KOH number and technique) Artefacts from Kohika Size, roundness and sphericity of Kohika obsidian pebbles XRF analyses of obsidian samples from Kohika and Maketu Complete flake mean dimensions (and standard deviation) by exterior scar direction for all areas in the university excavation, Mayor Island obsidian Maximum dimension of cores by scar pattern for all areas in the university excavation, Mayor Island obsidian Maximum dimension for proximal, medial and distal fragments by exterior scar pattern, Mayor Island obsidian Complete flake mean dimensions (and standard deviation) from the Historical Society assemblage by exterior scar pattern, Mayor Island obsidian Mean dimensions for complete platform rejuvenation flakes from all areas in the university excavation, Mayor Island obsidian Mean dimensions for complete flakes of length greater than 23 mm, by exterior scar direction from all areas in the university excavation, Mayor Island obsidian Mean dimensions (and standard deviations) of complete tools compared with complete flakes for all areas in the university excavations, Mayor Island obsidian Mean dimensions (and standard deviation) for pieces with macroscopic edge modification by type for all areas excavated by the university, Mayor Island obsidian Mean dimensions (and standard deviation) for complete tools from the Historical Society assemblage by edge modification type, Mayor Island obsidian Frequency of edge-modified pieces, flakes and cores by area, Mayor Island obsidian Mean length (and standard deviation) of complete flakes with length > 23 mm by exterior scar morphology and area, Mayor Island obsidian Frequency of complete and fragmented flakes of length > 23 mm by area, Mayor Island obsidian Number and weight of flakes and flake fragments of maximum dimension less than 10 mm by area, Mayor Island obsidian Complete flakes with length > 23 mm from the university excavations compared with those excavated by the Whakatane Historical Society, Mayor Island obsidian Frequency of complete and fragmented tools by type of edge modification and area Length of notched area of edge modification for all notched tools by region Maketu and Taupo obsidian technological types Proportion of cortex on flakes and edge-modified pieces from all areas, Mayor Island obsidian Minimum number of individual mammals Human bone by excavation area

Table 12.3 Table 12.4 Table 12.5 Table 12.6 Table 12.7 Table 12.8 Table 12.9 Table 12.10 Table 12.11 Table 12.12 Table 12.13 Table 13.1 Table 13.2 Table 13.3 Table 13.4 Table 13.5 Table 13.6 Table 13.7

Dog body parts by excavation area Taphonomic variables for identified dog bone by excavated area Estimated ages of dogs at death Avian taxa represented among identifiable elements in the Kohika assemblage with data from all squares and layers amalgamated Frequencies of fish species, by area Fish species frequencies by layer, Area D Bone class frequencies for jack mackerel, Area D Shellfish from Kohika Shell samples from the White House, Area D Shell samples from the Yellow House, Area D Shell samples from the Bright Yellow floor, Area D Samples included in coprolite analyses Physical attributes of coprolites analysed Components of coprolites, weights and percentages Incidence of fish body parts in Kohika coprolites Seeds from Kohika coprolites Percentages of inorganic material Variation in coprolite no.19

List of figures Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 2.3 Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3a Figure 3.3b Figure 3.3c Figure 3.3d Figure 3.4a Figure 3.4b Figure 3.5 Figure 3.6a Figure 3.6b Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 4.5 Figure 4.6 Figure 4.7 Figure 4.8 Figure 4.9 Figure 4.10 Figure 4.11 Figure 4.12 Figure 4.13 Figure 4.14

The former river courses of the Rangitaiki Plains and communication routes recorded in early maps (Gibbons 1990, Hunia 1977) Archaeological sites recorded in the area of the Rangitaiki Plains The geomorphology of the Rangitaiki Plains Former shorelines and river courses on the Rangitaiki Plains Soils of the Rangitaiki Plains in the vicinity of Kohika (after Pullar 1985) The Bay of Plenty lowlands with pollen sites underlined Pollen site stratigraphy: Kohika pollen site (excavation Square D17), Tunapahore archaeological site complex and Thornton-Atkinson archaeological site Kohika, percentage pollen diagram Kohika, percentage pollen diagram Kohika, percentage pollen diagram Kohika, percentage pollen diagram Thornton-Atkinson complex, percentage pollen diagram Thornton-Atkinson complex, percentage pollen diagram Tunapahore A, percentage pollen diagram Tunapahore B, percentage pollen diagram Tunapahore B, percentage pollen diagram A contour map of Kohika showing the location of the excavations Some representative section drawings from Area A A plan of the excavated features in Area A Square B1, north section Square B1, south section Square B1, plan of features at the base of the excavation Square B3, east section Square B4, west section Square C1, south section Square C1, west section Square C7, south section Square C10, north section Area D, the layout of excavation units Squares D1 and D2, all sections vii

Figure 4.15 Figure 4.16 Figure 4.17 Figure 4.18 Figure 4.19 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3 Figure 5.4 Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2 Figure 6.3 Figure 6.4 Figure 6.5 Figure 6.6 Figure 6.7 Figure 6.8 Figure 6.9 Figure 6.10 Figure 6.11 Figure 6.12 Figure 6.13 Figure 6.14 Figure 6.15 Figure 6.16 Figure 6.17 Figure 6.18 Figure 6.19 Figure 6.20 Figure 6.21 Figure 6.22 Figure 6.23 Figure 6.24 Figure 6.25 Figure 6.26 Figure 7.1 Figure 7.2 Figure 7.3 Figure 7.4 Figure 7.5 Figure 7.6 Figure 7.7 Figure 7.8 Figure 7.9 Figure 7.10 Figure 7.11 Figure 7.12 Figure 7.13 Figure 7.14 Figure 7.15 Figure 8.1a Figure 8.1b Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2 viii

Area D, the White House horizon Area D, the Yellow House horizon (stakeholes less than 10 cm deep are not shown) Area D, the Bright Yellow horizon Area D, Squares D12–15, trench Historical Society investigations (with some of their notes) Summary of the calibrated distributions for the chronometric data given in Table 5.1 Posterior distribution for Phase 2, start Phase 2, end Phase 2, duration Bird spear point made from tree-fern trunk Twelve digging sticks and one ko footrest A weeder blade, a one-piece spade, and four handles of composite digging tools Seven complete detachable digging-tool blades, one rough-out and one fragment Part of a carving on a ceremonial ko Seven broken shafts with terminal knobs, possibly handles from composite tools Fifteen beaters and beater fragments Four bowls and bowl fragments A steering paddle rough-out Canoe paddle and paddle fragments Canoe hull pieces Three canoe seats, one bulkhead and eight other fittings Canoe bailers Six heru or hair combs Six darts or javelins Seven potaka or spinning tops An adze handle rough-out A chisel handle and a chisel socket A section of a putorino (flute) Two net gauges Two thread reels Fibre-, net- and rope-working tools Ladder Wood-splitting wedges Pegs Items of unidentified function A reconstruction of the carved house from the Historical Society (HS) Area A reconstruction of the pole and thatch house from the Yellow House floor, Area D A reconstruction of the pataka from Area D Types of lashing holes on house planks Poupou and other vertical house elements from the HS Area Door or window parts from the HS Area Tumatahuki battens from the HS Area Possible fragments of pataka from the HS Area Dressed slabs split from pukatea tree trunks, HS Area and Area B Timbers recovered from Area D The three rafters from Area D Detail of rafter tenon joints Parameters used to estimate the width of a building in Area D, based on rafter dimensions Two parts of pataka from Area D, plus two indeterminate items (KOH30 and 31) Detail of the internal and external framing of a superior house KOH298. Drawing of two-ply spiral-wrapped bunches of harakeke (2PSW) Diagram of technique for making 2PSW Bone hei tiki pendant, tooth pendant, bone toggle Pounamu adze

Figure 9.3 Pumice kumara god Figure 10.1 Dimensions of obsidian pebbles from Kohika, Maketu and Otamarakau Figure 10.2 Rb-Sr plots for analysed obsidian artefacts from Kohika (solid symbols) and source samples from Maketu and Taupo Figure 10.3 Zr-Rb plots for analysed obsidian artefacts from Kohika (solid symbols) and source samples from Maketu and Taupo Figure 10.4 Relative proportions of ‘grey pebble-type’ and ‘other grey’ obsidian from Kohika Figure 11.1 Terms used to describe flake fragments. Proximal flakes include a platform, distal flakes have a termination, and medial flakes lack a platform or a termination Figure 11.2 Flakes with different exterior scar patterns. The identification numbers are given in brackets: a (1703), b (1637), uni-directional; c (1907), d (1735), bi-directional; e (1893), sub-radial; f (1688), radial Figure 11.3 Quadrants for assessing scar orientation. The flake is orientated with the platform at quadrant 1 (the figure is based on artefact 161) Figure 11.4 Typology for edge modification: a (2617), b (2163), bifacial; c (2128), heavy; d (1145), e (1687), f (2175), g (1850), light; h (2490), i and j (1822), k (1635), notch Figure 11.5 Dimensions of a complete flake Figure 11.6 Core shapes: a (1525), pebble; b (1747), c (2248), multiple platform; d (2875), e (3179), flake; f (2878), radial Figure 11.7 Platform preparation flakes and flakes with two interior surfaces: a (2882), b (2491), c (1589), d (1752) and e (1588) Figure 11.8 Large flakes from Historical Society: a (94), b (96), c (150), d (161), e (98) and f (158) Figure 12.1 Size frequency distributions of snapper, kahawai and jack mackerel, Area D Figure 12.2 Size frequency distributions of jack mackerel by layer, Area D Figure 12.3 Size frequency distributions of pipi and tuatua, Area D Figure 13.1 Components of Kohika coprolite samples, percentages by weight Figure 13.2 Percentage pollen diagram for Kohika coprolite samples Figure 13.3 Percentage phytolith diagram for Kohika coprolite samples Figure 13.4 Percentage diatom diagram for Kohika coprolite samples Figure 14.1 A schematic view northwards over Area D across the lake to the dunes and the sea. In the left foreground is a reconstruction of Area D during the Yellow House horizon. The houses, canoes, nets and racks on the right represent the artefacts and building timbers found in the Historical Society Area. The palisade follows the topography around the lake. The lakeshore vegetation of raupo, flax and cabbage trees with patches of kahikatea and kanuka scrub is based on the pollen record. The roofed pit and two small covered bins in the bottom right were actually found in Area A.

List of plates Plate 1.1 Plate 1.2

Plate 1.3

Plate 1.4

In 1975, Kohika was an inconspicuous, low-lying grassed mound in an area of agricultural swamp drainage. A whakanoa ceremony was conducted by Jack Fox, Romana Kingi, Mike Mason, Harry Reneti and Albert Te Rere, of the Ratana, Anglican, Catholic, Ringatu and Presbyterian churches respectively. The kaumatua placed the site and the artefacts into the interim care of the University of Auckland. After the discovery of artefacts, the first investigations were undertaken by members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society. In this 1976 photograph are (from left) Dave White, Ken Moore and the late Anton van der Wouden. The spoil in the background was removed from the drain by a digging machine. The University of Auckland excavations of Area D during the season of January, 1976. ix

Plate 2.1

Plate 2.2

Plate 4.1 Plate 4.2 Plate 4.3 Plate 4.4 Plate 4.5 Plate 4.6 Plate 4.7 Plate 4.8 Plate 4.9 Plate 4.10 Plate 4.11 Plate 4.12 Plate 4.13 Plate 4.14 Plate 4.15

Plate 4.16 Plate 4.17 Plate 4.18 Plate 4.19 Plate 4.20 Plate 4.21 Plate 4.22 Plate 4.23 Plate 4.24 x

The new mouth of the Tarawera River. The former course of the Rangitaiki River is at the left of the entrance and the former Te Awa o te Atua estuary, which carried the combined waters of the two rivers, lay to the right of the entrance and flowed west to Matata. The current road bridge is on the Kaharoa shoreline, and a short distance upstream is the junction of the Tarawera and the Awaiti Stream. Canal 109 runs inland from the Awaiti past the remains of Lake Kohika. Looking seawards, a canal and stopbank now separate Lake Kohika from the archaeological lake village, which formerly lay on its southwestern shore. The site itself is located on a remnant of sand-dune that dates from the coastline of 2000 years ago. The archaeological excavation can be seen at the end of the farmer’s cattle-race. Kohika in January 1976. Work is in progress in Areas A, B and D. The spoil heaps are of different colour, which results from their varied composition. Excavations in Square A1 Extension. Part of a small bin surrounded by surface stakeholes in Square A3. A cross-section of a bin structure in Square A3 dug into the former sand-dune. An oval-ended pit in Square A1 Ext. interrupted by a later rectangular pit lying at right angles to it. A charcoal sample for C14 dating was taken from underneath the large pumice boulder found in the pit fill. Square B1 during excavation. Square B1 near the base of the excavation showing in situ posts. The drain section in Area B shows a flood deposit of reworked tephra alluvium outside the site, where a later meander channel, visible in Square B3, has cut into its surface. Wooden items from the peat below the flood deposit in Square B3 are triple-bagged in plastic. A degraded pukatea board in the upper peat of Square B4. The pukatea board in Square B4 consolidated prior to removal. The defended edge of the site was sharply defined in Square B4. Palisade posts were exposed in the side of the agricultural drain visible in the background and Square B3 lies on the other side of it. The edge of the site reveals the effect of the flood in Square B4. Fine silt lies around the palisade posts, reworked Kaharoa alluvium lies outside the site, and the two are separated by the wave-lapped shore. Square B4, west section, showing a palisade post, pre-flood deposits that built up during occupation, the flood alluvium of sand and silt, and post-flood sediments that are culturally sterile. Squares C1 and C12 reveal a deposit of alluvium. Above this, a late meander channel in the Upper Peat can be seen in the baulk, while below the alluvium is the culture-bearing Lower Peat. This photograph shows the pump being primed in 1975 at the start of a day’s work. Square C10 contained a complex succession of fire-pits and hangi with occupational debris and fills composed of material quarried elsewhere. Excavating a swamp in wet weather can have its difficulties. Area D. The site perimeter in Area D. Inside the line of posts were artificial house floors; outside many associated waterlogged artefacts were found preserved in peat. Square D2, with superimposed house floors visible in the south section. Square D2. A line of standing posts, with horizontal light wooden battens flexed and pegged between them, marks the edge of an artificial floor of silt, packed with water-rolled greywacke pebbles. Square D1, south section. Also showing a test excavation of the lacustrine silt, the Kaharoa Tephra and sedge peat below. Square D5, the White House floor. Square D4, firescoops in the White House horizon. Area D, exposing the extent of the Yellow House horizon, January 1976.

Plate 4.25 Plate 4.26

Area D, some details of the excavation of the Yellow House floor. Area D, Square DD during excavation of the Yellow House horizon. Intruding into the square is the corner of Square D2, dug previously, while the baulks are composed of backfilled spoil. Plate 4.27 Square DD, laid bracken-fern stems below an artificial house floor. Plate 4.28 Square D2, canoe bow in peat. Plate 4.29 Square D2, gourd shell. Plate 4.30 Square D2, adzed log and length of rope. Plate 4.31 Square D7, whale vertebra, wooden spear and coil of vine. Plate 4.32 Square D13, north section. Plate 4.33 Square D14, log at base of excavation. Plate 6.1 Thirteen sections of bird spear and one spear point. Plate 6.2 Two coils of rata vine. Plate 7.1 KOH14. Poupou base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.2 KOH16. Poupou base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.3 KOH17. Poupou base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.4 KOH18. Poupou base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.5 KOH44. Poutahuhu base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.6 KOH53. Pare fragment, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.7 KOH1. Part of carving, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.8 KOH3. Fragment of carving, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.9 KOH345. Fragment of spiral from carving, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.10 KOH7. Poutokomanawa figure, Historical Society Area, and modern replica carved by Paki Harrison, Dante Bonica and Wiremu Puke. Plate 7.11 KOH2. Fragment of elaborate carving, Area D. Plate 7.12 KOH6. Fragment of elaborate carving, Area D. Plate 7.13 KOH4. Fragment of elaborate carving, Area D. Plate 7.14 KOH174. Carved handle of bailer, Area D. Plate 8.1a KOH298.5. Fragment of single spiral-wrapped bunches of harakeke (1SWB) resembling a handle. Plate 8.1b KOH300.3. Fragment of 1SWB resembling one half of a pair of two-ply spiralwrapped bunches (2PSW) of harakeke. Plate 8.1c KOH298.1. Short fragment of two-ply spiral-wrapped bundles of harakeke (2PSW). Plate 8.2 KOH303.8–11. Short braided fragments, showing two straight examples (KOH303.8 and 9) and an X and a Y braid (KOH303.10 and 11). Plate 8.3 KOH304.1. Fine twill close-up, showing condition of fibres. Plate 8.4 KOH305.1. A larger piece of fine twill, showing the curvature in the plaiting. Plate 8.5 KOH303.4. Broad checked plaiting, showing one folded-back strip (at lower part of image). Plate 8.6a KOH297. A Grommet with netting still attached. Plate 8.6b KOH297. Small fragment of mesh. Plate 9.1a Greenstone kuru pendant. Plate 9.1b Greenstone chisel pendant. Plate 9.2 Bone tiki pendant (human). Plate 9.3a–c One-piece bone fishhooks (human). Plate 9.4a Bone fishhook blank (human). Plate 9.4b Fishhook point (dog tooth). Plate 9.5a Bone needle (bird). Plate 9.5b Bone needle (dog). Plate 9.5c Bone awl (bird). Plate 9.6a Bone awl (seal). Plate 9.6b Bone chisel (dog). Plate 9.7 Pounamu adze. Plate 9.8a Pounamu chisel. Plate 9.8b Pounamu adze flake. xi

Plate 9.9a Plate 9.9b Plate 12.1 Plate 12.2 Plate 12.3 Plate 12.4 Plate 12.5 Plate 12.6 Plate 13.1 Plate 13.2 Plate 13.3 Plate 13.4 Plate 13.5 Plate 13.6

xii

Sandstone file. Pumice pigment bowl. A sawn section of human cranium. Knife-cut marks on a human femur. Dog cranium with crushed parietal. Dog cranium with cut marks on nasal bone. Dog mandible with ventral margin removed. Dog-tooth marks on snapper bones and barracouta jaw. Examples of coprolites from Kohika. Fishbone extracted from coprolite no.24. Charcoal extracted from coprolite no.19. Egg of Toxocara canis. Egg of Toxocara canis, showing characteristic pitting of the shell. Egg of Capillaria hepatica.

Acknowledgements

For over 30 years this project has accumulated a huge debt to many individuals, some of whom have now passed on, and to many institutions. The whakanoa ceremony at the site was conducted by Jack Fox, Romana Kingi, Mike Mason, Harry Reneti and Albert Te Rere. Professor Hirini Mead, Pouroto Ngaropo and Ngahuia Rawson of Te Runanga o Ngati Awa provided guidance for the return of the Kohika artefacts and for their future. Members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society who first worked at Kohika and then gave generous support to the University of Auckland team included Tiena Jordan, Jack Moller, Ken Moore, Dave White, Errol Westgate and Anton van der Wouden, who was also director of the Whakatane District Museum and Gallery. A later director, Warner Haldane, helped arrange the return of the artefacts to Whakatane. At Kohika, the farmer, Phil Jessop, and the sharemilkers, Les and Graeme Brownlee, could not have been more obliging. Neighbouring farmers, especially Tony Pansier, helped to house the excavators and made gifts of food. The Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Company provided us with showers and evening meals during one winter season. Institutional support and funding was provided by the Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, the University of Auckland Research Committee, the Lotteries Board of the Department of Internal Affairs, and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. All of the scholars who contributed to the analysis of archaeological material are named in the list of contents of the book. Technical staff at the university made a magnificent contribution over the years: they include Karel Peters, Rod Wallace and Dilys Johns for conservation; Joan Lawrence, Caroline Phillips and Seline McNamee for illustrations; and Tim Mackrell and Hamish MacDonald for photography. A number of anthropology students carried out preliminary study for research essays and theses, as described in the book. Those friends, colleagues and students who took part in the excavations at Kohika include Harry Allen, Nola Arthur, Barry Baquie, Gary Barnett, Mark Bellingham, Simon Best, Steve Black, Joanna Boileau, Dorothy Brown, Ken Burnett, Linda Burnett, Richard Cassels, Helen Charters, John Coster, Mark de Courcy, Marlene Deans, Sandra Dreifus, Clare Fawsett, Anne Geelen, Roger Green, Don Hanson, Terry Hunt, Joan Hunter, Jill Irwin, Gabrielle Johnston, Garry Law, Ian Lawlor, Jennifer Leighton, Steve Mangan, Bernadine Naus, Tia Negerevich, Mary Newman, Reg Nichol, Peter Pearce, Karel Peters, Caroline Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Pamela Raspe, Pamela Russell, Peter Russell, Bill Shaw, David Stowe, Jan Stowe, Julie Stretton, Doug Sutton, Makiuti Tongia, Alan Walmsley, Graeme Ward, Tony Walton and Lynnette Williams. Apologies to anyone who has been overlooked. The quality of this book has been greatly improved by Janet Davidson, who carefully xiii

read and commented on earlier drafts, and Andrew Mason who edited the text. I am grateful to Elizabeth Caffin and the staff of Auckland University Press including Annie Irving, Katrina Duncan and Amy Tansell. Diane Lowther compiled the index. The project would not have been possible without the support of the Irwin family. Jill made sure the excavation was fed, Sarah and Kate kept watch on the spoil heaps to see that nothing of value was carelessly thrown away, and Tom took his first steps at Kohika. Geoffrey Irwin

xiv

1

An introduction to Kohika in historical and archaeological context G.J. Irwin, R.G. Law, I. Lawlor and P. Ngaropo

Archaeological sites in wetlands are unusually rich because they can preserve organic materials that rarely survive elsewhere. These include all kinds of wooden artefacts, fabrics, food remains, and microfossils that indicate former environments. In their published Rhind Lectures for 1995, J. and B. Coles wrote (1996:133): ‘. . . the wetlands of the world have continued to yield new and often surprising information about the past . . . wetlands have continued to produce archaeological evidence unobtainable from any other environment save the most extreme.’ However, such sites are increasingly rare as wetlands are drained. For Polynesia, Kirch and Green (2001:199–200) estimate that about 20 per cent of material objects were archaeologically durable and the remaining 80 per cent perishable, except in unusual circumstances. This is based on ethnographic inventories of material culture and lexical reconstructions of the names for artefacts. These circumstances apply generally to New Zealand. However, while wet sites offer huge opportunities for research, considerable analytical sophistication and resources are needed to investigate and preserve them. It is in such a context that this 30-year archaeological wetland study reaches publication. At some time around AD 1700, a Maori lake village called Kohika in the Bay of Plenty was abandoned after a flood and fortuitously preserved in peat swamp, together with its contents. It was rediscovered during agricultural drainage in 1974. The site was excavated during the late 1970s and produced a rare and comprehensive inventory of waterlogged remains that are in close association with one another and, as such, represent a technological, economic and cultural entity. The site is of fairly short duration and provides an archaeological snapshot of Maori material culture and the way of life that had developed in the North Island prior to the arrival and influence of Europeans. Although there have been previous excavations of wetland sites in New Zealand, none has produced as much rich and varied material as Kohika and had the benefit of such a range of modern specialist analysis. Kohika is located in the west of the Rangitaiki Plains in what was formerly a great swamp. It is just a few hundred metres east of the Tarawera River and two kilometres inland from the sea. It takes its name from the adjoining Lake Kohika, which lies in the fork of the Tarawera River and Awaiti Stream (Fig. 1.1). A little further downstream the Rangitaiki River formerly joined the Tarawera to form Te Awa o Te Atua, a river estuary that ran three kilometres further westwards behind the coastal dunes to flow into the sea near the present settlement of Matata. The site had good access to the resources of swamp, floodplain and coast. It was strategically located for coastal communication by canoe, and also by river and track to the interior of the North Island; there is evidence for travel and trade in both directions. Kohika was a palisaded village on a small island in the swamp beside the lake, 1

2

Figure 1.1 The former river courses of the Rangitaiki Plains and communication routes recorded in early maps (Gibbons 1990, Hunia 1977)

Kohika

which was larger then than now. Preserved in the swamp are organic remains that give detailed information about former environments and diet. The site has archaeological evidence for a broad range of domestic and social activities. There were houses of varied construction, including the remains of what is currently the oldest-known carved house in New Zealand. There were raised pataka storehouses that have long been elusive in prehistory, plus cooking shelters and semi-subterranean storage pits and bins. In addition to the remarkable inventory of wooden artefacts, there are fibre plaiting, cordage and netting, a large assemblage of flaked obsidian and some miscellaneous artefacts of other materials. The remains reveal many aspects of life, including housing, canoe transport, food production, craft activities, defence and outside communication. There is evidence for music, play, personal status, art and religion. This book contains contributions from 20 scholars, and the various chapters deal with geomorphology, vegetation history, excavation, chronology, wooden artefacts, houses and pataka, fibre work, artefacts of bone, pumice and pounamu, obsidian sourcing, obsidian flake technology, faunal remains and coprolite analysis, followed by a general review of the evidence. The rest of this chapter includes a brief account of

An introduction to Kohika in historical and archaeological context 3

traditional and historical records of Kohika, and a review of archaeological site distribution in this part of the Bay of Plenty. It concludes with a brief history of the archaeological project since 1975, and negotiations that vested ownership of the artefacts with Ngati Awa.

Kohika in history and tradition

According to Ngati Awa oral tradition, a man called Waitahaarikikore, who was descended from Toi and his wife Te Kuraimonoa, lived on Rarotonga. He built a canoe using the maihi (barge-boards) from his meeting house and called the waka Te Paepae ki Rarotonga, which he sailed via the Kermadecs to the Bay of Plenty. He lived for a time near the mouth of the Tarawera River at a place now called Te Otaramuturangi. Before moving on, he buried the canoe there and, looking southwards across the swamplands, said: ‘Te ko hika tera’. ‘Over there is the place I shall light my fires’. By lighting his fires, Waitahaarikikore claimed mana whenua over the place now called Kohika (Anon. 2000:2). More recently, the wider Rangitaiki floodplain was the land of Ngati Awa and sections of Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa. While the area is generally recognised as being Ngati Awa, the other tribes have ‘historical and land affiliations to the area . . .’ (Hunia 1977:x). The location of Kohika, near Matata, is now in the rohe of Ngati Awa but its traditional history is complex (Best 1925:690, Grace 1959:90–1, Gudgeon 1970:8, Lawlor 1979:17–22). The tribal history has fluid relationships and the missionary T.S. Grace refers in his diaries to connections between Maori he met in the Rangitaiki Swamp and Lake Taupo (Grace 1928:132, Grace MS 1850–73, Feb. 1867). The three rivers crossing the plain, the Rangitaiki, Tarawera and Whakatane, plus foot trails, provided access to Rotorua and the central North Island. Europeans came late to the Rangitaiki Plains and included traders, missionaries and soldiers (Lawlor 1979:22–8, see also London 1960). One description of conditions and communications in the swamp is by Cowan (1923:96): This Rangitaiki Swamp . . . was then accessible only by the tracks along the seaward sandhills, or by canoe along the Tarawera River, the Awaiti-Paku, and the Orini River (connecting the Awa-a-te-Atua with Whakatane Harbour) and by the labyrinth of reed-fringed waterways, navigable in small canoes, winding among the islets that rose above the water a few feet and made camping-grounds for eelfishers and wild fowl hunters. Cowan speaks of palisaded ‘island-like forts in the great swamp’ during the military operations of the 1860s (Cowan 1923:96). Two historic pa close to Kohika were Oheu and Te Matapihi, on the west bank of the Tarawera, the latter being where the Rev. T.S. Grace built a storehouse and landing-stage to service his inland mission to Taupo. The village of Matata was sketched in 1865 by H.G. Robley (MS 1858–87:14, MS 1898–1922). It was then on the east bank of the Tarawera at its junction with the Rangitaiki River (Fig. 1.1) but shifted to its present location after the land confiscations. Kohika was a prehistoric forerunner to these musket pa, not simply as a fort but as a site of substantial settlement. We have found only two specific references to Kohika. One is in a note at the end of Cowan’s chapter on military operations at Matata, where he quotes Mr F. Burt, who for many years farmed the Matapihi Block at Matata: ‘The natives tell me when they were spearing eels near the Kohika Lake they came across the remains of an old

4

Figure 1.2 Archaeological sites recorded in the area of the Rangitaiki Plains

Kohika

pa, so there was evidently one between Oheu and the Kohika’ (Cowan 1923:105). In addition, the record of a misadventure in the swamp by the Rev. T.S. Grace around 1860 indicates that Lake Kohika could be reached from the main streams (Grace 1928:133). The experience of the first Europeans to settle in the Rangitaiki Swamp gives a useful insight into the conditions in prehistoric times. Government survey for settlement began in 1890 and allotments were taken up. Then, in 1892, a flood filled the swamp with water and it looked like an inland lake behind the coastal sandhills for several years, and many settlers abandoned the area (Gibbons 1990:vii, 10–11). The first drainage board was formed in 1894, the Rangitaiki was diverted to its new mouth in 1914 and the Tarawera in 1924 (Pullar 1985:8). Once drained, the Rangitaiki Plains became highly suited to dairy farming.

Archaeological site distribution in the area of the Rangitaiki Plains

The Bay of Plenty enjoys a warm, moist climate and fertile soils ideal for horticulture. Together with its fisheries and forests, it offered ideal conditions for Maori settlement.

An introduction to Kohika in historical and archaeological context 5

Table 1.1

Frequency of sites by type in the Rangitaiki Plains and surrounding area

Site type Pa Terrace sites Pit sites Rua Middens Spot finds Ovens Cultivated soil Other Total

Number in area 288 410 120 1 175 4 6 6 38 1048

Notes: • Pa are sites with that site description. • Terrace sites are those with terraces in their description that are not pa. They may also be sites with middens, pits, etc. • Pit sites are those with pits in their description, but not pa or terraces. They may also be sites with middens, etc. • Rua are sites with cave pits in their description, but not the above. • Middens do not include any of the categories above. • Other sites are those coded as Maori. An unusual site is a large grinding stone at Matata (Fulton 1921).

The following account provides an archaeological context for discussing the location of Kohika. Recording of Maori archaeological sites in the area began in the 1960s and was carried on for the next two decades principally by Kawerau resident Ken Moore. Surveying in the Whakatane and Waimana river areas was done by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in the early 1980s. Other contributions have come from forestry surveys and research and heritage management work at Ohiwa, Moutohora and Kawerau (Hayward et al. 1987, Jones 1983, 1984, 1986, 1991, Lawlor 1983a, 1983b, Moore 1973, 1974, 1980a, 1980b, Phillips 1996). Figure 1.2 plots the recorded Maori sites in the area in the New Zealand Archaeological Association Site Recording Scheme, as at February 2002. For this plot the sites were extracted in a hierarchical manner from the Computerised Index of New Zealand Archaeological Sites (CINZAS), using the site description field. The site type in this field is not necessarily the same as on the site record form but represents a more consistent approach to setting a site type than is often found on the form. The number of sites in Figure 1.2 is shown in Table 1.1 using the same system for classification. The site distribution in Figure 1.2 shows the broad patterns of Maori settlement. Pa are concentrated on higher ground along the coast, around Ohiwa Harbour and on the ridges at the periphery of the Rangitaiki Plains and Whakatane River. Kohika (V15/80) is the only site recorded as a swamp pa in the area, and the other pa shown on the plains close by belong to the historic period. Terraces are the most common site type and are concentrated in the vicinity of Kawerau and Ohiwa, although this could be partly the result of surveys being more thorough there than elsewhere. Pit sites may be underrepresented in the southwestern part of Figure 1.2, which was blanketed by tephra from the 1886 Tarawera eruption that filled many pits on terrace sites (Lawlor 1983a:220). Rua, while known from excavations, are rare as field recorded sites, unlike further west in the Bay of Plenty. However, in the Other category there are sites cautiously described as ‘depressions’ which may be collapsed rua. This low frequency may result

6

Kohika

from the inability of the local natural soils to sustain open rua. Again, in comparison with the western Bay of Plenty, records of cultivation soils are few. Middens are few along the coast west of Matata, which can be attributed to the fact that few soft shore species live in a high-energy beach environment. Along the coast of the Rangitaiki Plains the records are still few, even though there are more estuaries and the beach environment is more conducive to sandy shore species. Local investigations have certainly revealed middens (Jones 1991, Shawcross 1965) and the apparent scarcity could be corrected by further recording. In general, the Rangitaiki Plains have a low site density compared with surrounding areas. However, underrecording may be an issue, and the Tarawera Tephra and outwash will have buried some sites. Much of the seaward part of the plains was swamp in the early 19th century and had clearly been so for centuries, as indicated by the growth of peat. Only raised areas in the swamp would have been attractive for Maori settlement, and Jones (1991) recorded cultivation sites on the beach ridges left stranded by the prograding coastline, as well as on the better-drained river fans in the southern part of the plains. A number of lowland sites have produced wooden artefacts (Mead 1984:200). In general, the site distribution shows the preference of Maori to live along the coast, especially near harbours. Away from the coast, sites are concentrated on soils attractive to Maori horticulturalists and areas enjoying both defensible uplands and access to rivers. Kohika is unusual in the context of the larger sample of sites, being a prehistoric lowland swamp pa in an area with a very low density of recorded sites.

A brief history of the investigations since 1975

The site was discovered in November 1974 during drainage operations near Lake Kohika at the swampy northern end of the farm of Mr P. Jessop of Sutherlands Rd. A digging machine exposed a palisade of kanuka posts in the side of a drain on the eastern side of the site, and various wooden and other artefacts were thrown out with the spoil. During the summer of 1974–75, members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society investigated quite a large area of swamp on the northern side of the site by probing. They dug up many valuable wooden artefacts which were placed in water for safekeeping. The New Zealand Historic Places Trust became involved, and the site was visited in early 1975 by Auckland archaeologists. It was agreed that G. Irwin, who had previously worked at swamp pa in the Waikato excavated by staff of the University of Auckland (Bellwood 1978, Shawcross 1968), would direct an excavation as a University of Auckland project with a grant from the Golden Kiwi Lottery Board (Irwin 1975, Moore 1975). At this time there was little understanding of the site’s complexity, size or significance. A series of major excavations took place in May 1975, January 1976, December 1977 and April 1978, and further fieldwork to resolve particular issues was done in 1979 and 1981 (see Plates 1.1–4). A large-capacity pumping system was developed together with on-site conservation. The fieldwork gradually came to terms with the complex geomorphology and site stratigraphy and, increasingly, the research design became interdisciplinary. Large quantities of archaeological material and other samples were taken to Auckland (in a railway wagon after the 1976 season), but there was no conservation infrastructure waiting to receive them. Waterlogged artefacts were put into temporary tanks while a conservation laboratory was built and equipped in the new Human

Plate 1.1 In 1975, Kohika was an inconspicuous, low-lying grassed mound in an area of agricultural swamp drainage. Plate 1.2 A whakanoa ceremony was conducted by Jack Fox, Romana Kingi, Mike Mason, Harry Reneti and Albert Te Rere, of the Ratana, Anglican, Catholic, Ringatu and Presbyterian churches respectively. The kaumatua placed the site and the artefacts into the interim care of the University of Auckland.

Plate 1.3 After the discovery of artefacts, the first investigations were undertaken by members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society. In this 1976 photograph are (from left) Dave White, Ken Moore and the late Anton van der Wouden. The spoil in the background was removed from the drain by a digging machine. Plate 1.4 The University of Auckland excavations of Area D during the season of January 1976.

An introduction to Kohika in historical and archaeological context 9

Sciences Building at the University of Auckland. Conservation took many years. The analysis (and re-analysis) of archaeological materials followed and many researchers were involved, as described in the following chapters. Several specialist studies were carried out in the late 1990s, and this full report was written from 2000. G. Irwin returned the Kohika artefacts to the Bay of Plenty in May 1998, accompanied by P. Ngaropo, representing a Ngati Awa hapu closely connected with Kohika. The taonga were first acknowledged at Te Umuhika Marae, Matata, before being formally welcomed in Whakatane by representatives of the several iwi of the region, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Whakatane and District Historical Society and the Whakatane and District Museum and Gallery. The few remaining artefacts were returned to Whakatane in the care of P. Ngaropo in 1999. The final artefact, a pounamu adze, is to be presented to Ngati Awa together with a copy of this book. The Kohika Collection presented some complex ownership issues. Initially the landowner, P. Jessop, gave to the Whakatane and District Historical Society, the artefacts excavated by its members. When the Department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland took over direction of the project in 1975, the whole collection was placed in its interim care at a whakanoa ceremony by kaumatua representing local iwi and religious denominations. After its return, ownership of the collection was negotiated between Ngati Awa and the Whakatane and District Historical Society, who had been responsible for recovering the early part of the collection. The issues were resolved by the appointment of a board of trustees to manage the collection, comprising a majority of Ngati Awa representatives as well as a representative each from Ngati Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau and the Whakatane and District Historical Society, in recognition of their associations with the collection. The trustees have placed the Kohika Collection on loan to the Whakatane District Museum and Gallery. In June and July 2000, an exhibition entitled Kohika: a glimpse of life in a wetland pa near Matata, was held at Whakatane museum.

References Anon., 2000. Te Kohika: a glimpse of life in a wetland pa near Matata during the 1600s AD. Pamphlet prepared for the exhibition at Whakatane and District Museum and Gallery, Te Whare Taonga o te Rohe o Whakatane, 1 June–16 July, 2000. Bellwood, P.S., 1978. Archaeological research at Lake Mangakaware, Waikato, 1968–1970. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph No.9. Best, E., 1925. Tuhoe, the children of the mist. New Plymouth: The Polynesian Society. Coles, J. and B. Coles, 1996. Enlarging the past: the contribution of wetland archaeology. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series No.11. Exeter: Short Run Press. Cowan, J., 1923. The New Zealand Wars: a history of the Maori campaigns and the pioneering period. Vol. II. Wellington: R.E. Owen, Government Printer. Fulton, R., 1921. An account of a supposed Maori sharpening stone. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 53:471–2. Gibbons, W.H., 1990. The Rangitaiki, 1890–1990: settlement and drainage on the Rangitaiki. Whakatane: Whakatane and District Historical Society. Grace, J. Te H., 1959. Tuwharetoa: the history of the Maori people in the Taupo district. Wellington: Reed. Grace, T.S., 1928. A pioneer missionary among the Maoris 1850–1879: being letters and journals of Thomas Samuel Grace. Edited by S.J. Brittan, G.F., C.W. and A.V. Grace. Palmerston North: Bennett. Grace, T.S., MS Papers 191, Mission work Taupo and Tauranga, 1850–73. Alexander Turnbull Library.

10 Kohika

Gudgeon, W.E., 1970. Te heke o Rangihouhiri. Whakatane: Whakatane and District Historical Society. Hayward, B.W., P.R. Moore and P. Bain, 1987. Prehistoric archaeological sites on Whale Island (Motuhora), Bay of Plenty. Tane, 32:73–86. Hunia, L.Te A., 1977. Tangi Putauaki: a Maori history of the Rangitaiki. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Irwin, G.J., 1975. The Kohika site, Bay of Plenty. Historical Review, 23:101–4. Jones, K.L., 1983. Pa in two western segments of the Waiotahi and Whakatane Valleys, Bay of Plenty. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 26:165–73. Jones, K.L., 1984. Archaeological investigations in Waiotahi Valley, Bay of Plenty, November 1981. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 27:109–18. Jones, K.L., 1986. Polynesian settlement and horticulture in two river catchments of the eastern North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 8:5–31. Jones, K.L., 1991. Maori settlement and horticulture on Rangitaiki Plains, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 13:143–75. Kirch, P.V. and R.C. Green, 2000. Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: an essay in historical anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lawlor, I., 1979. Palaeoenvironment analysis: an appraisal of the prehistoric environment of the Kohika swamp pa (N68/140), Bay of Plenty. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Lawlor, I., 1983a. Rua Kumara o Kawerau. In S. Bulmer, G. Law and D. Sutton (eds), A lot of spadework to be done: essays in honour of Lady Aileen Fox. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph No.14, pp.212–48. Lawlor, I., 1983b. Maruka investigations, Kawerau, Bay of Plenty: Final Report for Stage IV. Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland. London, H.D., 1960. A field day at Matata. Historical Review, 8:109–14. Mead, S.M., 1984. Te Maori: Maori art from New Zealand collections. Auckland: Heinemann. Moore, K.W., 1973. Archaeology at Whakatane, N.Z. Part 1. Historical Review, 21:113–22. Moore, K.W., 1974. Archaeology at Whakatane, N.Z. Part 2. Historical Review, 22:50–63. Moore, K.W., 1975. Kohika site, N68/140, Bay of Plenty: a preliminary report. Historical Review, 23:60–1. Moore, K.W., 1980a. Te tangata whenua, the early people of Te Teko. Historical Review, 28:63–7. Moore, K.W., 1980b. Place names of the Te Teko district. Historical Review, 28:68–71. Phillips, K., 1996. The archaeology of the eastern Bay of Plenty. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Pullar, W.A., 1985. Soils and land use of the Rangitaiki Plains, North Island, New Zealand. Lower Hutt: New Zealand Soil Bureau. Robley, H.G., MS Notebook, 1858–87. Alexander Turnbull Library. Robley, H.G., MS. Letters Robley to Mair, sketches, etc., 1898–1922. Alexander Turnbull Library. Shawcross, F.W., 1965. Report on archaeological investigations at Thornton, Whakatane, Bay of Plenty. Historical Review, 13:186–92. Shawcross, F.W., 1968. The Ngaroto site. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 11:2–29.

2

Kohika in the geomorphological context of the Rangitaiki Plains G.J. Irwin

The Rangitaiki Plains are geologically active and the inhabitants of Kohika lived in a landscape of frequent earthquake, volcanic eruption and flood.

Whakatane Graben

The Rangitaiki Plains are a lowland some 340 square kilometres in area. They stretch 22 kilometres along the Bay of Plenty coast between Matata and Whakatane and extend inland for a similar distance. The plains are part of the Whakatane Graben, which is located where the Taupo Volcanic Zone reaches the Bay of Plenty coast and intersects with the north–south-trending North Island Shear Belt (Nairn and Beanland 1989). Within the graben, which is bounded by north–south fault lines (Fig. 2.1), the plain has subsided and the surrounding hills have risen. The rate of subsidence is estimated to be 2–3 mm per year over the last 5000 years. As they have dropped, the plains have filled with sediments from the three large river catchments of the Rangitaiki, Tarawera and Whakatane rivers, and also from the Taupo and Okataina volcanic centres to the south. To put this in strict geological terms, Mesozoic basement rocks have downfaulted and the resulting basin infilled by Quaternary volcanics and sediments. Uplifting and tilting of the graben margins has accompanied subsidence of its floor (Nairn and Beanland 1989).

Faulting and earthquakes

Geological evidence of recent surface faulting has been largely obscured by the very young sediments, mainly of volcanic origin, that form the modern ground surface. The 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake occurred along two known pre-existing faults that had previously moved at some time after the AD 1350 Kaharoa eruption (Nairn and Beanland 1989). The 1987 earthquake also moved at three new surface traces that were presumed to overlie faults that had been concealed by sediments from both the Taupo eruption of c.AD 150 and the Kaharoa eruption. It appears that faulting has occurred independently at Matata and Edgecumbe, that is on the western and eastern sides of the graben respectively (Fig. 2.1), which suggests that the Rangitaiki Plains may experience moderate to severe shaking more often than if the two graben margins were to move at the same time (Ota et al. 1988). The study of a trench excavation across a fault at Matata revealed that the most recent earthquake occurred there after the Kaharoa Tephra and possibly during the last 250 years, according to radiocarbon dating (Ota et al. 1988). In fact, it transpired that this earthquake occurred during 11

12 Kohika

Figure 2.1 The geomorphology of the Rangitaiki Plains

the human occupation of Kohika, where its secondary faulting offsets could be more closely dated.

Volcanic eruptions and coastal progradation

About 7000 years ago the shoreline probably lay along the cliffs at Whakatane, Awakeri, Te Teko and Onepu (Pullar 1985). Since then it has prograded about 10 kilometres as the lowland has formed. From time to time the Bay of Plenty has been showered by volcanic tephra, and the plains have been formed largely from outwash of tephra by the Rangitaiki, Tarawera and Whakatane rivers (Pullar and Selby 1971). Thus, on the plains, tephra occurs both in airfall bands and as reworked alluvial sediments. A series of identified tephra has fallen on the plains over the last 5000 years or more and, as younger beds overlap the older, Pullar and Selby (1971:419) have ingeniously found that ‘a succession of possible shorelines of decreasing age could be plotted at successive points where each older ash disappears’. They regard the position on the ground where an airfall ash bed cuts out as a possible shoreline, whereas the position where sea-rafted pumice boulders occur is a probable shoreline. Coastal progradation evidently occurred in fits and starts and was rapid after each volcanic eruption.

Kohika in the geomorphological context of the Rangitaiki Plains 13

Volcanic ashes

The main tephra are the Whakatane Ash of c.5500 years BP, the Taupo Pumice of c.1850 years BP (Froggatt and Lowe 1990, Nairn and Beanland 1989), the Kaharoa Tephra of cal. 600 BP (Lowe et al. 1998), and the Tarawera Tephra of AD 1886. The three younger of these ashes have been identified at Kohika and the following descriptions of them as they occur on the plains are based on the extensive observations of Alan Pullar (Pullar and Selby 1971:423). The Taupo Ash is 10–13 cm thick. The grade is coarse ash and small vesicular lapilli. In peat swamps the colour is pale olive (5Y 6/3) becoming brownish-yellow where the swamp is drained (10YR 6/6). On dunes the bed is brown in colour (10YR 4/3). The Kaharoa Tephra is usually 10–15 cm thick. In peat swamps the bed is white ash (5Y 8/1) and is finely shower-bedded. On dune ridges the ash bed is masked by black topsoil and is difficult to identify. In dune swales the upper 5 cm is light yellowish-brown fine ash (2.5Y 6/4), and the lower 10 cm is darker (10YR 4/4). The Tarawera Tephra is often 2–7 cm thick but may be up to 12 cm in dune swales. In peat swamps the Tarawera is very dark greyish-brown (10YR 3/2); on dune ridges it is dark greyish-brown (2.5Y 4/2), becoming darker in the swales. The sea-rafted Taupo Pumice of c.AD 150 also occurs at Kohika and is of unique appearance for Holocene times, ‘a light yellowish-brown colour [with] coarse irregular gas cavities. It is easily broken and can be crushed in the hand’ (McFadgen 1994:196).

Landforms of the Rangitaiki Plains

These comprise coastal and inland dunes, back-swamp lowlands and peat swamps, natural levee systems of rivers and streams, and floodplains of largely mixed pumiceous alluvium with minor greywacke alluvium. Dunes

The dunes are linear, and stranded ones lie generally parallel to the coast (Fig. 2.2). The system has formed over some 7000 years as the coast has prograded. Much of the dune sand came from the ash beds that still mantle the uplands drained by the three rivers, while the dune surfaces have been created by long-shore drift from west to east (Pullar and Selby 1971). The dune system is well developed only at the Whakatane end of the plains and near Matata in the west. Near Kawerau, dunes reach a height of about 30 m above sea level but elsewhere, due to subsidence, have been found buried under peat some 3 m below sea level. The various dunes are dated by the particular tephra that lies on them. Those of the Taupo shoreline sometimes occur near sea level or they may be exposed up to 3–4.5 m above sea level, except at Matata where they are higher. Kohika was built on a remnant of the pre-Taupo shoreline that dates to approximately 2000 BP. Kaharoa and Tarawera shorelines lie closer to the sea than Kohika, parallel to the existing coast and higher in elevation. The destruction of vegetation following human settlement evidently caused the coastal dunes to be eroded and wind-blown during the 500 years bracketed between the Kaharoa and and Tarawera tephra (Pullar and Selby 1971). Rivers, plains and swamp

Three major rivers cross the plains. Several considerable streams join them as tributaries and these have formed fans where they emerge from the surrounding hills. Over time, the rivers have changed their courses and these can be traced from palaeo-channels across the floodplains. The rivers have also cut the stranded marine dunes that now

14 Kohika

Figure 2.2 Former shorelines and river courses on the Rangitaiki Plains

sometimes survive as discontinuous strips parallel to the coast and were sometimes islands in prehistory. The general pattern of rivers and streams that existed from the time of the Kaharoa eruption c.AD 1350 until swamp drainage began early in the 20th century is shown in Figure 2.2. The Rangitaiki had no mouth of its own and a major distributary, the Orini Stream, flowed east to join the Whakatane River at its mouth, while the Rangitaiki itself ran west behind the coastal sand dunes. The Awaiti Stream was another main distributary of the Rangitaiki; it flowed west towards Matata and joined the Awaiti Paku, a distributary stream of the Tarawera, on the way. The combined waters of the Awaiti, Awaiti Paku, Rangitaiki and Tarawera were called Te Awa o te Atua, which entered the sea at what is now the western end of Matata (Gibbons 1990). This common river mouth and estuary was influenced by a tidal regime, but was altered in modern times when direct cuts were made to the sea (Plates 2.1 and 2.2). The Rangitaiki and Tarawera rivers flow through floodplains built up by their own deposits of silt and tephra. In the past they frequently overflowed their banks and inundated surrounding land. Two main deposits shown in Figure 2.1 are of Taupo Pumice alluvium, closely associated with the Rangitaiki River and deposited after AD 150, and Kaharoa alluvium deposited after AD 1350. These are extensive areas over the surface of the plains (Nairn and Beanland 1989). Further areas of Tarawera Ash alluvium have been deposited since AD 1886. In addition, over time there have been frequent flood episodes that have locally redeposited pumiceous alluvium around the swamp. In the back-swamp lowlands, peat horizons formed on Taupo Pumice over much of the plains and again, in places, on ash from the Kaharoa and Tarawera eruptions, resulting in complex interbedding. The youngest deposits of the Rangitaiki Plains

Plate 2.1 The new mouth of the Tarawera River. The former course of the Rangitaiki River is at the left of the entrance and the former Te Awa o te Atua estuary, which carried the combined waters of the two rivers, lay to the right of the entrance and flowed west to Matata. The current road bridge is on the Kaharoa shoreline, and a short distance upstream is the junction of the Tarawera and the Awaiti Stream. Canal 109 runs inland from the Awaiti past the remains of Lake Kohika. Plate 2.2 Looking seawards, a canal and stopbank now separate Lake Kohika from the archaeological lake village, which formerly lay on its southwestern shore. The site itself is located on a remnant of sand-dune that dates from the coastline of 2000 years ago. The archaeological excavation can be seen at the end of the farmer’s cattle-race.

16 Kohika

are coastal sand dunes, levees and meander sediments associated with very recently or currently active floodplains (Nairn and Beanland 1989). In summary, the landscape of the Rangitaiki Plains has been formed by continuing processes of coastal progradation, land subsidence, alluvial infilling, swamp growth, and the formation of shallow freshwater lakes and ponds. All of these have been supplemented intermittently by airborne showers of tephra, and by earthquakes, and affected by frequent flooding. The final episode has been the near-complete drainage of the swamp in the early part of last century to create the rich agricultural landscape of today.

Soils and stratigraphy around the Kohika site

Dunes, back-swamps and floodplain deposits interfinger near the coast where rivers and streams converge and shallow freshwater lakes have formed. Figure 2.3 describes the soils in the vicinity of Kohika as taxonomic and physiographic units, as mapped and described in detail by A. Pullar on the basis of a large number of cores and examined sections (Pullar 1985). Several of these units were encountered during archaeological excavations at Kohika, and it is necessary to take account of the others to follow the geomorphological history of the area immediately surrounding the site. Soils of the dunes

Pki (Pikowai) sand occurs as recent wind-blown sands on the current foredunes with a very thin cover of Tarawera ash. Koe (Kopeopeo) soils are further inland on older stranded dunes and have Taupo and Kaharoa tephra (both rhyolitic) on wind-blown sand, with a thin cover of Tarawera (basaltic) tephra. The Kohika site has a natural core of Taupo-age dune. Soils of the former tidal flats

Muw (Muriwai) silt loams are weakly saline soils derived from mixed pumiceous and greywacke alluvium on former tidal flats now cut off from river estuaries. Soils of the present floodplains

Ran (Rangitaiki) soils consist of rapidly accumulating pumiceous alluvium deposited in former meander troughs of streams. The area of Ran shown in Figure 2.3 was deposited during floods in 1964. Ou (Opouriao) and Ori (Orini) fine sandy loams are from slowly accumulating pumiceous alluvium and found on the levees of rivers and their distributaries. Soils of the former floodplains

Ats (Awaiti) sandy loam is a recent soil with a thin cover of Tarawera Tephra on pumiceous alluvium derived from Kaharoa Tephra. Ome (Omehue) sandy loam and Omp (Omehue) sandy loam on peat are poorly drained gley soils from fine pumiceous alluvium derived from Kaharoa Tephra with a thin cover of Tarawera Tephra. Onc (Omehue) coarse sandy loam is another poorly drained gley soil with a thin cover of Tarawera Tephra over layered pumiceous Kaharoa alluvium (reworked tephra), on a sub-surface of sand and gravels and with occasional thin layers of diatomaceous earth.

Kohika in the geomorphological context of the Rangitaiki Plains 17

Soils of the back-swamp lowlands

Ag (Awakaponga) silt loam and Agp (Awakaponga) silt loam on peat are recent soils from silty pumiceous rhyolitic alluvium. Pr (Paroa) silt loam and Prp (Paroa) silt loam on peat are poorly drained gley soils from very fine pumiceous alluvium. Soils of the peaty swamps

Awi (Awakeri) sandy loam on peat is a poorly drained gley soil with a clearly layered profile of Tarawera and Kaharoa tephra, peat, silts, pumiceous alluvium underlain by (dune) sand derived from Taupo Pumice. There are sharp discontinuities. Mtk (Matuku) silt loam is a poorly drained gley soil consisting of layered materials, including diatomaceous earth which has formed in freshwater lakes, peat and pumice alluvium, with a very thin cover of Tarawera Tephra. Aro (Awaroa) soils are organic and formed from peat with a thin cover of basaltic ash. Soil profiles in the Rangitaiki Plain show that there was rapid infilling immediately after the Kaharoa eruption and there are no buried soil horizons from this time. However, intermittent infilling since about 400 years BP is indicated by buried palaeosols. The peat that has grown near Kohika is mainly sedge formed from Baumea spp. There are patches of diatomaceous earth, which can form during the open-water stage of bog development. Diatoms increase markedly following rhyolitic volcanic eruptions such as the Kaharoa (Pullar 1985:36), and have been identified at Kohika. Shallow freshwater lakes were a feature of the floodplain around the site.

Summary of the geological situation of Kohika

• The site is on a low island remnant of the 2000 BP shoreline dune that rises above

Figure 2.3 Soils of the Rangitaiki Plains in the vicinity of Kohika (after Pullar 1985)

18 Kohika

lake level. Archaeological correlations of stratigraphy between different areas of excavation around the edge of the mound are supported by the natural swamp stratigraphy, which includes three distinctive tephra beds separated by silts, peat and diatomaceous earth, and in the upper deposits by palaeosols. • A band of cultural material occurs in the peat between the Kaharoa Tephra of cal. AD 1350 and the Tarawera Tephra of AD 1886. A greater depth of peat lay below the archaeological site than above it, indicating that occupation was in the later part of the deposit. This will be supported by radiocarbon evidence in Chapter 5. Moreover, the peat above the cultural deposit was sterile, indicating the absence of occupation for a period prior to the Tarawera Tephra. Further soils developed in the swamp above the Tarawera. • Neither the Taupo nor the Kaharoa tephra remains intact on the mound itself, although each forms components of the soil there. This is also true of the Tarawera Ash which lies like a continuous tidemark around the mound but which, everywhere above this, has been mixed into the soil. Evidently the dune at Kohika was gardened both before the lake village was occupied and after it was abandoned. • Evidence for substantial occupation ends with the arrival of bands of pumiceous alluvium and silt, derived mainly from reworked Kaharoa Tephra, which represent a local flood around parts of the site exposed to floodwaters from the Tarawera River. Parts of the shallow lake edge suddenly filled and it was no longer easy to reach the island by canoe. • Core samples around Lake Kohika, both by A. Pullar and the University of Auckland, show that the lake was more extensive than today (Lawlor 1979, Figs 3.1 and 3.2). However, this has to be seen as the result of modern drainage as well as prehistoric infilling. • Finally, there is evidence that an earthquake occurred while people were living at Kohika and that this event relates to the Matata Fault nearby (Ota et al. 1988). This account has described mainly the natural stratigraphy. The complex interplay of natural and cultural stratigraphy will be unravelled in Chapter 4.

Climate

The following information is compiled from Aldridge (1985), Jones (1991) and the New Zealand Meteorological Service (n.d.). The Rangitaiki Plains are today noted for their sunny climate. The duration of sunshine hours is among the highest in the North Island and the mean daily maximum temperature in January is 25.5 degrees Celsius at Kawerau and 25.3 degrees at Te Teko. Plant growing days above 10 and 15 degrees Celsius show the area to be warmer than much of the North Island. The mean annual rainfall is 1304 mm on the coast at Whakatane. The number of days with rainfall equal to or greater than 1.0 mm averages ten per month from May to October and eight per month from November to April. Heavy rainfall is associated with the passage of cyclonic systems from the north and northeast in summer. Other rainfall follows the usual pattern of frontal passages. Frost-free days (screen frosts) average 328 per year. While frosts are expected every year, between 1948 and 1975 the earliest frost day recorded at Whakatane was 5 May and the latest 10 September. The average yearly incidence of ground frost is 24 at Te Teko on the plains away from the Rangitaiki River levee, 24 at Edgecumbe on the Rangitaiki levee, and 15 at Whakatane (Jones 1991). Whatever differences may exist between the present and the time when people were living at Kohika, the climate was certainly favourable.

Kohika in the geomorphological context of the Rangitaiki Plains 19

A brief historical observation about vegetation

According to Pullar (1985:6), at the time of European settlement swampland west of the Rangitaiki River was densely covered with raupo and rushes. Cabbage trees flourished on natural levees of rivers and streams with kahikatea, titoki, toetoe and flax on the back-swamp lowlands. On the coastal dunes there was manuka, bracken fern and mingimingi while small teatree and cabbage trees grew on the inland dunes. Clearly, this landscape was transformed by Maori and influenced by volcanic eruption. Buried stumps show that totara grew in the Omeheu locality (inland from Kohika) before the Kaharoa eruption and soil profiles on inland dunes suggest that podocarp forest flourished before the Taupo eruption. Some waterlogged tree-trunks survive in the dune at Kohika. A detailed account of vegetation history follows in the next chapter.

References Aldridge, R., 1985. Climate. In W.A. Pullar, Soils and land use of the Rangitaiki Plains, North Island, New Zealand. Lower Hutt: New Zealand Soil Bureau, pp.9–10. Froggatt, P.C. and D.J. Lowe, 1990. A review of late Quaternary silicic and some other tephra formations from New Zealand: their stratigraphy, nomenclature, distribution, volume, and age. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 33:89–109. Gibbons, W.H., 1990. The Rangitaiki, 1890–1990: settlement and drainage on the Rangitaiki. Whakatane: Whakatane and District Historical Society. Jones, K.L., 1991. Maori settlement and horticulture on the Rangitaiki Plains, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 13:143–75. Lawlor, I., 1979. Palaeoenvironment analysis: an appraisal of the prehistoric environment of the Kohika swamp pa (N68/140), Bay of Plenty. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Lowe, D.J., B.G. McFadgen, T.F.G. Higham, A.G. Hogg, P.C. Froggatt and I.A. Nairn, 1998. Radiocarbon age of the Kaharoa Tephra, a key marker for late-Holocene stratigraphy and archaeology in New Zealand. The Holocene, 8:487–95. McFadgen, B.G., 1994. Coastal stratigraphic evidence for human settlement. In D.G. Sutton (ed.), The origins of the first New Zealanders. Auckland: Auckland University Press, pp.195–207. Nairn, I.A. and S. Beanland, 1989. Geological setting of the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 32:1–13. New Zealand Meteorological Service, n.d., Summaries of climatological observations to 1980. New Zealand Meteorological Service Miscellaneous Publication No.177. Ota, Y., S. Beanland, K.R. Berryman and I.A. Nairn, 1988. The Matata Fault: active faulting at the north-western margin of the Whakatane Graben, eastern Bay of Plenty. New Zealand Geological Survey Record, 35:6–13. Pullar, W.A., 1985. Soils and land use of the Rangitaiki Plains, North Island, New Zealand. Lower Hutt: New Zealand Soil Bureau. Pullar, W.A. and M.J. Selby, 1971. Coastal progradation of Rangitaiki Plains, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Science, 14:419–34.

3

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty M.S. McGlone and K.L. Jones

Figure 3.1 The Bay of Plenty lowlands with pollen sites underlined

The coastline of the Bay of Plenty forms a great bight, opening north and northeast towards the central Pacific, creating a natural landfall for voyagers from the tropics (Fig. 3.1). It enjoys a warm, mild, moist climate and has light, fertile soils, ideal for horticulture. Migrants from northern latitudes in prehistoric times are likely to have established some of their first settlements in this region, as traditions about canoe landing-places at Whangaparaoa imply. The Bay of Plenty coast is therefore central to our understanding of the settlement process. This chapter looks in detail at the vegetation history of the Kohika swamp, and some other sites in the surrounding region, in order to reconstruct the original vegetation that would have confronted those first settlers, to date the beginning of human influences, and to chart the profound effects of Maori settlement on the local environments. Intense human use has destroyed or disrupted nearly all of the original vegetation cover in the lowland coastal Bay of Plenty and similar areas throughout the country. Only where rugged hill country comes down to the coast does substantial undisturbed vegetation remain, as in the steep coastal country of the eastern Bay of Plenty (Nicholls

20

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 21

1971). While remnant stands of coastal vegetation give some picture of previous vegetation cover, they are often themselves modified (Jones and Moore 1985) and unlikely to represent the full range of original coastal communities. Palaeoecological investigations are therefore an essential aspect of archaeological studies in which reconstruction of original vegetation is important. Organic sediments formed over thousands of years in wetlands preserve abundant pollen and spores which, when extracted and characterised, permit construction of detailed vegetation histories. Analysis of the pollen and spore content of peats and muds in wetland profiles from throughout New Zealand has given comprehensive insights into the unmodified environment, the timing of the Polynesian environmental impact, and the subsequent changes to vegetation resulting from settlement (McGlone 1983a, McGlone and Wilmshurst 1999, Newnham et al. 1998). The Bay of Plenty lies in a major zone of active volcanism. Three tephra layers – the Tarawera, Kaharoa and Taupo – are commonly found in the upper sediments of deposits throughout the region, thus providing an excellent chronology for palynology. These tephra falls have also had a profound impact on the vegetation. In this chapter we present the full pollen analysis of the Kohika pa site (abbreviated versions have been published previously), new analyses of two other lowland coastal Bay of Plenty wetland sites (Thornton and Tunapahore), and discuss the environmental history of the Bay of Plenty coastal zone in relation to Maori settlement.

Methods

Most pollen samples were taken directly from cleaned faces of excavation units, although the lower section of the Kohika site was sampled with a Hiller corer. Standard palynological preparation techniques were used (Moore et al. 1991): disaggregation in potassium hydroxide, wet sieving, digestion in 40 per cent hydrofluoric acid, acetolysis, bleach where needed to remove resistant lignin fragments, and mounting in glycerine jelly. Pollen results are presented as relative percentages of varying pollen sums. A terrestrial pollen sum is used for all dryland plants, which excludes tree ferns and all ground ferns (except for bracken, which is treated as a shrub because of its ecological behaviour). Tree ferns are expressed as a percentage of a terrestrial pollen sum that includes tree ferns. Wetland and aquatic taxa are expressed as a percentage of total pollen and spores. Note that Leptospermum type (Leptospermum scoparium and Kunzea ericoides) is not included as a terrestrial pollen type, as it has poorly dispersed pollen and is likely to have been derived mainly from manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) growing on peaty wetland soils. Nothofagus subgenus Fuscospora includes all Nothofagus spp. with the exception of N. menziesii. Charcoal counts were made by a grid point technique (Clark 1982) in which eleven points per field of view are scored for presence or absence of charcoal at the same time as the pollen count. Counts are expressed as percentages of the terrestrial pollen sum.

Site locations, stratigraphy and chronology Rangitaiki Plains: Kohika Pa archaeological site (Figs 3.1 and 3.2)

As the Rangitaiki Plains are intensively farmed, no unmodified natural vegetation remains. At the time of first European settlement, swampland to the west of the Rangitaiki River was densely covered with raupo and rushes (Pullar 1985). Sufficient flax (Phormium tenax) was present in this area to support a flax mill at Matata. Ti

22 Kohika

Figure 3.2 Pollen site stratigraphy: Kohika pollen site (excavation Square D17), Tunapahore archaeological site complex and ThorntonAtkinson archaeological site

(Cordyline australis) and manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) grew on the natural river and stream levees, and kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), titoki (Alectryon excelsus), toetoe (Cortaderia) and flax on back-swamps. Bracken (Pteridium esculentum), mingimingi (Leucopogon fasciculatus) and manuka grew on the coastal dunes. Subsurface diatomaceous earth – mainly immediately postdating the Kaharoa Tephra – occurs on the floodplains of the Rangitaiki and Tarawera rivers between Thornton and Matata, indicating the presence of shallow lakes of clear, fresh water (Pullar 1985). Several small lagoons ringed by raupo (Typha orientalis) and willow (Salix spp.) persist close to Kohika. The location of the pollen site (Square D17) is shown in Figure 4.13 (below). The peat was sampled by digging a hole 1.5 m square to a depth of 2.2 m and then coring with a Hiller peat corer a further 1.3 m to the underlying sand dune. Total sediment depth from the base of the Tarawera Ash (datum for all measurements) to the surface of the buried sand dune is 3.3 m. The pollen site stratigraphy (Fig. 3.2) relies for its chronology on the three included tephra layers and seven radiocarbon dates (Table 3.1). The site is capped by the Tarawera Tephra of AD 1886. Two radiocarbon dates in the underlying peat of 353 ± 57 BP and 535 ± 57 BP indicate typical swamp accumulation rates of 1–2 mm per year. The three radiocarbon dates from this site bracketing the Kaharoa Tephra have a reversed stratigraphy. NZ4804 (656 ± 57 BP) is from organic muds immediately below the Kaharoa, and NZ4803 (678 ± 75 BP) on a diatomaceous organic silt immediately above it. NZ4802 (729 ± 58 BP) is from a grey, largely inorganic fine silt, 22 cm

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 23

above the Kaharoa Tephra. The two dates bracketing the Kaharoa Tephra are statistically indistinguishable. NZ4802 is 63 years older than NZ4804, but still within one standard error. NZ4804 is no more than 10 radiocarbon years different from the established age of the Kaharoa Tephra of 665 ± 17 BP, or c.AD 1350 when calibrated, based on 22 screened dates over its entire distribution (Lowe and Hogg 1992) and is almost certainly correct. However, swamps are particularly prone to contamination by old organic material washed in to the lakes after forest clearance (McGlone and Wilmshurst 1999), and it is clear from NZ4801 that there was very rapid accumulation (c.5 mm per year) of silt-rich sediments after the deposition of the Kaharoa Tephra. Therefore, as there is a high probability that NZ4803 and NZ4802 are based on sediments contaminated with old organic material incorporated during deposition, they will be ignored in subsequent discussion. On the basis of NZ4805 and NZ4806, organic sedimentation was a moderate 1–2 mm per year- in the years leading up to the Kaharoa Tephra eruption, but rapid in the silt-rich sediments following the Taupo Tephra (c.5 mm year). Table 3.1

Radiocarbon dates, Kohika pollen site (Square D17)

C14 age (conventional) 353 ± 57 535 ± 57 729 ± 58 678 ± 75 656 ± 57 1365 ± 75 1605 ± 65

Depth below datum (cm) 45–50 65–69 105–110 130–132 (immediately above Kaharoa Tephra) 145–146 (immediately below Kaharoa Tephra) 180–182 220–222

Material peat peat weakly organic silt diatomaceous silt

Radiocarbon number NZ4800 NZ4801 NZ4802 NZ4803

lake mud

NZ4804

fine peat fine peat

NZ4805 NZ4806

Rangitaiki Plains: Thornton-Atkinson archaeological site complex

The Thornton-Atkinson archaeological site (W15/121) is on the inland side of a preTaupo sand dune on the Rangitaiki flood plain, some ten kilometres west of Whakatane (Fig. 3.1). The crests of these dunes are mantled with ash soils that are easily disturbed, mobilising loose sand that can drift down the dune faces. The site consisted of a surface scatter of shell and blackened soils underlain by pits cut through the ash soils of the crest of the dune. A C14 date for shell in one of the pits has a date of 595 ± 50 yrs BP (NZ7543) with a marine calibration of cal. AD 1553–1860 at the 2 sigma limit (Jones 1991:153–9). The pre-European settlement vegetation at this site was similar to that at Kohika. The pollen profile is in a section in a drainage ditch south of the dune crest and close to the Rangitaiki River cut. The sediment profile (Fig. 3.2) is undated, but postdates the Taupo Tephra. Tephra within the profile is lensed with sand and has therefore been reworked from tephra deposits within the dune sand. Hawai Bay: Tunapahore archaeological site complex

Hawai Bay lies 20 kilometres east of Opotoki (Fig. 3.1). The coastal lowlands are only 800 m wide and consist of partly dissected tephra-covered uplifted marine terraces backed by steep hills. Immediately west of the two pollen profiles is an area of terraces. The area was heavily used by Maori in pre-European times and there are at least ten pa around the bay.

24 Kohika

Two sites were sampled for pollen (Fig. 3.2). Tunapahore A is from a drainage ditch through a swampy area immediately inland of the beach ridge and 150 m from high-water mark. Tunapahore B is at the toe of the slope of a terrace and is close to a now-destroyed swamp pa (X15/105). It is at the extreme inland margin of the same gleyed silt and peat deposit as Tunapahore A, 200 m distant. Tunapahore A contains airfall Kaharoa Tephra but is otherwise undated because of the unsuitable weakly organic clay silts that make up most of the section. Tunapahore B has water-laid Taupo Tephra (absent in Tunapahore A) at the base overlying a yellow-brown pumice-rich soil (Whakatane Hill Soil). A date of 1252 ± 87 BP (NZA3485) on a grey pumice-rich silt immediately above the tephra confirms the identification. From the 65 cm level in the profile, macroscopic charcoal fragments occur in a grey silt matrix and probably derive from reworking from the slopes of the nearby terraces. A discrete lens of grey tephra at the 60 cm level surrounded by charcoal-rich silt dating to 781 ± 69 yrs BP (NZA3479) gives a maximum age for the start of charcoal influx. The base of a mottled dark grey silt at 40 cm yielded a date of 1824 ± 142 yrs BP (NZA3484) that is nearly identical with the standard date of 1850 ± 20 BP for the Taupo Tephra (Froggatt and Lowe 1990). It is apparent that charcoal associated with the deposition of Taupo Tephra has been reworked into the profile at a much later date.

Pollen stratigraphy

The pollen diagrams are zoned on the basis of changes in pollen and spore occurrences, for convenience of description and discussion. Kohika Pa (Figs 3.3a–d)

Zone KO-1: immediately before Taupo Tephra; 1850 yrs BP

This zone is dominated by local swamp shrubs and trees, most notably Leptospermum cf. scoparium, Coprosma (probably small-leaved shrubs such as C. propinqua), Myrsine cf. divaricata and Elaeocarpus cf. hookerianus (pokaka). Wood fragments within the sandy peat at this level indicate that shrubs were growing directly on the site. There are indications of well-drained sandy soils within the developing swamp/dune complex: Paesia scaberula (hard fern) characterises open dryland sites and is abundant in this zone; Phyllocladus cf. trichomanoides (probably tanekaha) and increasing Metrosideros (rata type) point to the presence of a coastal forest. Zone KO-2: 1850–1600 yrs BP

Interpretation of this zone is complicated by the eruption of the Taupo Tephra and subsequent in-wash of pumice from the Rangitaiki River system. The Rangitaiki River headwaters drain the beech-clad (Nothofagus) axial ranges of the east central North Island, an area partly covered with Taupo ignimbrite deposits and totally blanketed with thick volcanic tephra fall (Wilson and Walker 1985). Two discrete lenses of silt at this location above the Taupo Tephra are accompanied by high levels of microscopic charcoal fragments of Fuscospora (Nothofagus subgenus Fuscospora, including all but N. menziesii of the New Zealand species) and Cyathea smithii-type tree-fern spores. The first lens of silt has much higher levels of these elements than the second. Bracken spores increase during the first silt episode, peak between the silts, and decline abruptly above the second silt. Grass and tutu (Coriaria spp.) percentages rise between the two silts, both peaking in the second silt, with grass continuing on in significant amounts to the end of the zone. The most likely interpretation is that the Fuscospora charcoal

Figure 3.3a Kohika, percentage pollen diagram

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 25

Figure 3.3b Kohika, percentage pollen diagram

26 Kohika

Figure 3.3c Kohika, percentage pollen diagram

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 27

Figure 3.3d Kohika, percentage pollen diagram

28 Kohika

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 29

and Cyathea smithii-type spores have in-washed with the silt, and most probably came from the extensive Taupo Formation pumice deposits in the Rangitaiki River headwaters. Neither the Fuscospora charcoal nor the Cyathea spores are highly corroded, suggesting that they are mainly contemporaneous with the tephra rather than reworked from older soils. Bracken covered extensive areas of the central North Island after the Taupo Tephra eruption (Wilmshurst and McGlone 1996), and it is not clear whether the bracken is derived from this source or from local stands induced by damage to the forest through airfall tephra and alluvium deposition. The local swamp flora reacted to the influx of silt during this zone. Raupo and sedge increase throughout the silty bottom half of the zone, and the aquatics Myriophyllum and Potamogeton peak with them immediately after the second silt. Muehlenbeckia, Rubus and Leucopogon fasciculatus are common also in the basal silty sediments. The increase in these scrubby dryland elements suggests that the influx of silt provided a suitable substrate for a limited time, while flooding and nutrientenrichment through silt deposition favoured aquatics, raupo and tall sedges. The zone terminates with increased levels of manuka, Coprosma, flax and the swamp fern kiokio (Blechnum novae-zelandiae type), suggesting a reversion to flax swamp or shrubland. There is little convincing evidence that the extra-local pollen rain, largely from tree conifers growing on the floodplain and the surrounding hills, was affected by the Taupo eruption. The influx of Taupo Formation sediments was probably accompanied by further progradation of the coast and rapid shifts in the courses of the Tarawera and Rangitaiki river distributaries. Zone KO-3: 1600–1300 yrs BP

This zone represents a period of prolonged stability during which a flax-dominated swamp, interfingered with manuka and Coprosma shrubland, occupied the site. Dune ridges and levees throughout the swamp complex must have had forest cover. Kahikatea, totara (Podocarpus totara), tanekaha (Phyllocladus trichomanoides), pahautea (Libocedrus plumosa), pukatea (Laurelia novae-zelandiae), rata trees and vines (Metrosideros spp.), rewarewa (Knightia excelsa), Pittosporum and pokaka (Elaeocarpus hookerianus) all have pollen percentages that are consistent with their being present in the swamp complex. Zone KO-4: 1300–660 yrs BP

Closely spaced sampling of the profile was carried out in this and the next zone in order to locate the first signs of possible disturbance to the vegetation. Sedge, raupo, ground ferns (monolete fern spores) and Myriophyllum all peak or are more common within this zone than in the last, while wetland shrubs are less common, suggesting higher water levels in the swamp. The fine structureless peats which include a band of lacustrine organic silt in these two zones are typical of sediments laid down under open water. Grass pollen is consistently present in low amounts, peaking immediately beneath the Kaharoa Tephra, as does bracken at three per cent of the pollen sum, but there is no charcoal. Therefore, other than changes resulting from higher water levels, there is only slight evidence for disturbance. Zone KO-5: 660–615 yrs BP

The Kaharoa Tephra erupted from the Okataina complex 40 kilometres to the west and fell at the site, and the tephra-derived sediments of this zone are in-wash from the Tarawera River catchment. The zone is estimated from accumulation rates to be 45 years or more in duration. The wetland types within it undergo a distinct succession

30 Kohika

in which raupo is followed by sedges, ground ferns and swamp kiokio. The wetland scrub types manuka and Myrsine follow a U-shaped pattern in that they are abundant in the first sample immediately above the Kaharoa, decline, and then recover by the zone end. A similar pattern is seen in the trees rata, tanekaha and pahautea. Charcoal and bracken are not at high levels initially, but rise abruptly towards the upper boundary. At this point all tree types plunge to low levels. Most affected are totara, kahikatea, kauri (Agathis australis), pahautea, maire (Nestegis spp.) and hutu (Ascarina lucida), which suggests that fires swept through the lowland forest. The sequences immediately following the Kaharoa Tephra reflect the response of the swamp community to flooding and the increased nutrient influx in the first few years following the tephra deposition, then recovery of the woody swamp vegetation. While swamp herb successions can occur within a few years or less, this is not so with tall swamp scrub and trees. This pattern of decline and recovery of scrub and slow-growing trees suggests that at least 50 years elapsed between the Kaharoa Tephra and the beginning of full-scale deforestation. Major fire impact therefore probably occurred at around 600 BP. Zone KO-6: 615–350 yrs BP

This zone documents the full impact of fire on the Kohika wetlands. Bracken percentages peak at over 80 per cent of the terrestrial pollen sum at the beginning of the zone, but decline gradually to c.50 per cent at the top, mainly as a consequence of increasing grass and tutu percentages. Charcoal levels rise steeply, increasing throughout the zone. Seral woody plants including wineberry (Aristotelia serrata) and Hebe are present throughout, and rewarewa (Knightia excelsa) and kamahi (Weinmannia racemosa) are consistently recorded. The swamp vegetation indicates wetter conditions; aquatics Myriophyllum and Potamogeton are abundant, as are the tall jointed rush, oioi (Leptocarpus similis), raupo and sedges. Flax is less well represented in the pollen rain but, as it is normally greatly underrepresented in the pollen rain, it would still have been important in the swamp vegetation. Swamp shrubs manuka and Coprosma clearly played a less important role, but were still present as substantial stands close to the site. Maori presence is indicated late in this zone by the presence of dog bones, wooden implements, stone, bracken fibre, gourds, shell and wood chips, all of which would have been discarded into the surrounding swamp by the inhabitants. [Editorial note. Nowhere else in the 120 square metres of excavations in Area D were cultural materials found at this level; they were consistently higher. While it is possible that they were trodden down in prehistory – because this part of the soft lakeshore was a busy place – it is almost certain that most of the treadage occurred during the pollen sampling itself. The 1.5 m pit of D17 was the only part of Area D not excavated archaeologically. Boards to protect the soft deposit were not used, and any items in the peat would be carried down underfoot. However, it is important to note that the samples for pollen, sediment and C14 were taken from the sides of D17, not from the floor, and their integrity is not in question.] Zone KO-7: 350 yrs BP–1886 AD

The sediment changes to raupo peat and the wetland pollen are dominated by raupo. Swamp scrub taxa are at very low levels and bracken percentages fall steeply. In the sample immediately below the Tarawera Tephra, introduced plants including willow appear. No Maori artefacts or midden material were recovered from the raupo-rich peat above the 35 cm level, suggesting that the pa was abandoned during this zone. Sand and silt bands occur immediately above this level.

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 31

Thornton-Atkinson archaeological complex (Figs 3.4a–b)

Zone TH-1

High percentages of manuka, Coprosma, bracken and charcoal fragments, the presence of sedge and peat and the low occurrences of tree types all indicate a fire-affected, scrub-covered swamp in a largely deforested bracken-covered landscape. Zone TH-2

Coprosma and manuka decline; bracken, grass and tutu increase, while the range and abundance of tree types decline, showing increased fire pressure. Sporadic high percentages of Potamogeton, Haloragis and corroded tree-fern spores and charcoalrich silts all indicate that the swamp was subject to continuing in-wash of alluvial material after fire and in-wash as a consequence of human activities, including disturbance of neighbouring dune soils. The pollen profile is probably late (after 400 BP) in the pre-European sequence. Tunapahore A (Fig. 3.5)

There is insufficient significant change to zone this site. The silty sediments and high levels of Myriophyllum show this to have been a pond or very wet swamp behind a recently formed (possibly post-Taupo Tephra) dune crest. Rarely recorded pollen types, ngaio (Myoporum laetum) and kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile), along with hutu, Dodonaea viscosa, tanekaha, Myrsine and rata, place the site in scrubby coastal forest. High percentages of Fuscospora and podocarp trees reflect pollen transport from the steep surrounding hills that are in forests of beech, rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum) and tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa). Rata and kahikatea fall to low levels and tanekaha and tree ferns increase after the fall of the Kaharoa Tephra, which suggests that there may have been some temporary damage to coastal forest, but no major disruption. Tunapahore B (Figs 3.6a–b)

Zone TB-1: before and during the Taupo Tephra deposition, 1850 BP

This zone has a close resemblance to Tunapahore A, except that ngaio and kohekohe are absent, podocarp trees, tree ferns and hutu more abundant and Fuscospora much less common. As the site is closer to the terrace scarp and at the edge of the swamp, it is likely to have been beyond the coastal scrub-forest zone and within the margin of taller coastal conifer-dominant forest. Zone TB-2: 1850 BP to beginning of Maori clearance

All forest and scrub pollen types are at very low percentages in the sample immediately overlying the Taupo Tephra, with the exception of Fuscospora, and bracken, grass, tutu and charcoal fragments are abundant. The tephra fall was presumably accompanied by extensive damage to the coastal forest and subsequent fire that resulted in dense bracken, grass and tutu on the coastal strip (Wilmshurst and McGlone 1996). The sediments higher in the sequence show progressive recovery through a hutu–Dodonea seral phase to a forest type similar to that before the eruption, but with more kahikatea and totara than previously. At 60 cm there is a further disruption through fire that did not affect the forest as severely, but induced reworking of tephra into the swamp and was accompanied by flooding and a temporary abundance of raupo. Charcoal associated with the tephra layer dates to c.780 BP, but this must be taken as a maximum age as there is a likelihood of the charcoal being derived from wood decades to centuries older. The uppermost sample in the zone shows undisturbed forest once more.

Figure 3.4a Thornton-Atkinson complex, percentage pollen diagram

32 Kohika

Figure 3.4b Thornton-Atkinson complex, percentage pollen diagram

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 33

Figure 3.5 Tunapahore A, percentage pollen diagram

Figure 3.6a Tunapahore B, percentage pollen diagram

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 35

Figure 3.6b Tunapahore B, percentage pollen diagram

36 Kohika

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 37

Zone TB-3: Maori clearance (maximum age: 780 BP)

All forest and scrub pollen types are at low percentages in these two samples and bracken, grass and charcoal fragment percentages are high, indicating destruction of forest in the coastal strip. Increased flooding and nutrient enrichment of the swamp are shown by high levels of raupo. The date of first Maori clearance is problematic, as discussed below.

Prehistoric vegetation of the Bay of Plenty coast

The natural vegetation of the lowland Bay of Plenty has been removed from a wide crescent extending from Waihi in the northwest to the Motu River in the east, and up to 20 kilometres from the coast. In the western and central Bay of Plenty the forest that remains has been extensively logged and much is second-growth broad-leaved bush (Nicholls 1974a, 1974b). Only west of the Motu River do largely unmodified forests extend nearly to the coast. From extant western forest tracts and the pollen results presented here and in Giles et al. (1999) and Newnham et al. (1995), the prehistoric lowland forest consisted for the large part of conifer/broad-leaved associations in which matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia), rimu, miro (Prumnopitys ferruginea) and kahikatea formed a conifer overstorey above a canopy of tawa, hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus), maire, rewarewa, kamahi and northern rata (Metrosideros robusta). A large range of broad-leaved trees and shrubs also occurred in these forests. Where the forest structure was disturbed, rewarewa, tanekaha, kanuka and kamahi often formed a low forest as part of the pathway back to tall conifer forest. Tree ferns were abundant throughout. Within a few kilometres of the coast a number of tree and shrub species became more prominent, including kohekohe, pukatea, pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), ngaio and Dodonaea viscosa. Wetlands covered much of the Rangitaiki Plains and the Maketu Basin (Campbell et al. 1973, Newnham et al. 1995). Movement of alluvium in river channels and river levees, and migrating sand-dunes associated with episodic coastal progradation created a dynamic, diverse topography. Raised bogs were common and dominated by jointed rushes, wirerush (Empodisma minus) and Sporodanthus, nearly always in association with a manuka shrubby cover (Campbell et al. 1973). Drier peats tended to be formed by Gleichenia fern and manuka. Swampy wetlands were characterised by the tall sedge Baumea complanata, flax, raupo and toetoe. At Kohika, the abundance of tanekaha, Metrosideros, manuka, Coprosma, kahikawaka, pukatea, kahikatea and totara suggests that a diverse scrub and forest grew on levees and sand-dunes within the swamp complex, and identification of pukatea and kahikatea macro-remains from peats further inland on the southeastern Rangitaiki plains (Campbell et al. 1973) confirms their local presence. The swamp areas at Tunapahore represent poorly drained clearings within dense coastal forest and appear to have had a scrub/sedge cover. The range of some species appears to have changed markedly since human occupation. Kohika differs from other lowland Bay of Plenty sites in having a significant presence of kauri and pahautea pollen. The nearest extant occurrences of kauri are on the Mamaku Plateau, just north of Lake Rotorua (60 kilometres distant), and Te Puke (40 kilometres distant) (Nicholls 1974a). Kauri pollen is consistently present throughout zones KO-2 to KO-5, at levels of 0.5–4.0 per cent. These percentages are similar to those for kauri from lakes in the Hamilton Basin (Newnham et al. 1989) and in the northern Bay of Plenty (Newnham et al. 1995), both areas within its current range. On the other hand, kauri pollen is recorded at 20–40 per cent in pre-Kaharoa sediments on Matakana Island, 80 kilometres northwards along the coast (Giles et al. 1999). It

38 Kohika

is likely that stands of kauri forest grew south of its current range within the Tarawera River catchment close to the Kohika site, although wind transport of pollen from the north cannot be definitively ruled out. Pahautea is now sporadic in the Bay of Plenty and its pollen is absent at all other Bay of Plenty pollen sites (Giles et al. 1999, McGlone 1983b, Newnham et al. 1995). However, it was once an important component of the lowland floodplain forest community at Kohika. Hutu is now rare in the Bay of Plenty, being recorded at only a few sites in forest-covered broken hill country behind Whakatane and Opotoki at altitudes between 150 and 650 m. Hutu is consistently recorded at low percentages in the western Bay of Plenty (Giles et al. 1999, Newnham et al. 1995) and at Kohika, but, as this small tree is wind-pollinated, this pollen could derive from long-distance dispersal. However, at Tunapahore the levels of hutu encountered (up to 15 per cent) indicate local occurrence. The mild, drought-free conditions most favoured by this species (McGlone and Moar 1977) were evidently best met in sheltered coastal sites backed closely by hills.

Volcanic disturbance and fire

The Taupo Pumice and the Kaharoa Tephra occur in sites throughout the Bay of Plenty, including Kohika, Tunapahore, the Rangitaiki Plains and western Bay of Plenty sites (Campbell et al. 1973, Giles et al. 1999, Newnham et al. 1995). Inland, close to the eruptive centre, there was widespread destruction of forest by ignimbrite flows and an extensive halo of forest disruption to the east (Wilmshurst and McGlone 1996). The Bay of Plenty was beyond the reach of the ignimbrite flows, but probably large areas of forest devastation and tephra plains occurred in the modern Kawerau–Edgecumbe district associated with flooding by tephric alluvium. In the most northern of the Bay of Plenty sites, Waihi Beach Swamp in the western Bay of Plenty (Newnham et al. 1995) and inland at Holdens Bay (McGlone 1983b), the vegetation shows little discernible reaction to the deposition of the Taupo Pumice, while at Papamoa Bog, Maketu Basin (Newnham et al. 1995), on the Rangitaiki Plains (Campbell et al. 1973) and Tunapahore, there was a variable but marked disruption of the vegetation. At Papamoa and the Rangitaiki sites, the Taupo Tephra was followed by increased bracken. At Kohika, the most rapidly accumulating site, bracken and grass do not increase until after the first alluvial silt deposit following the Taupo. They do not peak with Fuscospora, tree-fern spores and charcoal, suggesting the later spread of bracken and grass. This appears to represent both a delayed successional response in the hinterland to volcanic devastation, and possibly a local response to direct tephra damage to forest and scrub by providing fresh alluvial surfaces for them to pioneer on (Wilmshurst and McGlone 1996). Of the forest types, only kahikatea and tanekaha decline, suggesting that the major effect at Kohika was flooding due to the choking of waterways with Taupo Tephra alluvium. The Maketu catchment (Papamoa), however, would have had no alluvial flooding, and at Fermah Rd (Waihi) no alluvium flooded onto the site. Nevertheless, bracken still showed an increase, suggesting that there was a direct effect of tephra-fall on the surrounding dryland vegetation that led to some temporary replacement of forest or scrub with bracken. It has been often claimed that the Taupo eruption permanently altered the vegetation of the central North Island, but this appears to be a gross overstatement. The direct impact of the Taupo Tephra on the vegetation at Kohika was over within 200 years. Tunapahore, despite lying at the very edge of the major depositional area of the Taupo Tephra (less than 10 cm thickness), shows an extreme reaction. The most likely explan-

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 39

ation is that the coastal bush was vulnerable to acidic ash-fall, and widespread dieback resulted in fires lit by lightning that opened up ground for bracken and grass (Wilmshurst and McGlone 1996). As at the sites further west, the forest rapidly and completely recovered. The impact of the Kaharoa Tephra is complicated by the fact that Maori settlers were almost certainly in the region at the time it fell. The previously dominant kauri declined after the Kaharoa Tephra fall at Matakana Island, but the decline coincides with the first appearance of charcoal and bracken. Giles et al. (1999) are unsure whether this decline was induced volcanically or by humans. At Waihi Beach Swamp, the 4 cm-thick Kaharoa Tephra seems not to have caused any forest destruction (Newnham et al. 1995), nor did a 10 cm fall at Tunapahore. At the Papamoa site, the 5 cm-thick tephra is followed immediately by bracken and charcoal, but it is very near the surface of the bog and the Polynesian and European records are blended, so it is impossible to tell whether there was a direct effect (Newnham et al. 1995). On the Rangitaiki Plains near Kohika, the Kaharoa Tephra ranges from 10 to 15 cm thick (Pullar 1973) and may have had an effect independent of Maori burning. Metrosideros, tanekaha and swamp shrubs all decline after the eruption and then recover, accompanied by a brief pulse of charcoal influx and bracken, suggesting that either the tephra directly affected the vegetation, or that Maori took advantage of tephra-damaged vegetation to do some initial clearance, as suggested by McGlone (1981).

Anthropogenic fire and timing of first settlement

Most peat deposits in the Bay of Plenty show evidence of having been burnt in prePolynesian times. Campbell et al. (1973) recorded charred wood, peat and charcoal throughout late Holocene deposits at Maketu and on the Rangitaiki Plains. The Papamoa and Waihi Beach sites also have a long record of microscopic charcoal (Newnham et al. 1995). In all likelihood, these fires were confined mainly to the swamps and bogs, and the surrounding dryland vegetation suffered only infrequent fire. The Kohika site seems to have been less vulnerable to fire, probably because of consistently high water-levels and, aside from the charcoal associated with the Taupo Tephra, there is no clear record of natural fire. Consistent influxes of charcoal and permanent conversion to bracken and grass of landscapes previously covered with forest or scrub are the best palynological criteria for inferring human presence (McGlone 1983a, McGlone et al. 1994, Newnham et al. 1998). However, against a background of intermittent natural fire, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first Polynesian burning began, as there are no distinctive markers to distinguish anthropogenic burning from natural burning. Evidence for anthropogenic burning before the Kaharoa Tephra in lowland Bay of Plenty is equivocal. At Waihi Beach Swamp, charcoal abundance immediately below the Kaharoa Tephra is no different from that deeper in the profile, and there is no bracken or grass. At Papamoa Bog, charcoal increases immediately below the tephra, but not bracken or grass. Detailed sampling at Kohika revealed consistent but low levels of bracken in the 6 cm directly below the Kaharoa Tephra, but no charcoal. On the basis of accumulation rates, if the presence of bracken is equated with human intervention, the first human impact may have occurred at Kohika around 750 BP. At Tunapahore, there is no indication of disturbance immediately before or after the Kaharoa Tephra. However, the temporary influx of tephric silt and charcoal accompanied by bracken and grass, dated at 781 BP, is only a little outside the range for first major environmental impact, as estimated from the total New Zealand set of

40 Kohika

palynological sites (McGlone and Wilmshurst 1999), and may possibly represent an early temporary clearance. The Tunapahore area was not permanently settled until after the Kaharoa eruption but, because of the problem of dating silts with reworked charcoal inclusions, we cannot be sure when. There are many pa in this area which are likely to have been established from AD 1500. The earliest ages for archaeological sites in the Bay of Plenty support the interpretation from the pollen profiles that major human impact did not begin until after the deposition of the Kaharoa Tephra. In the western Bay of Plenty, there are relatively early dates for the archaeological site of Kauri Point swamp of between 629 ± 60 (NZ593) and 533 ± 82 yrs BP (NZ813) (O’Keeffe 1991:128, 171–4). However, the inbuilt age of the wood and charcoal is not known. In the Whakatane district, a charcoal sample giving a maximum age for a gravel-added soil on the Opouriao Plains has an age of 540 ± 67 (NZ6838). When calibrated, these radiocarbon dates in the range 550–650 BP enter an area of ambiguity, giving calibrated ages of between the calendar years AD 1250 and 1450. Obsidian hydration dates for the Tokitoki site, Ohiwa Harbour are in the range 650–690 BP, consistent with the age of the Kaharoa Tephra on which the site was laid down (McGovern-Wilson pers. comm. 1996). Despite its convenient location for settlement, benign climates and fertile soils, there is no evidence that the Bay of Plenty was settled earlier than any other district in New Zealand. Continuous traces of bracken recorded immediately below the Kaharoa Tephra might indicate small-scale burning as Maori exploration of the central North Island began.

Use and impact of fire during the Maori settlement phase

Lowland coastal Bay of Plenty was largely covered in tall, species-rich, conifer/broadleaved forests in the years before Maori settlement. Dense vegetation, including complex mosaics of swamp forest, scrub and tall sedges, jointed sedges and flax, covered the extensive wetlands of the Rangitaiki Plains. While this vegetation cover supported a large variety of plants and animals, it was inimical to human settlement. The densely wooded, tangled vegetation of lowland swamps and surrounding slopes would have been difficult to penetrate. Once the easily harvested forest birds had been depleted, the primary forests would yield little aside from berries and some minor vegetable foods. Destruction of forest therefore increased the potential of the Kohika area to support humans. Burning of the forest and swamp forests created easier access to the hinterland along valley bottoms and ridge crests, and encouraged the spread of bracken, ti (Cordyline) and tutu, all of which yielded highly valued carbohydrate foods. Plant remains recovered from the archaeological site (Lawlor 1979), including seeds of titoki and hinau, indicate that there was continuing use of the remaining forest patches. Freshwater swamp resources such as flax, raupo, eels, other fish and water birds were also highly important, and these were increased and made more accessible through burning. Analysis of gardening patterns in the Whakatane catchment (Jones 1986) shows that a range of sites was used for cultivation. Choices were based on soil type (light, free-draining soils were preferred) and microclimatic factors, such as north-facing slopes, which increased sunlight and warmth, and those that lengthened the frost-free season (cold air drainage and proximity to the coast). Patches of suitable soils occurred throughout the coastal area, thus further encouraging widespread burning. Decline in all tall-tree pollen reflects widespread deforestation, and the increased influx of bracken spores indicates that fern was a major vegetation cover. The densely

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 41

wooded landscape gave way to one in which most of the suitable soils were either under cultivation or in some sort of fire-induced vegetation, with only small patches of forest surviving. Continuous forest was confined to hilly areas, although even here fire burnt up steep faces and was used to clear tracks along ridges and other natural pathways. Clearance of the surrounding landscape and the wetland vegetation itself may have led to faster run-off from the catchment, and therefore greater flooding and less interception and re-evaporation of rainfall by the vegetation cover (McGlone 1983b). Both processes would tend to make the low-lying areas wetter, replacing bog forest and scrub with tall, regularly flooded, herbaceous flax and raupo associations such as those which came to predominate around the Kohika pa site. More navigable networks of streams and lagoons, and easy access to the hinterland through cleared valleys and ridges, would have increased the effective size of the resource catchment available to the inhabitants. Once begun, firing continued regularly, as attested to by the continuing dominance of bracken and grass. However, dryland vegetation change was relatively slight after the major burn-off at Kohika. Jones and Moore (1985) found coastal forest at Whangara on the East Coast to have been replaced early in the occupation sequence by repeatedly burnt shrublands and open mobile dunelands, and this was probably the same as near the coast on the Rangitaiki Plains. However, most scrub species and broad-leaved trees are poorly represented in the pollen rain and, at most sites, we can only infer that they played an important role in the post-settlement vegetation. It seems likely that the rather monotonous background of generic pollen types conceals a more varied vegetation history. There was a constant low level of input of forest-type pollen, some indicating long-distance transport from the forested hinterland and others the nature of the local remnant forest patches. Kamahi pollen, sporadic before the Kaharoa Tephra, was continuously represented afterwards, while rewarewa pollen continued to be well represented. The upper sediments at Thornton-Atkinson also have high levels of kamahi. Kamahi and rewarewa are prominent in regenerating forest in the Bay of Plenty (Nicholls 1991), and this suggests that the current situation of remnant forest patches surrounded by regenerating forest and scrub was established early in the course of Maori settlement. The upsurge of raupo in Zone KO-7, disappearance of Maori cultural material and influx of sand and silt argues for major change in local land use, probably associated with the introduction of European-style agriculture consequent on intensive European colonisation of the region from the 1850s onwards. Eutrophication of the swamp with the arrival of stock and later the introduction of fertilisers may account for the raupo increase.

Conclusions

The pre-human lowland Bay of Plenty was densely forested and even wetland areas were predominantly covered with tall swamp forest and scrub. Only deep, wet organic soils and regularly flooded areas had a mainly herbaceous vegetation. Air-fall deposition of tephra after volcanic eruptions caused marked but temporary declines and altered the forest and wetland cover through the direct influence of tephra and through flooding of volcanic alluvium down rivers. Maori settlement pervasively altered this natural setting through systematic and repeated firing of the vegetation. Dense forests, swamp forests and wooded wetlands were replaced with scrub/fernland, raupo-, reed-, sedge- and fern-covered wetlands and lagoons, interspersed with cultivations on fertile and climatically favoured patches of lowland alluvium soils, and forest stands. Maori

42 Kohika

settlement coincides largely with tawa-dominant forest and, in turn, indicates a mild, not overly wet, benign climate within which kumara cultivation was possible and an abundance of fruits and birds of the diverse lowland forest available. Within this climatic zone areas with easy access from the coast and rivers were heavily settled. The process of destroying the original forest appears to have been as follows. Some minor destruction may have occurred between c.800 BP and the Kaharoa eruption at 665 BP, but major settlement can have occurred only after that date. In seasonally dry areas and on fragile dune lands, sustained forest clearance occurred. In inland districts and Tunapahore, the Kaharoa tephra-fall may have had a considerable impact, but some recovery ensued over one or two centuries, only to succumb to widespread burning. On the eastern Bay of Plenty terrace lands, sporadic settlement may have occurred early on, followed by sustained settlement relatively late in the pre-European sequence compared with elsewhere in the Bay of Plenty, East Coast and Hawkes Bay. Throughout the period of sustained settlement, the Rangitaiki Plains, Tunapahore and Whangara could be described as ‘degraded’ landscapes, as have been described for eastern Polynesia in the period of human settlement (Kirch 1984:139–46). However, as the observations made by James Cook at Tolaga Bay suggest, they are better viewed as landscapes maintained by repeated firing at certain stages in a seral succession from bracken, scrub and grassland to forest. The timing of permanent Maori settlement is still not entirely certain. The Bay of Plenty palaeoecological data suggests that permanent occupation may have been as late as 750–700 BP, if uncertainty over dating is taken into account. The archaeological and environmental evidence clearly cannot rule out the presence of small, transient populations much earlier. Continuous traces of bracken recorded immediately below the Kaharoa Tephra at a number of locations in the central North Island (Newnham et al. 1998) might therefore indicate small-scale burning as Maori exploration began. On balance, we favour an interpretation in which a limited amount of exploratory activity and transient settlement occurred in the Bay of Plenty just before the eruption of the Kaharoa Tephra, followed by mass settlement and rapid population growth fuelled by the initial plentiful wild resources and productive soils of the region. The relatively late occupation of an area that could be confidently predicted to be a prime focus for Maori activity (Jones 1989) raises questions about when New Zealand was settled. Currently, there are an ‘early’ model proposing first settlement at around 2000 BP (Sutton 1987), an ‘orthodox’ model of settlement at about 1000 BP (e.g. Davidson 1984) and a ‘late’ model of settlement at c.700 BP (Anderson 1991). Palynological research has been undertaken specifically to help distinguish between the settlement models (e.g. Elliot and Neall 1995, Horrocks et al. 2001, Newnham et al. 1998), with some suggestions being made of early human impact before 1000 BP. In addition, kiore bones have been dated to as early as around 2000 BP, with the implication that early contact must have taken place (Holdaway 1996), and a debate on this continues. However, McGlone and Wilmshurst (1999) concluded from a survey of deforestation dates that Maori environmental impact was first experienced somewhere between 750 and 550 calendar years BP, and that suggestions that this impact occurred earlier is a result of misinterpretation of the significance of charcoal and bracken spore traces, combined with reliance on inherently risky sites for dating. The Bay of Plenty palaeoecological data strongly support the late model, as it is improbable that such a favoured area in climate and resources, strategically placed at the heart of the intensively settled region of the New Zealand archipelago, would be neglected for hundreds of years after first settlement. The subsequent ecological history of Maori settlement in the Bay of Plenty after the

The impact of Polynesian settlement on the vegetation of the coastal Bay of Plenty 43

major clearance of forest reveals no further major alterations to the vegetation cover until European settlement. Regular burning maintained a matrix of cultivable ground, forest, fern, scrub and swamp, within which all the requirements for sustaining the relatively dense network of settlements could be found.

References Anderson, A.J., 1991. The chronology of colonization in New Zealand. Antiquity, 65:767–95. Campbell, E.O., J.C. Heine and W.A. Pullar, 1973. Identification of plant fragments and pollen from peat deposits in Rangitaiki Plains and Maketu Basin. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 11:317–30. Clark, R.L., 1982. Point count estimation of charcoal in pollen preparations and thin sections. Pollen et Spores, 24:523–35. Davidson, J. M., 1984. The Prehistory of New Zealand. Auckland: Longman Paul. Elliot, M. and V.E. Neall, 1995. A twelve hundred year history of deforestation and a new age for the Rangitoto Ash from Motutapu Island, Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Geological Society of New Zealand, Miscellaneous Publication No.81A. Froggatt P.C. and D.J. Lowe, 1990. A review of late Quaternary silicic and some other tephra formations from New Zealand: their stratigraphy, nomenclature, distribution, volume and age. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 33:89–109. Giles, T.M., R.M. Newnham, D.J. Lowe and A.J. Munro, 1999. Impact of tephra fall and environmental change: a 1000 year record from Matakana Island, Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand. In C.R. Frith and W.J. McGuire (eds), Volcanoes in the Quaternary. London: Geological Society, Special Publications, 161:11–26. Holdaway, R.N., 1996. Arrival of rats in New Zealand. Nature, 384:225–6. Horrocks, M., Y. Deng, J. Ogden, B.V. Alloway, S.L. Nichol and D.G. Sutton, 2001. High spatial resolution of pollen and charcoal in relation to the c.600 year BP Kaharoa Tephra: implications for Polynesian settlement of Great Barrier Island, northern New Zealand. Journal of Archaeological Science, 28:153–68. Jones, K.L., 1986. Polynesian settlement and horticulture in two river catchments of the eastern North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 8:5–32. Jones, K.L., 1989. “In much greater affluence”: productivity and welfare in Maori gardening at Anaura Bay, October 1769. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 98:49–75. Jones, K.L., 1991. Maori settlement and horticulture on the Rangitaiki Plains, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 13:143–75. Jones, K.L. and P.R. Moore, 1985. An archaeological survey and environmental interpretation of the Whangara dunes, East Coast, North Island. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 28:81–101. Kirch, P.V., 1984. The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lawlor, I., 1979. Palaeoenvironment analysis: an appraisal of the prehistoric environment of the Kohika swamp pa (N68/140), Bay of Plenty. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Lowe, D.J. and A.G. Hogg, 1992. Application of new technology liquid scintillation spectrometry to radiocarbon dating of tephra deposits, New Zealand. Quaternary International, 13/14:135–42. McGlone, M.S., 1981. Forest fire following Holocene tephra fall. In R. Howarth, P.C. Froggatt, C.G. Vucetich and J.D. Cullen (eds), Proceedings of Tephra Workshop. Department of Geology Publication, No.20. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington, pp.80–6. McGlone, M.S., 1983a. Polynesian deforestation of New Zealand: a preliminary synthesis. Archaeology in Oceania, 18:11–25. McGlone, M.S., 1983b. Holocene pollen diagrams, Lake Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 13:53–65. McGlone, M.S., A.J. Anderson and R.N. Holdaway, 1994. An ecological approach to the

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Polynesian settlement of New Zealand. In D.G. Sutton (ed.), The Origins of the First New Zealanders. Auckland: Auckland University Press, pp.136–63. McGlone, M.S. and N.T. Moar, 1977. The Ascarina decline and post-glacial climatic change in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 15:485–9. McGlone, M.S. and J.M. Wilmshurst, 1999. Dating initial Maori environmental impact in New Zealand. Quaternary International, 59:17–26. Moore, P.D., J.A. Webb, and M.E. Collinson, 1991. Pollen analysis. Oxford: Blackwell. Newnham, R.M., D.J. Lowe and J.D. Green, 1989. Palynology, vegetation and climate of the Waikato lowlands, North Island, New Zealand, since c.18,000 years ago. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 19:127–50. Newnham, R.M., D.J. Lowe and G.N.A. Wigley, 1995. Late Holocene palynology and palaeovegetation of tephra-bearing mires at Papamoa and Waihi Beach, western Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 25:283– 300. Newnham, R.M., D.J. Lowe, M.S. McGlone, J.M. Wilmshurst and T.F.G. Higham, 1998. The Kaharoa Tephra as a critical datum for earliest human impact in northern New Zealand. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25:533–44. Nicholls, J.L., 1971. Raukumara Forest Class Map. Forest Service Mapping Series 6. Sheet 6. Wellington: New Zealand Forest Service. Nicholls, J.L., 1974a. Rotorua Forest Class Map. Forest Service Mapping Series 6. Sheet 5. Wellington: New Zealand Forest Service. Nicholls, J.L., 1974b. Urewera Forest Class Map. Forest Service Mapping Series 6. Sheet 7. Wellington: New Zealand Forest Service. Nicholls, J.L., 1991. Native Forests. In B.D. Clarkson, M.C. Smale and C.E. Ecroyd (eds), Botany of Rotorua. Rotorua: Forest Research Institute, pp.15–22. O’Keeffe, M.P., 1991. Prehistoric settlement in the western Bay of Plenty. Unpublished MLitt thesis, University of Auckland. Pullar, W.A., 1973. Isopachs of tephra, Central North Island, New Zealand. Scale 1:1,000,000. New Zealand Soil Bureau Maps 133/1–7. New Zealand Soil Survey Report No.31. Pullar, W.A., 1985. Soils and land use of the Rangitaiki Plains, North Island, New Zealand. Lower Hutt: New Zealand Soil Bureau. Sutton, D.G., 1987. A paradigmatic shift in Polynesian prehistory: implications for New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 9:135–55. Wilmshurst, J.M. and M.S. McGlone, 1996. Forest disturbance in the central North Island, New Zealand, following the 1850 BP Taupo eruption. The Holocene, 6:399–411. Wilson, C.J.N. and G.P.L. Walker, 1985. The Taupo Eruption, New Zealand. I. General aspects. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, A314:199–228.

4

Excavations and site history at Kohika G.J. Irwin

An archaeological and environmental context for Kohika has been established in Chapters 1–3, and it is now time to consider the structure of this remarkable site. Figure 4.1 is a contour map showing several areas of excavation and Plate 4.1 is an aerial photograph taken during the season of January 1976. This chapter describes and interprets the excavations in the University Areas A, B, C and D, followed by an account of the Whakatane and District Historical Society investigations. Figure 4.1 shows a Regional Council stopbank and canal to the north of the site, running east–west to join Canal 109, which runs northwards alongside Sutherlands Road (shown in Fig. 2.3). North of the stopbank is what remains of Lake Kohika, and immediately to the south is an east–west belt of remnants of pre-Taupo age dune that extends on both sides of the Tarawera River. Site V15/80, Kohika, is one of these and, at the time of occupation, was a small island that stood in freshwater lake and swamp. The contours in Figure 4.1 are at 10 cm intervals and show heights above sea level (mean high-water springs) as measured from a Regional Council benchmark on the stopbank beside Canal 109. During our fieldwork the freshwater level to the north of

Figure 4.1 A contour map of Kohika showing the location of the excavations

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46 Kohika

the stopbank varied with tide and weather, and the water table in the swamp around the site lay typically between the 40 cm and 60 cm contours. When drains were dug on Mr Jessop’s farm in 1974 the machine skirted the eastern edge of the mound, leaving the zig-zag to be seen in Figure 4.1. It exposed a palisade of kanuka posts that were rotted off at the water table, and it threw out various waterlogged artefacts that were found in the spoil heaps. It later transpired that this cultural material came from peat lying below a thick band of alluvium composed of reworked tephra, laid by floodwaters from the Tarawera River that flowed northwards around the eastern side of the site. This flood deposit was much less in evidence in the sides of the drain along the northern side of Kohika which lay in the shelter of the mound, and it was in this area where members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society concentrated their efforts (Fig. 4.1). Artefacts could be found much more easily by probing and digging in the peat here than where it was covered by floodwash. The dynamic geology of the Rangitaiki Plains has been described in Chapter 2. All of the layers and stratigraphical events at Kohika have both natural and cultural dimensions and it is not possible to explain the prehistoric occupation without close attention to both. The geomorphological setting of Kohika, in summary, is that it was at the 2000 BP shoreline and has a core of dune sand. The Taupo, Kaharoa and Tarawera tephras are present, plus the Taupo sea-rafted pumice. All three tephras have been mixed into the soil of the dune but survive intact as beds in the surrounding swamp, where they are interstratified with peats, silts and diatomaceous earth that formed in swamp and freshwater lake. Also in the immediate area of the site is the band of reworked Kaharoa Tephra alluvium, mentioned above, that was redeposited during a local flood event when the Tarawera River overflowed its banks. As described in Chapter 2, in Pullar’s (1985) scheme the dune sand is Koe and the diverse soil types immediately adjacent to Kohika conform to his Mtk and Onc categories. Other soil types lay close by. Thus Kohika was not entirely artificial, as are some swamp sites in the North Island. Its sand core was natural but, as will be shown, it expanded laterally with the spread of occupation debris and artificially laid floors, which were found to interdigitate with the swamp deposits at the margins. The excavations of each season followed the developing knowledge of the site. 1. Area A was in a high and dry part of the site with evidence for intercutting storage pits and bins with a later episode of cooking structures. After the site was abandoned there were late intrusive burials. Excavation began in 1975 and continued in 1976, with final investigations in 1978. 2. Area B lay at the eastern palisade, and the exposed sections of the drain offered a key to site structure. Artefacts thrown out with the ditch spoil included hair combs and a greenstone pendant and chisel. In 1975 Squares B1 and B2 were dug inside the palisade, and in 1976 Square B3 was dug outside the palisade while Square B4 straddled it. 3. In Area C in 1975, Squares C1 and C12 were dug adjacent to the Historical Society area at the edge of the swamp, and two further squares, C7 and C10, were placed on higher ground to the south. No further work was done in later years. 4. Area D lay marginal to the water table on the northern side of the site at the former lakeshore. In 1975 Squares D1 and D2 discovered a number of superimposed artificial living floors and these were pursued horizontally in 1976 in Squares D1 to D11, and D16. Rich waterlogged remains included houses and their contents, a pataka storehouse, cooking shelters and canoes. 5. In 1977 and 1978 excavation dealt with particular problems that remained: • Square DD was dug in Area D on a different orientation to the previous grid to investigate the lowest level.

Excavations and site history at Kohika 47

• Squares D12–15 were dug as a discontinuous trench to establish the stratigraphic relations between Area A at the top of the mound and Area D at its edge. • Square D17 was dug to collect samples of pollen and sediment. • An effort was made to locate the palisade on the western side of the site. • Other miscellaneous tasks included making a contour map, establishing elevation in relation to the tidal data, and the burial and retrieval of thermal cells for obsidian hydration calibration. 6. An extensive survey of stratigraphic cores was made in the vicinity of Kohika. In 1967 A. Pullar of the Soil Bureau made 11 cores in this part of the Rangitaiki Plains. He visited Kohika during the excavations in 1975 and 1976 and made a further 27 cores; the information is shown in Figure 2.3. The University of Auckland team made some 20 cores both within and close to Kohika in 1976, and another 10 in association with M. McGlone in 1978. In the same year, I. Lawlor inspected the agricultural drain sections near Kohika as part of his thesis research (Lawlor 1979). This chapter concludes with a discussion of the area, very rich in waterlogged artefacts, previously dug by Whakatane and District Historical Society members. Henceforth it is referred to as the HS Area. The account is based on their brief notes and sketches made at the time, some discussions with this author and also on information extrapolated from the university investigations.

Excavations in Area A

Area A was on the dry part of Kohika and expected to produce different evidence from the swampy margins of the mound. A continuous area of more than 70 square metres was investigated.

Volcanic ash and disturbance on the mound

Excavations revealed only a few small patches of intact Taupo Ash on the dune itself. No intact Kaharoa Tephra was found either, but this was to be expected because it is generally masked by black topsoil on the dune ridges of the Rangitaiki Plains and difficult to identify (Pullar 1985). However, the upper layers in Area A also have the appearance of a mixed deposit. We know that the inland dunes of the plains were favoured for gardening in prehistory and can be confident that this took place at Kohika. Moreover, the bed of Tarawera Ash that lay undisturbed in the swamp was also missing on the mound and has been mixed into the soil since AD 1886. Whether this was due to Maori gardening or recent conversion of the land to pasture is not known. If the upper part of the deposit was mixed by machine, it did not reach very deep, because several late intrusive burials in the site, which were the highest cultural features, were not badly smashed up. However, we found them to be in generally poor condition, due to exposure to severe weathering.

Stratigraphy

Excavation followed the natural stratigraphy in 5 cm spits. Cultural items were mostly hand-picked but samples were taken regularly for sieving and flotation. Soil samples were collected from every layer and further bulk samples were returned to the laboratory

48 Kohika

Figure 4.2 Some representative section drawings from Area A

for processing (Lawlor 1979). Some representative section drawings in Squares A1 and A5 are shown in Figure 4.2. Plate 4.2 shows the excavation in Square A1 Extension in progress. Layer A consisted of currently grassed black topsoil. Layer B was a mixed sandy subsoil with pumice dispersed throughout. Pieces of pumice up to about 1 cm in diameter occur in the airborne Taupo Ash at Kohika while larger pieces were sea-rafted. These normally ranged in size up to about 10 cm but some large pumice boulders were discovered. Layer B was usually divided into upper and lower levels, B1 and B2. While they were similar in texture and composition, B1 was commonly more brown in colour and B2 rather more stained grey with charcoal. Much of the charcoal scattered through Layer B is likely to result from burning of vegetation and tillage of the soil. However, lower down in the deposit, and especially where associated with features, the charcoal has a different origin and more integrity. It is likely that much of the obsidian and the scattered small cooking stones in Layer B are out of primary context, too. Notwithstanding the mixing, there is variability in the layer – as shown, for example, by lenses of denser pumice in some places. Layer C consisted of the brown sterile sand of the former dune without the pumice that arrived some time after its formation. At the Layer B/C interface was a few centimetres’ depth of mottled material resulting from the interaction of the layers by natural soil processes. This was also the zone in which excavation detected many features and some disturbances that were dug into Layer C. The fills of these features showed some variation in colour and texture, but all shared a basic composition similar to the material of lower Layer B.

Features and chronology

A plan of excavated features is shown in Figure 4.3. Most of these were found at essentially the one level, the top of Layer C, but clearly they were not all of the same age. Three means of inferring relative chronology were (1) the

Excavations and site history at Kohika 49

evidence of stratigraphy and the intercutting of features, (2) the tentative evidence of different fills of features, and (3) the pattern of features in plan. Of these only the intersection of features was reliable, but the other evidence did not contradict it. A number of feature types were found. Bins

There were five bins more than 1 m long in the excavated area. At least three of these had small stakeholes around them that probably supported light roofs. An example from Square A3 is shown in Plate 4.3, and a cross-section of the same structure at a later stage of excavation in Plate 4.4. The bins do not appear to be part of other larger structures, as known from other sites. In age, none of the bins cut any earlier feature. Pits

There were seven pits, all distinguished from bins by being clearly larger. They included both round-ended and rectangular plans and there is nothing remarkable about them. Alignments of the pits suggest some contemporaneity among them, at different times

Figure 4.3 A plan of the excavated features in Area A

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Kohika

(Fig. 4.3). Further, whereas most pits were found to intersect with other pits, as shown in Plate 4.5 (only one did not), pits did not cut any other kind of feature. Thus we may conclude that both bins and pits were generally earlier than other kinds of structure. We cannot tell the time relations of pits and bins because of their mutually exclusive distribution, but this probably indicates that the two were sometimes contemporary. Ovens and firepits

There were more than 20 of these and some of the stratigraphically younger ones still contained cooking stones; earlier ones had been raked out. Ovens and firescoops cut into the fills of pits and they also overlay one another. Where any relevant evidence exists, ovens were younger than both pits and bins, but there was no indication of the time interval between them. Burials

Five late burials were found in the top of the mound in Area A. These were the shallowest features and were generally picked up within Layer B. They were not interrupted by any other feature, which supports a young age. Indeed, it seems certain that the burials were late and intrusive and occurred after Kohika had been abandoned as a settlement. The burials were flexed and primary and the bones had been in articulation at the time of interment. While observations and notes were made in the field by G. Barnett, a physical anthropologist, any remains that had been moved were reburied at the end of the excavation exactly where they had been found. This was the preference of both Maori elders consulted and the director. Other above-ground structures?

One might expect people to have built houses on top of Kohika so as to be as high as possible above the water, but there is no current evidence for it. However, it was sensible to use the top of the mound for storage, to keep the bottoms of pits as far as possible above the water table. In Figure 4.3 there is a line of three slots in Square A4, in the northern one of which were the remains of a split plank. Excavations in swamp sites in the Waikato and in other parts of Kohika have shown that standing planks in bedding slots was one form of house construction in prehistoric New Zealand. A second single slot with the surviving butt of a plank was found 1.40 m to the east of the first one, in Square A3. However, a supposed hut or house that included the two would be implausibly narrow and the line of just three slots is too short. Obviously, some minor aboveground structure stood there, but what it was is by no means clear. In Area A there is no unambiguous floor plan as outlined by the remains of walls. There is no physical floor and there is no distribution of artefacts or debris to imply one. However, all these kinds of evidence for housing were found in Area D at Kohika, while the wooden parts of houses themselves were recovered from the adjacent swamp. As we know what houses look like elsewhere at Kohika, there is no reason to propose any for Area A. Various alignments of postholes shown in Figure 4.3 might suggest structures, however. For example, running roughly east–west across Squares A1 and A2 is an alignment of postholes that was possibly a shelter for a similar alignment of fireplaces just to the south. Area A sequence

To summarise, the sequence of major activity in Area A was storage followed by cooking (however, it should be remembered that Kohika was quite large enough to accommodate

Excavations and site history at Kohika 51

the spatial variation of activities). Then came abandonment. Afterwards, people returned to bury their dead in what was to them, perhaps, an ancestral site. There is no evidence for any considerable duration of settlement in Area A but, clearly, the superimposition of structures shows some elapsed time. Nor is there evidence for any interval during occupation, although that might be elusive anyway. However, the general pattern conforms to what is understood about other parts of the site.

Excavations in Area B

One basic feature shared by Areas B, C and D is that they all made contact with the same natural swamp stratigraphy, although they interacted with it in different ways. Experience has shown that comparisons between areas can assist the interpretation of each, so this approach is taken in the following discussion. Area B was selected for excavation because of the interesting material thrown out by the drain digger. Squares B1 and B2 were located inside the defended site perimeter (Fig. 4.1) but B2 was abandoned at a depth of about 30 cm. Square B3 was dug east of the agricultural drain to investigate the area that lay clearly outside the site, beyond the palisade. Square B4 was carefully located to straddle the perimeter of the site along the line of the palisade.

Site structure and history at Square B1

Square B1 encountered a new kind of deposit. While it was still inside the site, there was no in situ dune sand. Instead, it was in an area where the mound was artificially expanded but had not yet reached the palisade that separated dry land from lake. Figures 4.4 and 4.5 show, respectively, the north and south sections of Square B1, and Figure 4.6 is a plan of features at the base of the excavated square. Plate 4.6 shows excavation in progress and Plate 4.7 shows some detail at the base of the cultural deposit. The first essential point to note about the bottom of Square B1 is the natural sequence of the bed of airfall Kaharoa Tephra overlain by lacustrine silt, then followed by peat, that underlies the cultural deposit (Fig. 4.5). It follows that the mound had spread sideways over these natural sediments of shallow lake and swamp during occupation. Cultural material was found only from the upper part of the peat, indicating that there had been a considerable time of peat growth after the Kaharoa event and before occupation of the site. Nevertheless, both the sterile lower peat and the upper part of the pale olive silt below were stained by the cultural material above. Moreover, unlike the situation in Squares B3 and B4 (see below), there was no flood alluvium in B1 because at the time of the flood the perimeter of the site already lay beyond the excavated square. The flood could not reach it here, inside the site. The source of the sediment in the cultural layers of Square B1 was sand from the dune itself together with other occupational debris. Much of the activity that related to the lateral expansion of the site in Area B took place a little further inland towards Area A, which indicates that the two were broadly contemporaneous. Although Area B was contiguous with Area A, none of the structures characteristic of Area A was found in B. Also absent were artificial floors (of largely sterile dune sand or reworked tephra quarried from elsewhere), such as occur in Area D. No living surfaces were found in the 20 square metres excavated in Area B, although there are indications of a house nearby that was not found (see below).

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Figure 4.4 Square B1, north section

Figure 4.5 Square B1, south section

The cultural deposit in Square B1 accumulated around three substantial standing posts, all more than 20 cm in diameter. Two of these can be seen in Plate 4.7 while the third was still to be excavated at that stage. The plan of the excavation (Fig. 4.6) shows the three posts in the northern part of the square set in wider holes originally dug for them to stand in. Also shown in the southern part of the square are three similar large holes that do not hold posts, and two of them can be seen in Plate 4.7. It is probable that these holes formerly held posts that were drawn, because otherwise the timber would still survive below the water table. Thus there is evidence for some

Excavations and site history at Kohika 53

substantial construction in Square B1 and also for change. The remaining posts are large and capable of supporting a considerable load, and there could be others beyond the excavated area, but there was no building at ground level for there is no trace of a floor. Currently the posts lie inside the line of lighter kanuka posts that form the palisade, probably too far away to be part of a raised defensive stage or entrance. The several valuable artefacts found in the vicinity could suggest a raised storehouse on the posts. The composition of the cultural layers was unremarkable. The section drawings (Figs 4.4 and 4.5) show that the original topsoil of Square B1 was covered by some depth of overburden from the modern ditch. A small greenstone chisel from the ditch was found in this spoil in Square B1 and a fine greenstone pendant was found at the same level in Square B2; clearly, they both came from the agricultural ditch. The absence of intact airfall Tarawera Ash below the topsoil conforms to the situation over the whole mound above the swamp. An upper layer of brown soil, flecked with orange, had virtually no cultural component and is interpreted as a soil profile that formed after the abandonment of Kohika but was within reach of more recent disturbance from the surface. The occupation soil in Square B1 was a deposit of mixed sediment and cultural material derived mainly from the sand dune nearby. Every sixth bucket of

Figure 4.6 Square B1, plan of features at the base of the excavation

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Kohika

material was wet-sieved through a 5 mm screen and was found to contain scattered charcoal, occasional cooking stones, flakes of obsidian, freshwater mussel epidermis, bone, wood chips and some flecks of ochre. The matrix of the deposit was sandy, grading to more silty and moist, and then peaty, with increasing depth. There were scatters of pumice sand and sporadic pumice chunks. The posthole fill low in the deposit (Fig. 4.5) was derived from occupation sediment above but was turning to peat. The fine lens of pumiceous sand shown at the interface of the sterile lower peat and the diatomaceous silt below arrived by natural agency.

Site structure and history of Square B3

Square B3 was outside the site and the lake bed was covered by alluvium from a flood that happened while people were living at Kohika. Above it there was further peat growth in the interval after the village was abandoned. It lay close to the drainage ditch (Plate 4.8), which made it difficult to excavate, because drain water flowed through the bed of airfall Kaharoa Tephra, acting as an aquifer. An external sump/test pit was dug to protect fragile deposits in the square. When both Squares B3 and B4 nearby were getting down to the water table, the main sludge pump was moved across from Area D to keep the water level under control in both excavations while they were finished and recorded. Figure 4.7 records the stratigraphy of B3 and Plate 4.9 shows a late stage of excavation and the bagging of waterlogged remains. Below the topsoil in the upper deposit, a post-flood meander channel can be seen in Plate 4.8 cutting into the top of the tephra alluvium below. Filling this meander channel was an Upper Peat (see below) in which lay the bed of airfall Tarawera Tephra. The growth of peat between the alluvium and the Tarawera indicates an interval of time. In the base of this peat some fragments of

Figure 4.7 Square B3, east section

B3 East Section N

1.00

2.00

Tarawera Ash topsoil upper peat

silt lenses pumiceous alluvium with silt lenses

grey pumice sand

white pumice

silt lens grey pumice lower peat 1

sedge peat

silty peat lower peat 2

S

Excavations and site history at Kohika 55

unworked wood and a flake of obsidian could relate to the flood event itself, rather than to post-flood activity. A dramatic flood

Life at Kohika was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a deep deposit of alluvium. The stratigraphic sections at this part of Kohika correspond to a variant of Pullar’s (1985) soil type Onc (Omehue Coarse Sandy Loam), a poorly drained gley soil with a thin cover of Tarawera Ash over pumiceous Kaharoa alluvium, on a sub-surface of sand and gravels and with occasional thin layers of diatomaceous earth. The distribution of this type is shown in Figure 2.3 (above), and at Kohika there were lower peats and silts as well. Clearly, the alluvium arrived as a local but sudden event and it appears to have been similar to modern floods. For example, the area of Pullar’s Ran soil type shows the distribution of alluvium deposited in the flood of 1964 (Fig. 2.3). Typically, the passage of a cyclonic weather system across the Bay of Plenty is accompanied by high rainfall in the catchment of the rivers that cross the plains. Strong on-shore northeasterly winds back up the floodwaters, particularly when the tides are high. In 1964 the Tarawera River overflowed its banks not far upstream from Kohika during just such an event. Alluvial sediments consisting mainly of Kaharoa-derived materials that were already in the swamp were carried by the floodwater and redeposited mainly in the meander channels that crossed the swamp at that time. The prehistoric flood deposit at Kohika was laid down in a short time, probably during a single period of bad weather. There were bands of reworked tephra in which the sediments were size-graded. At the very bottom of the alluvium were pieces of pumice up to 4 cm in diameter and waterworn greywacke stones up to 6–7 cm. Clearly, there was some variation in the energy of floodwaters during the event as silty lenses formed among the bands of pumice sand. The alluvium also contained odd bits of debris, such as water-rolled charcoal and pieces of stick, that had been gathered up in the floodwaters. But no cultural material or peat growth or palaeosol has been found in this deposit, even though some hundreds of metres of drain and excavated section in the locality have been carefully examined (Lawlor 1979). The arrival of half a metre or more of fill around the lakeshore meant it was no longer normally possible to reach parts of the site by canoe. While this would have been of only minor significance in the context of wider swamp history, it was more serious to the people of Kohika. From this time on, in every excavated area, the amount of cultural evidence is minimal and much of that can be attributed to later disturbance of the upper deposit. Below the alluvium two natural layers of peat divided into an upper layer of sedge peat with rushes, and a lower layer of more silty peat. Cultural material was found down to the interface between them. It included scattered wood chips, coils of rata vine, fragments of bracken and miscellaneous sticks. There were pieces of gourd shell, cooking stones and a few patches of dumped ash and fishbone. A wooden hair comb at the interface of the two peats was a valuable find. The lakeshore in Square B3 at the time of occupation was evidently shallow water and reeds with various flotsam and jetsam. However, there was an important exception in three long adze-dressed wooden posts that were found lying across the northern part of the square, with no ends in view. They give the appearance of having been laid together at the wet margins of the site with the intention of retrieving and using them later. While these posts were found close to the three empty postholes in the peat at the bottom of Square B1 from which three posts were evidently removed, the ones in B3 were of smaller diameter. Lying above the posts in the Square B3 peat was a long dressed totara plank that protruded from the northern baulk. It seems that one extra dimension to the use of the swampy

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Kohika

margins of Kohika was the occasional storage of wooden items, and the more frequent storage of vine in water to keep it supple.

Site structure and history in Square B4

With both interior and exterior strata established, a transect of posthole bores between them found the actual edge of the site and the location for Square B4. The information it provides is striking. Plates 4.10–14 show stages of the excavation and Figure 4.8, a drawing of the west section of the square, provides relevant stratigraphic information. To control drainage while digging below the water table, a deep external sump that doubled as a test pit was dug outside the west section at the northern end. Into this was placed a metal drum with perforated holes to allow water to flow but to reduce erosion of fragile sediments. Water was then pumped from this drum. A narrow drain that went down with excavation led from a small seepage sump inside the excavation through the baulk to the sump outside. A point of stratigraphic interest is that this sump was the only place in Area B where the original pre-Taupo sand-dune surface was encountered as it sloped down under the swamp sediments that formed above it, long before the site was occupied. Square B4 was a 2.5 x 2 m unit that crossed transversely from the flat area of the swamp to the rising incline of the mound, which explains why the topsoil became more moist and peaty in the lower end of the square. Below the topsoil the edge of the mound was perfectly defined by the presence of Tarawera Tephra outside the site and its absence inside. Since it fell in AD 1886, the tephra has been mixed into the soil everywhere on the dry part of the site and now lies around it like a tide-mark. In B4, the ash varied in thickness and had gone down in pockets under the weight of cattle hooves. Below the Tarawera Tephra, lay a peat that is separated into two bands in Figure 4.8, although it stopped some 30–40 cm short of the end of the ash as the square became drier. This Upper Peat, as we have called it, was found generally in the swamp

Figure 4.8 Square B4, west section

Excavations and site history at Kohika 57

around the mound in both Areas B and C and indicates former freshwater stands. Sealed under it in the southwestern corner of Square B4 was a wooden board in poor condition as a result of periodic drying of the upper deposits (Plate 4.10). It was reinforced in a wooden frame prior to being lifted (Plate 4.11). Below the peat, as can be seen in Figure 4.8, was a post-flood deposit and the ground surface that existed at the time of the flood can be traced inland. This soil was a greybrown, or grey-black, gritty mixture of sand with scattered seeds and lenses and lumps of pumice. Every sixth bucket of this soil was wet-sieved through a 5 mm screen. It was found to contain virtually no cultural material (apart from scattered charcoal) and, as the deposit sloped down across the square, the soil became increasingly sterile. The same inference arises as before: there is little evidence for continuing occupation of substance at Kohika following the flood. Prior to the arrival of the floodwash, an occupation soil was forming inside the kanuka palisade post shown in Figure 4.8. This was the same deposit as we have seen already in Square B1 and consists of occupation debris that spread laterally from the exposed sand-dune nearby. The pre-flood sediment was stained with charcoal and its matrix graded from sandy silt to peat with increasing depth and moisture. Sieved components include wood fragments that were often partly burnt, scattered shellfish remains including freshwater mussel, a few dog coprolites, discarded cooking stones and flakes of obsidian. The flood deposit itself is nowhere revealed more starkly than in Square B4. Plate 4.12 shows the sharp division between the dark cultural interior and the clean white pumice exterior as one sights along the agricultural drain that closely follows the former palisade. Plate 4.13 shows the detail of half a dozen kanuka posts in the palisade, all surrounded by a homogeneous layer of grey alluvial silt, and also shows the rippled effect that the water had at the shoreline. Plate 4.14 and Figure 4.8 show how the floodwater washed tephra sand between the palisade posts into the site. The zone where sand and silt interdigitate is complex and delicate. While some silt was evidently borne by the flood, some here was washed away from the shore. The distinguished soil scientist A. Pullar saw this section on one of his visits to Kohika and observed that the deposition of the pumice and formation of the lapped shoreline could have taken place within a day during the flooding of a braided river channel (pers. comm. 1976). Immediately below the pumice alluvium was a bed of rushes that grew at the base of the palisade at the time of the flood. Stratigraphically below this again was the same Lower Peat as defined in both Squares B1 and B3 (and also Areas C and D). As elsewhere, cultural material was found only in its upper part because the lower part had grown before people lived at Kohika. One further feature of the Lower Peat in Square B4 was that the layer became more sterile as one followed the deposit from the outside to the inside of the site. As in Square B1, the dry land that built up inside the palisade in this part of Area B overlay lake-bed sediments that had formed during an earlier time when the edge of the site was further inshore.

Excavations in Area C

Area C was excavated in 1975 only. Squares C1 and C12 were placed near the Historical Society dig to investigate the deposit that had produced such a wealth of waterlogged wooden items (Fig. 4.1). The further purpose of Squares C7 and C10 was to extend the sample to the high and dry area of the site.

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Site structure and history at Squares C1 and C12

Figures 4.9 and 4.10 are drawings of the south and west sections of Square C1 and Plate 4.15 is a general view of the same squares during excavation. The main stratigraphic units will now be familiar after the discussion of Area B. They include the topsoil and Upper Peats 1 and 2 containing Tarawera Ash. Below this came the deposit of alluvial tephra, and the number and order of interleaved bands of pumice sand and silt were very similar to those in Squares B3 and B4. Under the floodwash, Lower Peat 2 was a dark brown peaty silt followed by the Lower Peat 1, which was a brown sedge peat with rushes. A natural interface separated the two peaty layers in Area C. The lowest layer shown in Figures 4.9 and 4.10 is lacustrine silt that overlay the bed of airfall Kaharoa Tephra. Cultural deposition

Sparse cultural material occurred through the 6–7 cm depth of Lower Peat 1, at the interface, and intruded into the top 2–3 cm of Lower Peat 2. It contained adzed wood chips, scraps of worked wood up to 40 cm in length, and odd broken sticks. Much of the wood showed signs of burning. In Square C12 there were also six obsidian flakes, a few fire-cracked stones, a light scatter of charcoal and some fragments of gourd Figure 4.9 Square C1, south section

Figure 4.10 Square C1, west section

Excavations and site history at Kohika 59

shell. The items found were the waste from woodworking and other activities on higher ground nearby. This interpretation is supported by the generally pristine surface of the underlying silt, which had an extremely soft consistency. People did not actually live in this part of the site because it was shallow lake at the time, which implies that the Historical Society’s adjacent excavation could have been located on an outlying part of the dune. No finished wooden artefacts floated into Area C from the HS Area or from the University Area D, a little further away. Reeds and raupo growing at the lakeshore probably prevented that. Site history after abandonment

Plate 4.15 shows that a late meander channel formed in the swamp around this northeastern part of the mound and crossed both squares on their long axis. The channel removed some of the upper alluvium but peat continued to grow. The sediments here were diatomaceous and indicate freshwater stands. Lying below Upper Peats 1 and 2 at the bottom of the meander channel, and on the upper surface of the floodwash, were some fragments of plaited flax and a broken wooden weeder. However, these could have been separated in time from the cultural material below the floodwash by the flood event itself.

Site history at Squares C7 and C10

Squares C7 and C10 were located on the mound in the northeastern part of the site inside the palisade. The soils here derive from dune sand with tephra mixed by gardening and occupational debris. Both Squares C7 and C10 represent substantial cooking activity although their features differ in detail. Figure 4.11 is a drawing of the south section of Square C7. Under the turf the deposit had a dark brown peaty layer mixed with Tarawera Tephra, and below this again were numerous fireplaces and lenses of diverse materials, including pumice sand (quarried from elsewhere), dune sand and charcoal-rich soils. Two long parallel features with dark fill had cut into a log lying in the dune sand. Our interpretation is that these were fire-pits extended horizontally with re-use and that the log was intruded on by burning. It appears that the log was present in the site before occupation and does not represent woodworking. At Kohika Figure 4.11 Square C7, south section

60 Kohika Figure 4.12 Square C10, north section

some substantial tree trunks have survived at or below the water table on the dune, indicating that forest trees once grew here on the Taupo-age shoreline. Large buried stumps have also been found on dunes further inland, suggesting that podocarp forest once flourished there (Pullar 1985). Figure 4.12 is a drawing of the north section of Square C10. At the top of the deposit were the recent remains of two cabbage tree stumps, which overlay a stratigraphic tangle of hangi structures that had been made, remade and sometimes plugged with sand. The most recent of these still had cooking stones in place. In the lower deposit was a squarish feature 1.5 m across made of imported yellow sand, with a raised edge and associated postholes (Plate 16). One might guess that it was part of a cooking shelter, but it was too disturbed to tell. In general, these two squares represent continuous activity and especially food preparation, as distinct from other high parts of the site that have indicated different functions. However, an excavated area of only 12.5 square metres of the dry part of Area C is an insufficient sample to reveal wider patterns of settlement.

Excavations in Area D

Area D was located in an embayment on the northern side of the old dune where pasture met raupo swamp (Figs 4.1 and 4.13). In 1975 Squares D1 and D2 established vertical stratigraphy in this low-lying part of the site and revealed several superimposed living horizons. In 1976 Squares D1 and D2 were completed, while D3–11 and D16 were opened to expose the horizontal dimensions. Then in 1977 and 1978 excavation units D12–15 formed a discontinuous trench that was dug to establish stratigraphic continuity between Area D and Area A on the top of the mound. A further square, DD, was dug over the southeastern corner of D2 and the northern part of D5, but on a different alignment, to investigate the lowest level. Finally, Square D17 was used to sample the palynological history of the swamp, as described in Chapter 3. In all, approximately 120 square metres were excavated in Area D.

Excavations and site history at Kohika 61

Excavation methods

Area D was marginal to the water table and, after prolonged rain, water began to flow out of the lowest holes (Plate 4.17). Baulks were used to divide the excavation area into pumping units. They were 0.5 m wide and protected by planking. We began in 1975 with a single pump but from 1976 had a large-capacity pump that could control water in four excavation units at once or, when there were high volumes of water, in two units. Baulks also provided long straight sections for recording and facilitated the removal of spoil. As excavation proceeded, baulks were progressively removed where possible. The wet deposit was fragile and excavators worked on boards to protect it. The flow of water was found to be of benefit insofar as it continuously washed the deposit as it was excavated, which made for excellent visibility. However, where the flow was strong or the baulks fragile, it caused erosion. One remedy was to step baulks, which was done occasionally. Also, test pits within excavation units doubled as sumps for drainage. In some places, such as Square D1, drains were led out of the excavation to exterior sumps that were kept deeper than the level of excavation. Perforated cans and drums, were used to collect water in sumps while retaining the deposit. Samples of soil were wet-sieved regularly during excavation as a check on the quality of data collection, and bulk samples of all layers were taken for later analysis in the laboratory (Lawlor 1979). Wooden items were washed and treated with a polyethyleneglycol solution as they came out of the ground and then triple-bagged in plastic. Rolls of plastic tubing were kept for this purpose on site. At the end of the 1976 season a railway truck was needed to bring all the material back to Auckland. To complicate matters, at this time no suitable conservation laboratory was available to receive it, so interim storage was used until a new laboratory was fitted out.

Stratigraphy and interpretation

The vertical stratigraphy will be considered first, then the horizontal disposition of the layers. Figure 4.14 is a drawing of all four sections of Squares D1 and D2. The upper layers were found to cover the whole excavation unit. The topsoil was a black sandy silt loam, mainly in grass. Below this was a layer of brown peaty silt, and samples collected by A. Pullar and analysed at the New Zealand Soil Bureau contained diatoms (McGlone and Pullar 1976). This was a new discovery for soils of the Rangitaiki Plains (Pullar 1985), but it caused no surprise in this location on the shores of Lake Kohika. Also within this layer of peaty silt was a continuous bed of airfall Tarawera Tephra of AD 1886.

Figure 4.13 Area D, the layout of excavation units

62 Kohika Figure 4.14 Squares D1 and D2, all sections

Excavations and site history at Kohika 63

Below the upper 20 cm of deposit, the tops of standing wooden posts began to be uncovered where they had rotted off at the water table. Plate 4.18 shows they formed a line that crossed the excavation obliquely from the southeast of Square D1 to the northeast of D2. This line marks an important boundary for all the layers below, distinguishing between an inside area associated with structures and an outside area associated with the swampy margins of the site which, nevertheless, contained rich cultural materials. Thus layers of different material were found to be contemporary with one another at, or near, this boundary. The section drawings in Figure 4.14 show where the various layers began and ended. Inside the site perimeter was a layer of black sandy silt loam that has two divisions. The upper one represents a buried topsoil (McGlone and Pullar 1976) and was substantially free of cultural material. Outside the perimeter fence was a layer of clean white pumice sand derived from alluvial Kaharoa Tephra. Examination of the sections of the modern agricultural drains that surround Kohika, together with an extensive pattern of cores, indicates that this layer corresponded to the alluvial tephra already found in Areas B and C. The distribution of the deposit varied around the site insofar as it related to the idiosyncratic nature of the flood. The alluvium was deepest in the former meander channels and in some areas did not occur at all. The differences also followed the amount of shelter found progressively around the eastern to northern sides of the mound from the flood that came from the Tarawera River. In Area B it was 0.7 m deep, in Area C 0.5 m deep and it was shallowest in Area D, typically about 0.15 m. This event provided a definitive stratigraphic link between the three areas and marked the simultaneous end of occupation. Below the alluvium lay the lower division of the black sandy silt loam that covered the whole of Squares D1 and D2. Whereas the upper division of this loam inside the line of posts was a buried topsoil, the lower division, which also extended outside the posts, was an occupation surface containing cultural material such as wood, charcoal and cooking stones. A sharp boundary between the upper and lower black loams was observed during excavation and confirmed in the field by A. Pullar (McGlone and Pullar 1976). This occupation surface formed above the highest of three artificial floors in Area D (Plate 4.19), named the White House horizon during the excavation. It had an actual house floor and adjacent areas of cooking and dumping, and consisted of 5–10 cm depth of the clean Kaharoa tephra alluvium that was readily available in the swamp nearby. While the laid floor itself was confined to the area inside the line of standing posts, a fine horizon of the same gritty material could be traced outside the posts over the whole of the excavation of Squares D1 and D2, and beyond. The spatial pattern will be discussed further below. Under the White House on the same alignment was the Yellow House horizon, which consisted of a laid floor of yellow-grey dune sand that could have been obtained from quarrying in a higher part of the site. The Yellow House floor varied in thickness up to 20 cm. In some places it lay almost directly below the White House, separated by an interface only a few centimetres deep. Elsewhere in the sections can be seen a black sandy occupation layer that built up during the life of the Yellow House horizon. However, there is no indication of any interval of time between the Yellow and White horizons when this part of the site remained unoccupied. It was first one and then the other. Below the Yellow House floor lay another artificial horizon that followed much the same alignment across Squares D1 and D2. However, this surface was made up of two different materials that met edge-on at a further line of posts running towards the inside of the site at right angles to the posts marking the outer edge of the White and

64 Kohika

Yellow floors above. To the west of this new post alignment was the Bright Yellow floor. It can be seen in the south section of Square D2 (Fig. 4.14) and, again, it reached the line of posts diagonally crossing the excavation. At the same level to the east of the new posts was a contemporaneous floor consisting of white silt and smooth water-rolled pebbles varying in diameter from 5–10 cm (Plate 4.20). The white silt is the same lacustrine silt sediment widely available in the swamp around Kohika. In the floor it appeared to have been laid in basketfuls and packed with stones. The stones are greywacke and derive ultimately from the catchment of the Rangitaiki River that formerly flowed nearby. They were available locally as gravels associated with the pre-Taupo shoreline of which the stranded sand-dune of Kohika is a remnant. These three levels of artificial floor were built out from the former edge of the mound, thereby extending the dry land. They lay above sedge peat and silt that had formed previously in the swamp. Cultural debris lay in peat outside the perimeter fence beyond the floors. Below the artificial floors the stratigraphy corresponds broadly to that described already for Areas B and C. Figure 4.14 shows a layer of peat containing cultural material down to a band of dense in situ vegetable material at its base. Next came a layer of sterile peaty silt, and a sample of this from Square D2 was found to contain diatoms (McGlone and Pullar 1976). Excavation below the brown peaty silt is shown in Plate 4.21. First came the same layer of pale olive lacustrine silt as elsewhere and beneath this, again, the bed of airfall Kaharoa Tephra locally some 10 cm deep. The ash acted as an aquifer and exposing it produced a considerable inflow of water. Nevertheless, excavation some 50 cm deeper into the sedge peat that pre-dated the Kaharoa provided no evidence for a human presence.

A question of faulting

It was clear during the excavation of Square D2 that faulting had occurred in the artificial floors, and geological research since the Edgecumbe earthquake of 1987 has raised a significant issue. Figure 4.14 shows that the Yellow House and the underlying white silt and stone floor both faulted at the same place and time. This left a gap in the Yellow House floor that was evidently patched (see below). However, the White House floor did not drop, and it would surely have done so had it existed at the time, because it was made of fragile sandy tephra with no support other than the layers below. This consideration provides an age for the event. At the time of excavation the faulting was thought to be an event peculiar to Kohika as diatomaceous sediments are known to be unstable. Also, the site of Ngaroto had revealed some fault-like features (Shawcross 1968), but that case was very different because there was a large number of floors, many just 2–3 cm thick, laid over several metres of cultural deposit that was above the water table and therefore able to dry out from time to time and to move. The situation was very different from Area D of Kohika, where there were only three, much thicker floors resting directly on swamp deposits that never dried out during prehistory. Recent geological research has provided a more likely explanation. A series of faults lies on both sides of the Whakatane Graben (Nairn and Beanland 1987), as illustrated in Figure 2.1. The existence of many of these was unsuspected because the surface evidence was concealed beneath recent alluvium on the flood plains. The faults at Matata, located just a few hundred metres from Kohika, have been described by Ota et al. (1998). A radiocarbon date for the most recent event has given an age of less

Excavations and site history at Kohika 65

than 250 years (Ota et al. 1998). This was probably the cause of the faulting at Kohika. The chronology is about right – in fact, the dating of the occupation at Kohika can provide a more precise date for the geological event at Matata than is currently available. It seems that living at Kohika during late prehistory had its moments of drama. People there experienced an earthquake that foreshadowed the one of 1987. Moreover, occupation of the site was ended by flood just as the major flood of 1892 wiped out the first attempts of Europeans to settle on the Rangitaiki Plains (Gibbons 1990).

The spatial evidence from Area D

Wooden artefacts from the peat in Area D indicate houses and pataka. The purpose of the laid floors was to provide clean living surfaces and to raise the ground above water level, as at other swamp pa. White House horizon

Figure 4.15 shows a house floor on the White House horizon measuring 5.40 x 3.65 m orientated with its long axis approximately east–west. One end of the house was aligned to the posts crossing Squares D1 and D2 that evidently formed the perimeter fence of the site. The wider horizon extended beyond the house with a clear distinction between the clean floor of the house and the stained area outside it. There were many cooking structures. The most recent contained cooking stones but others had been raked out and there was dispersed midden and other debris. The pumice floor had been damaged by use and Figure 4.15 shows what remains. Much of the house itself was in Squares D2 and D5 (Plate 4.22), cooking took place in D4 (Plate 4.23) and a large number of discrete rubbish-dumping events were identified in the adjoining Square D3. Further, although the extent of the floor was distinct, a wider horizon could be traced by the spread of its sediment surface beyond the perimeter posts. As described above, the horizon was covered by a shallow occupation surface of black sandy silt loam. Then, inside the posts only, the same loam matrix continued above it but without cultural material and was identified as a buried topsoil. Outside the site at the same level was the white alluvium. While in places this washed between the perimeter posts, it is significant that it did not penetrate over the house floor itself (Fig. 4.15). This means that a standing house kept the flood deposit out, and corroborates the interpretations already given for Areas A, B and C that the site was occupied until the flood and then evidence for occupation virtually ends. Diatomaceous peaty silt formed above the floodwash and buried topsoil and, within it, lay the Tarawera Tephra, whose intact distribution marks the water level in 1976 (Figure 4.15). Yellow House horizon

The Yellow House floor was made of reworked local dune sand and was more extensive than the White House floor. Because it was lower in relation to the water table, more than a dozen wooden posts survived along the two side walls of a large house some 7.25 x 5.35 m. Its long axis was east–west and the western end was aligned to the same perimeter posts as the White House, built directly on top. The distribution of yellow-grey sand is shown in Figure 4.16 and Plate 4.24. Again, there is a distinction between the clean interior of the house and the stained and more damaged contemporary surface outside. As in the case of the White House horizon, cooking took place at the southern side of the house, where firescoops were found, some with cooking stones in situ and scattered food waste. Occupation had damaged and removed parts of the

66 Kohika

Figure 4.15 Area D, the White House horizon

yellow sand floor to reveal a black sandy layer below. In some places the yellow-grey floor was repaired by patches of clean sand as revealed by lenses of black below them (Plate 4.25). During the excavation, records were kept of the characteristics of the posthole fills, but it was difficult to distinguish postholes that belonged to this period of occupation from those that intruded later from above. However, there is no such doubt about the remains of the actual posts found along the sides of the house. Much of the area outside the house was probably uncovered, but some stakes in Square D3 probably relate to a simple shelter, and recovered timbers support this (see below). To the north of the house in Square D6, an area of laid but stained yellow sand extended inside the palisade. This part of the shore would have been a suitable landing-place and several canoe parts were found in both Area D and the HS Area nearby. Apart from the typical wear and tear of the Yellow House floor, there is some particular and interesting damage in the northern extension of Square D5 and the southern extension of Square D6 (Figure 4.16). The east section of Square D2 (Fig. 4.14) shows this to be precisely where some yellow-grey floor faulted and dropped. The plan drawing shows the sand to be missing and the gap filled with a miscellaneous assortment of waste timber that relevelled the floor, apparently as a deliberate patch, although no

Excavations and site history at Kohika 67

Figure 4.16 Area D, the Yellow House horizon (stakeholes less than 10 cm deep are not shown)

additional yellow sand was laid on top. Only a small part of the house floor was affected, together with a section of the eastern wall. One can only guess at the amount of damage caused to the house that was standing at the time. This event probably dates the most recent earthquake at the Matata Fault, as described above. The interface between White and Yellow horizons

The interface between the two laid house floors consisted of a lens of dark sand perhaps 2–3 cm deep, marked by an extensive scatter of small, freshly adzed wood chips and a number of obsidian flakes. Beyond the houses, a layer of stained sand up to 10 cm deep had formed during the Yellow House occupation. The lens of wood chips was undisturbed and there was no sign of any interval of time. Evidently the Yellow House did not collapse or rot slowly. It did not burn down either because, although there was a scatter of very small pieces of charcoal at the interface, there was not the ash or

68 Kohika

debris one would expect on the basis of evidence from other sites. It is possible that the Yellow House was dismantled, and the evidence from the house parts found in the swamp nearby shows that the houses at Kohika were eminently suited to simple construction and dismantling. The suggestion that an earthquake happened while the Yellow House stood may be the explanation. At all events, one house was removed and another, smaller one built in its place in precisely the same spot, and with no archaeological sign of a delay. The scatter of wood chips and flakes at the interface may indeed be the result of building the new house, and these were then covered and protected from subsequent disturbance by the laying of the White House floor immediately after the new house itself was built. That is the logical order of events because, if the floor had been laid before the house was built, one could expect damage to the floor to result, but this did not happen. Bright Yellow floor

A small part of a third level of artificial floors was found in Squares D1 and D2 in 1975 and 1976 and later investigated in Square DD, which lay on a different orientation. Details are shown in Figure 4.17. Another issue that directed attention to this part of the site was the large number of coprolites found in the southeastern corner of Square D2, although it was later established that these were dog faeces that lay in peat below the artificial floors, at which time they were outside the site perimeter. Figure 4.17 Area D, the Bright Yellow horizon

Excavations and site history at Kohika 69

As with the floors above, this horizon ended at the north–south alignment of perimeter posts, but an additional line of posts crossed Squares D2 and DD inside the site at right angles to it. To the west was a layer of Bright Yellow dune sand underlying the yellow-grey sand of the Yellow House horizon. This new sand layer could have been quarried from the top of Kohika itself. East of the line of posts was the artificially laid layer of white silt with water-rolled greywacke pebbles (both available in the swamp nearby), as described above. The two floors of sand and silt were formerly part of the same surface. Originally they met at the new east–west line of posts but the Bright Yellow sand had been removed in places by later disturbance (Fig. 4.17). Woven along the line of posts were long wooden battens, typically 3 cm thick, flexed between the standing posts and also held in place by wooden pegs. The battens separated the two sides of the floor. Details can be seen in Plates 4.20 and 4.26. It is probable that one or other of the two adjoining floors was roofed. The author’s opinion during excavation was that it was the Bright Yellow rather than the silt and stone floor, but, without a larger expanse of floor plan to go on, this is conjecture. In Square D3, at the western side of Area D at a contemporary level, there were patches of woodworking debris and shell midden. In stratigraphic terms the three superimposed structures in Area D were built without appreciable interval. There was no palaeosol, peat or significant cultural debris. While each of the floors and its associated structures may have remained in use for some time, the conclusion is the same as that derived independently from the evidence of Areas A, B and C: the duration of Area D was about a few decades. Stratigraphic correlations show that all excavated areas of the site were contemporaneous. Evidence from the peat

The stratigraphy of Squares D1 and D2 outside the area of laid floors is typical of Area D (Fig. 4.14) and is already familiar. It consisted of a band of sedge peat containing cultural material as far down as a natural layer of flattened reeds that were growing at the time of first occupation. Below this was sterile brown peaty silt. Directly underneath the lowest laid floor was a widespread but discontinuous lens of bracken fern that had been deliberately laid as a foundation on the peat, as seen in Plate 4.27. This had been done with some care, for the stems were aligned and no roots were to be seen. Bands of midden and other debris can be seen in Figure 4.14 spilling away from the edges of the sand floors into the peat. This was collected and recorded by square-metre unit. There is evidence for on-going deposition of material by fairly random dumping in the peat outside the perimeter, and the soft matrix would have been subject to constant interference by people and dogs, and canoes were drawn up at this part of the lakeshore. As for the cultural material, there were cooking stones, occasional large pieces of pumice, waste worked and unworked wood of all sizes and many wood chips. There were waterlogged artefacts, various large adzed timbers and poles, a few worked tree trunks and segments of tree-fern trunks apparently dumped for consolidation. There were coils of unused lashing vine, pieces of gourd, patches of charcoal and ash with fish bones and scales, seams of dumped marine and freshwater mussel shell. There were scattered mammal and bird bones, and dog faeces were abundant. Amongst the rubbish were some woven fibre artefacts including lengths of rope and sections of net. Squares D7, D16 and D17 were located clearly beyond the artificial floors, yet they contained similar material in the corresponding peat layer. D16 produced a spear, a wooden beater and a weeding tool, and D17 a paddle with a broken blade, and a broken bailer with a carved handle. Plate 4.28 shows the bow of a composite canoe,

70 Kohika

Figure 4.18 Area D, Squares D12–15, trench

Plate 4.29 the top of a gourd, Plate 4.30 part of an adzed log and a long piece of plaited rope, and Plate 4.31 a whale vertebra, a spear and a coil of vine.

Squares D12–15: a substantive trench

Towards the end of the excavations at Kohika, the stratigraphic relations between Areas A and D were investigated. Seven posthole bores helped to locate four test excavations, D12–15, whose locations are shown in Figure 4.1 and section drawings in Figure 4.18. At the lower northern end of the section, Square D12 can be seen partly to underlap Square D9, which was excavated in a previous year although no deeper than the Yellow House floor. The southern end of the Yellow House floor was found in the northern end of Square D12 and the stratigraphy is essentially the same as for Area D. A black occupation soil in upper Square D12 had a sandy matrix and contained oven stones, charcoal, wood chips, flakes of obsidian and scattered midden shell and bone. In the lower part of the excavation, the layer of peat contained cultural material similar to the peat outside the site perimeter elsewhere in Area D, although the material in Square D12 belongs to a time when the site perimeter was closer to the former mound. As in Square DD nearby, at the base of the peat was a lens of reeds that had grown in situ and patches of bracken fern had been laid. Below the cultural deposit was the same sterile brown silt and white lacustrine silt that overlay the airfall

Excavations and site history at Kohika 71

Kaharoa Tephra elsewhere. A log was found lying sideways across the excavation, but it was not possible to tell whether it had grown there. It could have been brought in or even floated to this part of the site. Square D13 presented a similar situation to Square D12, except at the bottom. Three substantial artificial floors were laid as phases in the on-going use of the same raised area (Plate 4.32). While these were not continuous with the floors already found to the north in Area D, they occurred at a stratigraphically equivalent level and were composed of the same three distinctive materials. Highest was a white reworked tephra similar to the White House floor, next came a yellow-grey dune sand comparable to the Yellow House floor, and lowest was a clean floor of white silt similar to the one at the base of Area D. Thus the three different materials were found in the same order as they had been in Area D. This situation is unlikely to have occurred by chance, and it is probable that the floors in Square D13 were contemporary with the ones some metres away to the north. In the absence of evidence for surface buildings, this area can be interpreted as open space in front of the houses in Area D. Under the floors was the typical occupation debris in the peat that overlies the brown silt. However, at the base of the excavation there was a difference from the rest of Area D: the lacustrine silt gave way to a pale, silty sand. Evidently, we had reached the top of the buried part of the former dune. Square D14 was still higher on the mound along the D12–15 section (Fig. 4.18). There was still an upper black sandy layer containing charcoal, cooking stones, midden, wood chips and so on, but there were a few formal artefacts and a large number of obsidian flakes, as in Square D13. Artificial build-up in Square D14 was in the form of a thick floor of yellow sand quarried from the dune nearby. Near the base of the excavation, only a small deposit of peat remained at this higher elevation, resting on the white silty sand of the former dune surface. The sterile brown silt of Area D as well as the white lacustrine silt had lensed out at this higher elevation along the D12– 15 trench. Lying lengthwise in the bottom of Square D14 was a substantial tree trunk with no surviving evidence of having been worked (Plate 4.33). This could not have floated into the site and is interpreted as a tree that grew on the former sand-dune prior to occupation, and like that described already for Square C7. While these trunks lay on the same general orientation, it would be too much to suggest that they were both blown down during a single storm, especially as the log in Square D12, which may or may not have grown in situ, was found on a different orientation. Finally, at the top of the D12–15 section, Square D15 exhibited similar stratigraphy to that found already in Area A. There was the same deposit of mixed sandy subsoil with dispersed pumice in upper and lower divisions, as represented by Layers B1 and B2 in Area A. However, the stratigraphy differed in detail from that typical of Area A, both at the top and the bottom of the section. Below the topsoil in Square D15 was a version of the brown silty soil found along the length of the D12–15 trench at this level and, below that, an additional dark charcoal-rich sand that seemed to be the local result of particular burning activity and not the result of any systematic difference in soil process. The composition of the natural basement material was different, too. In this northern part of the mound in Square D15 it was a pale silty sand, whereas in Area A it had been a brown sand. Square D15 was some 20 m away from the Area A excavation, so evidently there was some minor variation in the natural stratigraphy of the mound.

72 Kohika

Chasing the line of the western palisades

A palisade was found in Areas B and D and exposed in the side of the drain along the eastern side of the site. It was possibly also in the area investigated by the Historical Society (see below). Only a few pa are known to lack a continuous defended perimeter but, assuming that a palisade encircled Kohika, it proved to be elusive along the western sides of the site. One of the reasons may be that the changes in elevation there were gradual and the precise edge of the site was not conspicuous. A trench was dug in the southwestern part of the site (Fig. 4.1) but produced no posts. We next tried a line of posthole bores in the vicinity, looking for distinctive natural layers that marked the border of the site elsewhere, such as the Tarawera Ash and the white reworked tephra floodwash, but in this low-lying and fairly flat part of the site these two distinctive deposits did not end on the same line. Some 20 m further around the western side there was a more distinct edge. Here the Tarawera Ash stopped as expected and it was possible to ascertain where the charcoal-stained cultural deposit ended, but no white alluvium was found outside. The flood deposit was intermittent on this side of the site and occurred only in pre-existing meander channels in the peat. Finally, at the northwestern edge of the site a line of small test holes was dug along a transect (Fig. 4.1) but without the desired result. The basic difficulty was that there was quite a broad area where the palisades might run. It would have taken an area excavation to find palisades in the swamp, and the issue did not warrant such an effort. Nor could we exclude the real possibility that the evidence had already been removed when willow trees were bulldozed from the western side of the site.

Whakatane and District Historical Society excavations

When the site was discovered in November 1974, society members inspected the newly exposed drain sides and dug extensively in the area shown in Figure 4.19, which is based on their summary field notes and a sketch. Five units 10 metres square were marked out along the southern side of a new drain running east–west at the northern side of the site, as shown in Figure 4.1. (Squares 2 to 4 were further sub-divided into irregular sections numbered 1–10, as in Figure 4.19.) Another unit, Square 0, lay on the eastern side of a drain running north to join the first. Investigations also extended a few metres beyond the northern drain towards the stopbank with vehicle track on top (Fig. 4.19). Parts of the HS Area were among the richest at Kohika. Artefacts were found in the drain or were located by probing with a gum spear and then dug out. Evidently, there was no substantial removal of spoil during excavation. No precise stratigraphic information is available, therefore, but this can be extrapolated from the drain section and from adjoining parts of the University Areas C and D. It is clear that the waterlogged artefacts were preserved in peaty deposits lying between the Tarawera and Kaharoa tephras. Further, this peat was not sealed by pumice floodwash, which follows from its sheltered northerly location. Generally, the area seems to have been stratigraphically variable but similar to, and contemporary with, University Area D. University Squares C1 and C12 lay to the south of HS Squares 1 and 2. The former lay off the mound in an area of soft peat, and there was no firm substrate or artificial sand floor to support occupation there. Also, no wooden artefacts were found in the peat in Squares C1 and C12, as we would expect if they could have floated from the HS Squares 1 and 2 nearby. Reeds and raupo growing around the site could explain the lack of lateral movement, and this consideration reinforces the conclusion that items found in HS Squares 1 and 2 were

Excavations and site history at Kohika 73 Figure 4.19 Historical Society investigations (with some of their notes)

74 Kohika

substantially in situ. Another difference between University Squares C1 and C12 and HS Squares 1 and 2 is that the former had a substantial deposit of pumice flood alluvium, which was not generally the case for the HS Area. Much of the HS Area was evidently still on the dune or dry enough to live on, like Area D. While the field notes are few, they do record a ‘hard tramp’ layer and the nature of the material found provides evidence for living on the spot, and also for canoes being drawn up on the lakeshore. The society’s notes, some of which are reproduced in Figure 4.19, show that in Square 0 charred wood, charcoal and cooking stones were found at the bottom of the drain and this level was the ‘hard tramp’ layer, which indicates that the underlying deposits consisted of dune sand or artificially laid sand such as encountered in Area D. In Square 1 sticks and spears protruded from the drain side; there was broken gourd shell, some ‘human bone’ tied with flax rope, and a fragment of folded matting (the positions of items shown in Figure 4.19 are approximate). Remarkably, in Squares 1 and 2 were many parts of what is currently the earliestknown carved house in New Zealand, together with many diverse household items that are described in other chapters. This was an in situ household stunningly preserved until 1974. Near this house were considerable quantities of obsidian, including chunks up to 20 cm thick (not all of which were recovered). To the west of the house in Square 2, and extending through Squares 3 and 4, was an area of densely scattered wood chips, evidently the result of adzing. The obsidian and the wood chip scatters were separate but contemporary distributions. Canoe-making is one likely source for the wood chips, and several parts of canoes (including an unfinished bow) and paddles were found. A pounamu adze was found in the drain in Square 4. There were various pumice chunks in Squares 2 and 3. A few had been made into artefacts, but pumice occurs widely in the dune and derives from sea-rafted pumice associated with the Taupo eruption. There was a lesser concentration of wooden items in Square 4 and the so-called ‘tramp layer’ continued through it. Posts described as from a possible ‘palisade’ occurred in the drain in Square 5, and this is plausible given that a section of palisade passed through Area D heading in this general direction at about the same contour. Field notes suggest that flood alluvium reappeared in the drain section around Square 5, with peat and then the ‘hard tramp’ layer below it, which generally matches the Area D stratigraphy. Finally, some evidence from the poupou (house wall planks) found in Square 2 may tell us something about the abandonment of Kohika. These were incomplete, with most of the bottoms rotted off and all the tops burnt off. It seems that, while they were still standing upright in the ground, a fire, or series of scrub fires, passed through the area and burnt off the tops. Most of the house had already collapsed before the fire, because only the pieces still standing were burnt while the rest survived in the swamp. To leave behind carved house parts might seem rather drastic. We already know that occupation was suddenly interrupted by a major flood, and can only speculate about why people did not come back to recover the carvings later. In fact, many other artefacts of value were also left behind, including more than one canoe that could have been used to carry them away. That people did not return could imply something about the political circumstances of late prehistory. However, five late intrusive burials in Area A do tell us that people did eventually return to Kohika from time to time, and the mixing of Tarawera Ash into the dune after 1886 indicates that it was gardened afterwards.

Excavations and site history at Kohika 75

References Gibbons, W.H., 1990. The Rangitaiki, 1890–1990: settlement and drainage on the Rangitaiki. Whakatane: Whakatane and District Historical Society. Lawlor, I., 1979. Palaeoenvironment analysis: an appraisal of the prehistoric environment of the Kohika swamp pa (N68/140), Bay of Plenty. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. McGlone, M.S. and W.A. Pullar, 1976. More about the Kohika site, Bay of Plenty: soil stratigraphy and pollen analysis (a preliminary report). Historical Review, 14:110–3. Nairn, I.A. and S. Beanland, 1989. Geological setting of the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 32:1–13. Ota, Y., S. Beanland, K.R. Berryman and I.A. Nairn, 1988. The Matata Fault: active faulting at the north-western margin of the Whakatane Graben, eastern Bay of Plenty. New Zealand Geological Survey Record, 35:6–13. Pullar, W.A., 1985. Soils and land use of the Rangitaiki Plains, North Island, New Zealand. Lower Hutt: New Zealand Soil Bureau. Shawcross, F.W., 1968. The Ngaroto site. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 11:2–29.

Plate 4.1 Kohika in January 1976. Work is in progress in Areas A, B and D. The spoil heaps are of different colour, which results from their varied composition. Plate 4.2 Excavations in Square A1 Extension.

Plate 4.3 Part of a small bin surrounded by surface stakeholes in Square A3.

Plate 4.4 A cross-section of a bin structure in Square A3 dug into the former sand-dune.

Plate 4.5 An oval-ended pit in Square A1 Ext. interrupted by a later rectangular pit lying at right angles to it. A charcoal sample for C14 dating was taken from underneath the large pumice boulder found in the pit fill.

Plate 4.6 Square B1 during excavation. Plate 4.7 Square B1 near the base of the excavation showing in situ posts.

Plate 4.8 The drain section in Area B shows a flood deposit of reworked tephra alluvium outside the site, where a later meander channel, visible in Square B3, has cut into its surface. Plate 4.9 Wooden items from the peat below the flood deposit in Square B3 are triple-bagged in plastic.

Plate 4.10 A degraded pukatea board in the upper peat of Square B4. Plate 4.11 The pukatea board in Square B4 consolidated prior to removal.

Plate 4.12 The defended edge of the site was sharply defined in Square B4. Palisade posts were exposed in the side of the agricultural drain visible in the background and Square B3 lies on the other side of it. Plate 4.13 The edge of the site reveals the effect of the flood in Square B4. Fine silt lies around the palisade posts, reworked Kaharoa alluvium lies outside the site, and the two are separated by the wave-lapped shore.

Plate 4.14 Square B4, west section, showing a palisade post, pre-flood deposits that built up during occupation, the flood alluvium of sand and silt, and post-flood sediments that are culturally sterile. Plate 4.15 Squares C1 and C12 reveal a deposit of alluvium. Above this, a late meander channel in the Upper Peat can be seen in the baulk, while below the alluvium is the culture-bearing Lower Peat. This photograph shows the pump being primed in 1975 at the start of a day’s work.

Plate 4.16 Square C10 contained a complex succession of fire-pits and hangi with occupational debris and fills composed of material quarried elsewhere. Plate 4.17 Excavating a swamp in wet weather can have its difficulties. Area D.

Plate 4.18 The site perimeter in Area D. Inside the line of posts were artificial house floors; outside many associated waterlogged artefacts were found preserved in peat. Plate 4.19 Square D2, with superimposed house floors visible in the south section.

Plate 4.20 Square D2. A line of standing posts, with horizontal light wooden battens flexed and pegged between them, marks the edge of an artificial floor of silt, packed with water-rolled greywacke pebbles. Plate 4.21 Square D1, south section. Also showing a test excavation of the lacustrine silt, the Kaharoa Tephra and sedge peat below.

Plate 4.22 Square D5, the White House floor. Plate 4.23 Square D4, firescoops in the White House horizon.

Plate 4.24 Area D, exposing the extent of the Yellow House horizon, January 1976. Plate 4.25 Area D, some details of the excavation of the Yellow House floor.

Plate 4.26 Area D, Square DD during excavation of the Yellow House horizon. Intruding into the square is the corner of Square D2, dug previously, while the baulks are composed of backfilled spoil. Plate 4.27 Square DD, laid bracken-fern stems below an artificial house floor.

Plate 4.28 Square D2, canoe bow in peat. Plate 4.29 Square D2, gourd shell.

Plate 4.30 Square D2, adzed log and length of rope. Plate 4.31 Square D7, whale vertebra, wooden spear and coil of vine.

Plate 4.32 Square D13, north section. Plate 4.33 Square D14, log at base of excavation.

5

Site chronology G.J. Irwin and M.D. Jones

This chapter concludes that Kohika was probably occupied for quite a short period of one or two human generations in the late 17th century, that all of the excavated areas were contemporary, and that settlement was substantially continuous. These conclusions arise from a number of strands of geomorphological and archaeological data drawn together by Irwin, together with a Bayesian analysis of the radiocarbon results by Jones. The evidence of geomorphology and archaeology

The natural stratigraphy of the swamp shows that the occupation of Kohika occurred between the Kaharoa Tephra of cal. AD 1350 and the Tarawera Tephra of AD 1886. We note that: • A greater depth of peat lay below the archaeological site than above it, which places the occupation in the latter part of the period. • The peat above the archaeological deposit was sterile, which demonstrates that an interval of time elapsed between abandonment and the Tarawera Tephra. • The generally narrow band of cultural material in the swamp sediments indicates a restricted period of occupation. Two natural events have implications for the chronology: • Evidence for faulting in Area D during the Yellow House horizon was probably associated with an earthquake centred on the nearby Matata Fault (Ota et al. 1988). • The alluvial deposition of reworked Kaharoa Tephra around the shores of Kohika during a flood marked the simultaneous end to occupation in the excavated Areas B, C and D. With regard to the relative ages of the different excavated areas, we note that: • Areas B, C and D were all at the swampy margin of the site and there is a strong stratigraphic and sedimentary correlation between them. • The field notes of the Historical Society excavations and evidence extrapolated from the university excavations argues for a stratigraphic association between Area D and the HS Area, as well. • Area A (and parts of C) lie on top of the Kohika dune and have a lesser stratigraphic correlation with Areas B, D (and the rest of C) at the margins. However, the source of sediments in the expanding margins of the site during the occupation of Area B was the dune itself, which argues for contemporaneity. • The four separate areas excavated by the University and that excavated by the Historical Society were found to be functionally different, but culturally complementary. The mutually exclusive distribution of different aspects of settlement supports contemporaneity. 76

Site chronology 77

With regard to the chronological implications of cultural constituents of the site, we note that: • The artefact style is generally that of Classic Maori (only a vague indicator of chronology). • R. Neich’s analysis of woodcarvings (Chapter 7) indicates a lack of stylistic continuity between the carvings of Kohika and the carving styles of local iwi, including Ngati Awa, as described in European times, suggesting an interval of time between them. • In the huge archaeological database, we have so far found no remains of any European artefact, animal or plant to contest its prehistoric status. With regard to structural evidence for site duration, we note that: • In Area A, kumara storage pits were built at different times and interrupted one another. After the area was no longer used for storage (but with no perceptible delay), the many firescoops show it was used for cooking. Only after the site was abandoned as a settlement was it used for burial. • Area D was occupied long enough for the White House to be rebuilt directly on top of the Yellow House on the same alignment and sharing a common wall. Both were of pole and thatch construction (see Chapter 7). The evidence is consistent with the Yellow House being dismantled (possibly following earthquake damage), and its successor built immediately afterwards. • Until further evidence is forthcoming from elsewhere in the site, the indications are that the duration was quite short. The chronological hypothesis

All of the above information, in combination, supports the hypothesis that Kohika was occupied for an uninterrupted period of only one to two human generations in late prehistory and also that it was probably abandoned by around AD 1700, or not very long afterwards.

Radiocarbon evidence

There have been fifteen radiocarbon dates from Kohika. The results provide a consistent series and the site can be regarded as securely and quite tightly dated. Seven of the C14 samples were collected from Square D17 and were used to date the pollen and sedimentary core, as described in Chapter 3. All of these dates are earlier than the time of occupation of the lake village itself. Eleven further samples that did relate to the village occupation were submitted to the Institute of Nuclear Sciences by G. Irwin in 1984. Six of these samples were dated. All were found to be rather young and of similar age. On the basis of these results, the (then) Radiocarbon Archaeological Committee deemed it unnecessary to date the remaining five samples. However, two further samples were dated in 2001 by the Waikato University Radiocarbon Laboratory, bringing the total for the site occupation to eight and confirming the age of the site. The samples for radiocarbon dating were taken from a range of structural contexts from Areas A, B, C and D. Details of the samples and their conventional radiocarbon ages (CRA) are presented below. NZ6599, Square A1

This sample consisted of charcoal from short-lived species collected from beneath a pumice boulder in the fill of a pit in Square A1 Extension, as shown in Figure 4.3.

78 Kohika

This pit was deliberately filled at the time of construction of a later intersecting pit. Thus the age of the sample relates to the pit sequence of Area A. NZ6580, Square C7

This consisted of tuatua shell (Paphies subtriangulata) collected from shell midden some 75 cm beneath the surface, as shown in Figure 4.11. This was a zone of cooking and midden scatter on the mound. NZ6583, Square B4

The sample was a standing palisade post of small-diameter kanuka, with bark. It is shown in the drawing of the west section of Square B4 (Fig. 4.8). The palisade stood while deposits built up inside it and then was enveloped by the alluvial flood deposit. NZ6611, Square B3

This was a similar small-diameter worked kanuka post found lying in the peat below the flood alluvium at the base of Square B3 (Fig. 4.7). Thus it was a sample from outside the palisade in Area B and expected to give a similar result to NZ6583. NZ6618, Square DD

This sample was a small-diameter post from a line of standing posts that separated a yellow sand floor from one composed of white silt packed with greywacke river stones. These were two contemporary parts of the same Bright Yellow horizon, which represented an early stage in the sequence of laid floors and houses in Area D (Figs 4.14 and 4.17). NZ6619, Square DD

This consisted of laid bracken fern stems (Plate 4.27) from below the floor of clay silt and stones of the same Bright Yellow horizon and is stratigraphically equivalent to NZ6618, both dates relating to the floors and houses of Area D. WK10292, Square D1

This was a small-diameter post from the palisade in Square D1. This palisade was found to have abutted the northern ends of two successive houses that stood in Area D at the Yellow House and White House levels, as shown in Figures 4.15 and 4.16. The age of the sample could be expected to be equivalent to NZ6618 and 6619. WK10293, Square D1

This sample consisted of charcoal of kanuka, tutu, coprosma, hebe and fernroot and was collected from the peat in the swamp outside the palisade in the same excavated square. The sample does not have the same structural integrity as the other three samples from Area D but should be equivalent in age, or very slightly earlier. It represents the burning of secondary growth at the edge of the mound in Area D.

Bayesian calibration of the radiocarbon data

A Bayesian analysis of the available radiocarbon results was performed to assess how well they support the chronological observations outlined above. Here we describe the observed archaeological record as a single general phase of activity of unknown duration. We seek to determine when this phase of activity took place and for how long.

Site chronology 79

Analysis

The Bayesian calibration applied in this analysis follows the phase model described by Nicholls and Jones (1998, 2001). Here all dates are treated as coming from one of three phases that occur in a single, abutting series temporally bounded by the Kaharoa and Tarawera Tephras. This represents the basic structure of the post-Kaharoa geomorphological sequence described in Chapters 2 and 3. Phase 1 is an upper layer of sedge peat that overlies the cultural layer and is bounded by the Tarawera Tephra. No chronometric determinations are associated with this phase. Phase 2 comprises the cultural layer from which eight CRA determinations have been obtained. Within this phase we cannot a priori apply any constraints on the relative age of the dates. Phase 3 corresponds to the layer of peat lying between the cultural deposit and the Kaharoa Tephra. Two suitable determinations are available for this phase, and on the basis of stratigraphic superposition these are constrained temporally so that NZ4801 is of greater age than NZ4800. Thus the chronology of this phase sequence is defined by the unknown temporal parameters Phase 1 end (
0), Phase 2 end (
1), Phase 2 start (
2) and Phase 3 start (
3). The distribution of the parameters
1 and
2 provide estimates for the chronology of the Kohika archaeological record. The purpose of the current analysis is to provide age estimates for these temporal parameters based on the measured CRA data and phase associations given in Table 5.1 below. In addition, we wish to estimate the total duration over which cultural activity has taken place (R –––
1 –
2). Table 5.1 Chronometric data used in the current analysis

Date NZ6599 NZ6580 NZ6583 NZ6611 NZ6618 NZ6619 WK10292 WK10293 NZ4800 NZ4801

CRA 159 596 212 157 221 190 204 270 352 534

Error 42 32 32 32 32 39 54 38 56 56

13C -25.7 -1.35 -25.89 -24.73 -24.97 -24.7 -26.1 -26.2

Phase M 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3

Reservoir N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2

Terrestrial Marine Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial Terrestrial

For further discussion of the model applied in the current analysis it is useful to define the following notation. Let m,n be a calibrated date for the n’th specimen measured in the m’th phase, with units calendar years AD, and assumed to equal the context date associated with the (m,n)’th specimen. Let
m denote the (unknown and undated) boundary date at the lower boundary of phase m. Let P and A, P  A be given termini, setting lower and upper bounds on the dated sequence. Possible parameter sets (
,) take some value in a parameter space , which is simply the set of all states (
,) satisfying the stratigraphic constraints. In the current analysis we have:  ––– {(
,);P 
3 3,2 3,1.
2 2,.
1
0A} Where P=600 and A=66 on the basis of tephrochronology. Following the standard Bayesian inferential framework, the posterior distribution of
and  conditional on the observed dates y (with density h (
,  | y)) is defined in terms of an unnormalised prior density f (
, ), and likelihood L (y | ), as

80 Kohika

h (,
| y) = L (y | )  f (
, ). Here we use the ‘Neutral’ prior f (
, ) defined by Nicholls and Jones (2001) and the standard definition of the radiocarbon likelihood for L (y | ) (e.g. Buck et al. 1991). In the current analysis the INTERCAL98 calibration data (Stuiver et al. 1998) were used. Additionally, a terrestrial reservoir offset of 25 ± 5 (McCormac et al. 1998) and a marine reservoir offset of -27 ± 15 (Higham and Hogg 1995) have been applied. In this case correlated reservoir offsets have been used (Jones and Nicholls 2001). Summaries of the likelihood distributions (calibrated distributions) for chronometric data given in Table 5.1 are presented in Figure 5.1 below. Results

Marginal posteriors for the
parameters were computed using an implementation of the rejection sampler described by Nicholls and Jones (1998, 2001) through DateLab 1.2 (Jones and Nicholls 2002). The posterior distributions for
1,
2 and R are summarised in Table 5.2 and Figures 5.2–4 below. Under the assumptions described above and the chronometric data given in Table 5.1, these results indicate that the cultural phase sequence corresponds to activity spanning 5–165 years starting some time in the interval AD 1610–1690. Table 5.2 Summary posterior distributions for Phase 2 start, Phase 2 end and Phase 2 duration

Parameter Phase 2 start (
2) Phase 2 end (
1) Phase 2 duration (R)

Figure 5.1 Summary of the calibrated distributions for the chronometric data given in Table 5.1

95% HPD 1610–1690 1680–1810 5–165

68% HPD 1660–1680 1680–1700 5–50

0 50 100 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600

Determination

NZ4801

NZ4800

WK10292

WK10292

NZ6619

NZ6618

NZ6611

NZ6583

NZ6580

650 NZ6599

Years BP

150

Site chronology 81 Figure 5.2 Posterior distribution for Phase 2 start (
2)

0.35

0.3

Likelihood

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0.0

68% HPD 95% HPD 1500

1550

1600

1650

1700

1750

1800

1850

1900

Years AD

Figure 5.3 Phase 2 end (
1)

0.35

0.3

Likelihood

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0.0

68% HPD 95% HPD 1500

1550

1600

1650

1700

1750

1800

1850

1900

Years AD

Figure 5.4 Phase 2 duration (R)

0.0876 0.0803 0.073 0.0657

Likelihood

0.0584 0.051 1 0.0438 0.0365 0.0292 0.0219 0.0146 0.0073 0.0

68%HPD 0

50

100

95%HPD 150

200

Span (years)

250

300

350

400

82 Kohika

Conclusions

The Bayesian analysis presented here suggests that the cultural deposits in the Kohika archaeological record correspond to a period of occupation in the late 17th century. This analysis is to some extent confounded by multiple perturbations in the calibration curve at this period (e.g. the bimodality in Figure 5.3). These raise the possibility of a longer occupation. However, the analysis does show that the occupation was certainly less than 160 years and probably less than 70–80 years. On this basis, we would conclude that Kohika was occupied during the latter half of the 17th century. The archaeological and geomorphological data enable us to narrow down the range of chronological options presented by the Bayesian analysis of the C14 results, and to support the chronological hypothesis stated above.

References Buck, C.E., J.B. Kenworthy, C.D. Litton and A.F.M. Smith, 1991. Combining archaeological and radiocarbon information: a Bayesian approach to calibration. Antiquity, 65:808–21. Higham, T.F.G. and A.G. Hogg, 1995. Radiocarbon dating of prehistoric shell from New Zealand and calculation of the dr value using fish otoliths. Radiocarbon, 37:409–16. Jones, M.D. and G.K. Nicholls, 2001. Reservoir offset models for radiocarbon calibration. Radiocarbon, 43:119–24. Jones, M.D. and G.K. Nicholls, 2002. DateLab manual. University of Auckland. McCormac, F.G., A.C. Hogg, T.F.G. Higham, M.G.L. Baillie, J.G. Palmer, L. Xiong, J.R. Pilcher, D. Brown and S.T. Hoper, 1998. Variations of radiocarbon in tree-rings: southern hemisphere offset preliminary results. Radiocarbon, 40:1153. Nicholls, G.K. and M.D. Jones, 1998. Radiocarbon dating with temporal order constraints. Technical Report. Mathematics Department, Auckland University, New Zealand. No.407. http://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~nicholls. Nicholls, G.K. and M.D. Jones, 2001. Radiocarbon dating with temporal order constraints. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C, 50:503–21. Ota, Y.S., S. Beanland, K.R. Berryman and I. Nairn, 1988. The Matata Fault: active faulting at the north-western margin of the Whakatane Graben, eastern Bay of Plenty. New Zealand Geological Survey Record, 35:6–13. Stuiver, M., P.J. Reimer, E. Bard, J.W. Beck, G.S. Burr, K.A. Hughen, B. Kromer, F.G. McCormac, J. Plicht and M. Spurk, 1998. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal. BP. Radiocarbon, 40:1041–83.

6

The wooden artefacts from Kohika R.T. Wallace and G.J. Irwin

The waterlogged deposits of this small lake village produced a rare and comprehensive inventory of wooden artefacts that were in close association with one another. The artefacts bear on many aspects of life, including collecting and preparing diverse foods from a varied environment, the importance of canoe transport, the tools used for domestic and craft activities, for defence and for outside contacts and trade. The artefacts also throw light on social aspects of life, including ornamentation and art, personal status, religion, music and play. Some of the artefacts are finely made and reflect social value but others were casually made for day-to-day use. This chapter includes all wooden artefacts except houses and pataka, which are described separately in Chapter 7. Fibre and woven fabric are covered in Chapter 8, which completes the waterlogged assemblage.

Field treatment and laboratory conservation

Members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society, who carried out the initial digging, stored most of the wooden artefacts they found in water. However, some palisade posts were dried out and only those of sound wood survived largely intact. After May 1975, the University of Auckland took responsibility for conservation and study. In the field each artefact was washed and painted with a 50 per cent solution of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 to aid dimensional stability. Each was labelled and bagged in three layers of clear flexible polythene tube, the innermost layer closely around the artefacts and the outermost one airfilled to cushion it during transport. On arrival at the university the artefacts were washed, disinfected, labelled and stored in temporary purpose-built tanks containing water and biocide prior to conservation treatment. They were stored in this way until 1979, when the Anthropology Department moved into the Human Sciences Building. With the needs of waterlogged wood conservation in mind, K. Peters designed the Conservation Laboratory in the new building and assembled the equipment needed to carry out the process. In the following years he undertook specialist training and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to travel to waterlogged wood conservation laboratories in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. The excavation of Kohika and the development of this laboratory facility were among the reasons for the creation of a doctoral fellowship funded by the Department of Internal Affairs to conduct research on the conservation of wooden artefacts in New Zealand (Wallace 1985). When Peters left the department in 1983, R. Wallace, the holder of that fellowship, replaced him. D. Johns, then a student in the Anthropology Department, completed an MA on waterlogged wood conservation and undertook postgraduate training in conservation in Italy and Canada. On her return 83

84 Kohika

she took over the running of the Conservation Laboratory, which is now an internationally recognised facility and the only one in the country able to carry out this type of work. The initial conservation work on the collection was carried out by Peters. After his departure in 1983, Wallace completed the work, with some assistance from Johns towards the end of the process. Peters’ work included drying out some very sound artefacts without any conservation treatment. He also employed a solvent/wax impregnation method on some small, valuable artefacts with very acceptable results. By 1984, however, the majority of the artefacts were still in tanks containing 12 per cent PEG 400. This was intended to prepare them for freeze-drying, which was carried out in 1986. The results were satisfactory, except for a few originally highly degraded items that were left with an excessive PEG 400 content. These items were subsequently reconserved by Johns using a method now preferred for conserving artefacts of this type, which involved removal of the PEG 400 and reimpregnation with the higher molecular weight PEG 3350 followed by non-vacuum freeze-drying in a large blast freezer.

Wood identification, artefact reassembly and identification

The field catalogue consisted of a duplicate manifold book with a numbered list of all items recovered from the site. In most cases this gave a two- or three-word description of the object and recorded provenance to square and layer. A later laboratory book recorded the items accompanied by rough sketches and measurements. When conservation was completed, a new catalogue was made with all relevant information and items grouped by artefact type. The wood species composition of each item was identified using transmitted and incident light microscopy, and this information was extremely useful in carrying out later analysis. The collection was laid out with all items of the same wood species placed together, and this allowed broken parts of the same artefact to be easily rejoined. In addition, the wood type used sometimes suggested the function of an artefact. One example is fern-root beaters. Previous research by Wallace (1989:225) had shown that heart kauri branch wood was used almost exclusively for making these beaters in the areas of New Zealand where the species grew. Kauri no longer grows in the Kohika area (but it occurs in the prehistoric pollen record), and there were two well-preserved beaters made from kauri in the collection. When the wood identification was completed, two further kauri beaters in a degraded state were recognised. In contrast, an artefact previously and incorrectly recorded as a roughly made beater turned out to be made from mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus) but, as this wood is too soft and light to be suitable for the purpose, the artefact was reclassified. The possible function of each artefact was suggested by comparing its form and wood composition with those either recorded in the ethnographic literature or extant in museum collections. The attributed functions are recorded in this chapter, together with the descriptions of each artefact, but must always remain somewhat speculative. The starting-point on this topic was a preliminary research paper by an MA student, J. Boileau (1978). Subsequently, P. Harrison, a master carver, D. Bonica, an expert in traditional Maori material culture, and R. Neich and D. Simmons, current and former Ethnologists at Auckland Museum, contributed valuable suggestions. Any errors in suggesting a function must remain the responsibility of the authors. The body of this chapter consists of descriptions of the wooden artefacts recovered from Kohika. All items were drawn, photographed and measured as part of the analysis. Drawing was part of the process of description and required very thorough

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 85

observation. The working drawings were redrawn by J. Lawrence, illustrator at the Anthropology Department, University of Auckland. The photographs are by H. MacDonald, former photographer at the department. Many artefacts were merely fragments and are not described in the text. Details of all pieces recovered are contained in an artefact catalogue, the Appendix, as are dimensions not provided in the formal description sections below. The items listed in the Appendix are identified by KOH (Kohika) numbers, and additional AU or WM numbers indicate whether the items were collected by the University of Auckland or by the Whakatane and District Historical Society.

Bird Spears

Maori bird spears were slim rods of wood 6–12 m long fitted with a barbed point and used to impale birds in trees by a thrusting rather than throwing action (Best 1977:153– 63). Superficially they were difficult to distinguish from naturally formed sticks, but closer inspection showed that the shafts had been made from wood of medium-sized trees that had been painstakingly split out and thinned down to less than 20 mm thick. Due to their great original length, only short broken sections of spears were recovered at Kohika. Fourteen of these were found (Plate 6.1) as well as one spear point (Fig. 6.1). The attributes of each artefact are listed in Table 6.1. Table 6.1

Artefact KOH125 KOH126 KOH127 KOH128 KOH129 KOH130 KOH131 KOH132 KOH133 KOH134 KOH135 KOH136 KOH137 KOH138 KOH139

Characteristics of the bird spear fragments

Length mm 680 895 1390 510 1175 375 620 595 137 820 285 730 265 700 167

Max. width mm 17 18 17 14 18 16 18 16 17 14 19 18.5 9 16.5 7

Min. width mm 12.5 0 14 0 18 16 18 10 17 14 15 18 0 10 3

End A

End B

Wood type Comments

Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Broken Complete

Broken Blunt butt Broken Sharp point Blunt butt Broken Broken Broken Blunt butt Blunt butt Broken Lap joint? Point Blunt butt Tip broken

Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Kanuka Maire Rimu Rimu Rimu Ponga

Spear section Spear tip? Spear section Spear tip? Spear butt? Spear section Spiral binding Spear section Spear butt? Spear butt? Spear section Lap joint? Spear tip? Spear butt? Barbed point

Comments

The fourteen broken sections of bird spear range in length from 1390 mm to 137 mm. Three have pointed ends and appear to have been from the front where the barbed spear tip was lashed. Three have squared or rounded-off ends and may have been butt ends of the spears. One (KOH136) has a chamfered end that would have allowed a lap joint to be formed in the middle section of the spear. The other seven are sections of shaft with both ends broken. KOH131 has a shadow left by a strip of binding wrapped in a spiral along its length. All had been carefully formed from the trunk wood of three species of tree that produce very hard wood. The blanks must first have

86 Kohika

Plate 6.1 Thirteen sections of bird spear and one spear point.

Figure 6.1 Bird spear point made from treefern trunk

been split from a felled tree trunk then thinned down to less than 20 mm thick, accurately following the run of the wood grain to prevent the shaft splitting in two. Ten sections are made from kanuka, one from maire and three from exceptionally resinous rimu heartwood. The fourteen fragments could theoretically have come from a minimum of four spears, two of kanuka and one each of maire and rimu, but it is much more likely that there were more. Oral traditions reported in the ethnographic literature (Best 1977, Colenso 1868, 1891, Downes 1928, Ranapiri 1895) record all three of these species as having been used for bird spears but they also suggest that tawa was often used, although that does not seem to have occurred at Kohika. In the case of kanuka: The spear maker who used manuka as a material fashioned his instrument from the species known to our scientists as Leptospermum ericoides, ‘white manuka’ of ordinary nomenclature, the other species not being suitable for the purpose. The first named, known as M-ar-a, kopuka and kahikatoa will, under favourable conditions, develop a straight-barrelled, straight-grained and comely trunk that lends itself to free riving . . . These spears were more rigid than those fashioned from tawa so were easier to manipulate . . . [and] less liable to break. (Best 1977:157) Maire is also recorded: ‘when fashioned from maire, a tall and straight young tree was selected, and this was thinned down

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 87

to the desired thickness’ (Downes 1928:10). Best comments that ‘if this was so then the woodsmen certainly had a trying task’ (Best 1977:159). While he was referring to the notorious hardness and toughness of this wood his doubts were misplaced, as the occurrence at Kohika of a maire bird spear proves. Rimu is recorded from Northland: ‘The best being made of “Kapara”, the gum-preserved core found in some decayed kahikatea and rimu trees after the sapwood had rotted away’ (Matthews 1910:604). Colenso (1891:50), in contrast, doubted the existence of rimu bird spears, declaring only man spears were made from this wood. The lap joint suggested for KOH137 has been recorded for kanuka bird spears (Matthews 1910:604) but Best vigorously denied the possibility of such a thing: ‘A spear-shaft composed of two pieces would not, I feel assured, commend itself to the Maori of yore as they were used with branch rests they would not work so easily’ (Best 1977:157). His scepticism was clearly misplaced in this case. KOH139 is a barbed bird-spear point 167 mm long. It is made from the hard, highly lignified material from inside a tree-fern trunk. It has four barbs and is slightly C-shaped in cross-section (Fig. 6.1). It is about half the size of one made from the same substance recorded by Matthews (1910:604). Best also records this substance being used, giving Cyathea dealbata as the species, and says that on the East Coast it was regarded as producing inferior points (1977:159).

Digging tools

The Kohika site yielded parts of thirteen ko or digging sticks, one teka or ko footrest (Fig. 6.2), a ketu (weeder) blade, a hotu (one-piece spade) and four handles (Fig. 6.3), and nine blades for composite digging tools (Fig. 6.4). Also described here is a piece of an elaborate carving probably from the top of a ceremonial ko (Fig. 6.5). The artefacts are described individually below and then the nature of the class as a whole is summarised. KOH198 is a large ko made from a moderately straight manuka stem. The bottom end has been sharpened to a laterally flattened point and the top carved into a leaf shape. KOH199 is a large ko made from a whole, moderately straight kanuka stem. Its cross-section is sub-rectangular where it narrows to a needle-shaped point. The top has been broken off. KOH200 is a large ko made from a gently curved length of trunk-wood maire. It is has a very long bevel running down one face to the chisel-shaped tip. Its top has also been broken off. KOH201 is a light ko made from a rather crooked stem of manuka. It has been sharpened to a bevelled point and its top shaped into a simple knob. KOH202 is a medium-sized ko made from a very straight stem of manuka. It is bevelled to a chisel point and has its top broken off. KOH203 is the top of a light ko made from a crooked stem of manuka. The top has been carved into a new-moon shape, traditional for many ko. KOH204 is the top of a ko made from a crooked stem of kanuka with the tip carved into the same leaf shape as found on KOH198. This artefact has been badly burnt. KOH205 is a double-ended ko made from a crooked stick of manuka. It is sharpened to needle points at both ends. KOH206 is a manuka ko tip bevelled to a chisel point. KOH207 is a kanuka ko tip also bevelled to a chisel point.

88 Kohika Figure 6.2 Twelve digging sticks and one ko footrest

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 89 Figure 6.3 A weeder blade, a one-piece spade, and four handles of composite digging tools

90 Kohika Figure 6.4 Seven complete detachable digging-tool blades, one rough-out and one fragment

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 91

KOH208 is a manuka ko tip with a needle-shaped point. KOH209 is a manuka ko tip sharpened to a point and with bevels on both sides of the shaft. KOH8 is a fragment of a carving in the form of a three-fingered hand (Fig. 6.5). It is strongly reminiscent of the tops of elaborate ceremonial ko illustrated in Best (1976:69, 76, 78) and in the Oldman catalogue (Oldman 1946, Plate 53, Item 152). KOH8 is almost certainly a fragment of one of these artefacts. KOH211 is a plain teka (ko footrest) made from a naturally L-shaped stem of mahoe. The horizontal part is worn from use and has a knob on its end. The vertical part has a bevelled flat surface designed to fit flush with the ko shaft. KOH212 is the blade of a ketu that has been snapped from its handle. It is made from manuka and the tip has substantial use wear. KOH213 is a digging tool with a very broad blade. It could be described as a very long-handled ketu, a spatulate ko or a one-piece spade. It is rather similar in shape to a canoe paddle, except that its blade is about a quarter the size needed for one. Also, unlike paddles it is made from manuka, a much stronger timber than the tawa used for the Kohika paddles. The top has an ornamental end with a knob formed from a natural knot in the wood. KOH214 appears to be a handle for a composite digging tool designed to be fitted to one of the detachable blades found at Kohika (see below). It is made from a rather crooked stem of Metrosideros spp. (rata or pohutukawa) and has an end bevelled to fit a blade and a knob at the top. KOH215 appears to be a shaft for a composite digging tool made from a crooked branch of mahoe. Like KOH214 it has an end bevelled to fit a blade and a simple knob on top. KOH216 is probably from a composite digging tool shaft. It has one end bevelled while the other narrows to a point, the tip of which has broken off. It is made of manuka. KOH339 is also a probable composite digging tool shaft made of manuka. The end where the blade would have been attached has been bevelled. KOH217 is a complex and well-finished blade from a composite digging tool made of manuka. KOH218 is a complete blade from a composite digging tool made from rata or pohutukawa. KOH219 is almost identical to KOH218 in all respects. KOH220 is the same as KOH219. KOH221 is similar to KOH219 but is made from mapara, which is resinous rimu heartwood. KOH222 is similar to KOH221 in all respects. KOH223 is similar to KOH221 in all respects. KOH224 is a composite blade in the process of manufacture. Its edge had been

Figure 6.5 Part of a carving on a ceremonial ko

92 Kohika

formed but the top not completed when the wood split and work was abandoned. It is made from maire. KOH355 appears to be the edge of a detachable digging tool blade made from rata or pohutukawa. Summary

The digging implements from Kohika are strikingly diverse in form. There is one ceremonial ko, three heavy ko, one medium and seven light ko, one double-ended ko, one teka, two (somewhat different) ketu, a one-piece spade/spatulate ko/ketu, four rather different composite digging tool shafts, and eight composite spade blades in a range of sizes. Some are clearly carefully made to reproduce a specific tool form and decorated with knobs and terminal motifs. Others are quite casually constructed. Some spade blades might, on occasion, have been used as hand tools without attached handles. Strong tough woods were used with thirteen of manuka, four of kanuka, four of Metrosideros spp., two of maire, three of mapara (rimu), two of mahoe and one totara (the ceremonial ko top). In general, the digging tools at Kohika indicate that a wide range of activities, including gardening and gathering fern-root, was carried out on the site and most probably on other stranded sand-dunes in the Rangitaiki Swamp.

Shaft knobs

The end sections of seven broken shafts each with a terminal knob were found in the site (Fig. 6.6). Handles made from such terminals are often found on digging tools such as composite spade handles (Wallace 1989:227). KOH225 is from a shaft of trunk-wood matai 27 mm in diameter that first narrows as it nears the top then sharply widens to form a plain knob. KOH226 is also made from matai trunk-wood and is very similar to the above but with a shorter knob. KOH227 is a carefully made knob of phallic form. The lower part of the shaft is nearly perfectly round in cross-section while the knob itself is sub-rectangular. It is made from trunk-wood rata or pohutukawa. KOH228 is a very carefully made shaft of kanuka with a flared end. KOH229 is a natural stem of kanuka with a knobbed end. KOH230 is a natural stem of kanuka in the process of being made into a shaft similar to KOH229. However, it broke at this point due to the presence of a knot and was discarded. KOH347 is a figure-of-eight-shaped knob at the end of a puriri shaft.

Patu aruhe (fern-root beaters)

Fifteen items were identified as beaters, many of them presumably for fern root (Purdue 2002) although flax is another possibility. Dried fern root was soaked in water and roasted on coals, then pounded to separate the tough outer covering and coarse fibres from the starchy edible component (Best 1977:70–86). Thirteen beaters were whole or nearly complete while three were merely knobs. The latter were tentatively identified as being from fern-root beaters on the basis that they were identical to ones on the ends of the handles of complete beaters and, like many of them, made from maire (Nestegis spp. cunninghamii?). After the knobs were placed with the complete beaters it was realised that one of them was, in fact, part of the handle of one of the nearly

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 93 Figure 6.6 Seven broken shafts with terminal knobs, possibly handles from composite tools

94 Kohika

complete beaters. These have been rejoined and are now treated as one item (which reduces the number of single knobs to two while the whole beaters remain at thirteen). The beaters are illustrated in Figure 6.7. KOH183 is a complete beater of rather irregular outline with a hollow worn on one striking surface, and is made of trunk-wood maire. KOH184 is a complete beater of more regular form than KOH183. It has two severely worn surfaces on opposite sides of its rectangular cross-sectioned blade and is made from a half-section of a branch of maire. KOH185a and KOH185b were found in separate places in the excavation and were evidently broken before deposition. They were put back together in the laboratory to form a nearly complete beater. It is made of trunk-wood maire and is rectangular in cross-section with all four striking surfaces well worn. KOH186 is a complete beater with a well-worn striking surface around its circumference. It is oval in cross-section and is made from trunk-wood maire. KOH187 is a beater with most of its blade missing. It is in a very poor state of preservation, having been dried out prior to conservation treatment. It is round in cross-section and is made from trunk-wood maire. KOH188 is a complete beater worn on three of its four potential striking surfaces. It is oval in cross-section and is made from a quarter-section of a branch of maire. KOH189 is a fragment of a beater comprising a half-section of the handle and most of the blade. It is round in cross-section and is made from trunk-wood maire. KOH190 is the knob and part of the handle of a beater. This handle is oval in cross-section and made from trunk-wood maire. KOH191 is the knob and part of the handle of a beater. As with KOH190, this handle is oval in cross-section and is made from trunk-wood maire. KOH192 is a complete beater that is round in cross-section, being rather roughly made from a whole stem of kanuka (Kunzea ericoides). KOH193 is a complete small beater that shows little evidence of wear. It is round in cross-section and is made from a branch of rata (Metrosideros spp. probably robusta). KOH194 is a complete, beautifully made beater that shows little sign of wear. Round in cross-section, it is made from the resinous heart of kauri branch wood. This timber is very heavy, mostly due to the extremely high resin content. Where kauri is readily available, fern-root beaters appear to be made exclusively from this wood (Wallace 1989:225). The Kohika site is currently outside the natural range of the kauri and it was initially thought that this artefact, or at least the wood from which it is made, was imported from further north, perhaps from the Coromandel peninsula. However, the discovery of kauri pollen in the swamp sediments at Kohika shows that some stands of kauri were growing closer to hand in the Bay of Plenty. KOH195 is a complete but very weathered beater. Its knob is burnt and it has heavy use wear all around the circumference of its striking surface. It is made from the same type of kauri as KOH194. KOH196 is even more weathered than KOH195, with only the blade of the beater surviving. It is sub-rectangular in cross-section and is made from the same type of kauri as the above two. KOH197 is a fragment of beater blade even more weathered than KOH196. It is circular in cross-section and made from the same type of kauri. These last two items are so weathered that they were hard to recognise as beaters. Their identification is based on their basic form and the fact that they were made from this special wood type used by the pre-European Maori specifically for beaters and mallets, and possibly traded some distance from its sources to the north for this reason.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 95 Figure 6.7 Fifteen beaters and beater fragments

96 Kohika

Summary

Nine of the fifteen beaters are made from maire, one each from kanuka and rata and four from kauri. The first three species are broadleaf woods (angiosperms) that produce the very hard, heavy, tough woods needed for these artefacts. Maire is the species most commonly used where kauri is not available, but is accompanied by other hard tough woods such as rata (Wallace 1989). The dense resinous wood in kauri branches was so desirable for beaters that it was used exclusively where available. Kohika shows both traditions of wood use in action; the maire is more common than kauri, adding weight to the suggestion that kauri was harder to obtain. The beaters show a range of forms and quality of manufacture. Some are very carefully made and finished while others are quite rough. Some are rectangular in crosssection but most are round or irregular. Only some have knobs at the end of their handles. The impression gained is that, though beaters could be carefully made, they were such a ubiquitous and utilitarian item that many were quite casually constructed and discarded when broken.

Bowls

Kohika has yielded five items identified as bowls or bowl fragments. Four of these are illustrated in Figure 6.8. KOH175 is the only complete bowl found. It is long and narrow with a pouring spout at one end. It is made from totara compression wood. This special type of wood, found on the underside of branches or in trees exposed to strong winds, is softer but heavier and much more resinous than normal trunk-wood. It is reasonable to assume that this bowl was used for some special food preparation involving pouring a liquid, perhaps oil or berry juice. KOH176 is about half of a medium-sized bowl, oval in outline and semi-circular in cross-section. It is made from normal trunk-wood totara. It has no handle, spout or ornamentation and may have been a simple, if well-made, domestic item. KOH180 is a rim section from a long, narrow bowl. It is clear that the original was a thin-walled bowl generally similar in form to KOH175. It is made from heart totara. KOH181 is a fragment from the angle between the side and the base of a thinwalled bowl similar to KOH180 and KOH175. It is made from heart totara. KOH182 is a small fragment from the end of a quite thick-walled bowl. The bowl was canoe-shaped with a pointed end. It is made of matai. It is not illustrated.

Canoe paddles

Fragments of a large steering paddle (Fig. 6.9) and ten canoe paddles (Fig. 6.10) were found, only two of these being reasonably complete. They were assembled from 23 separate fragments, some of which were scattered pieces that were only recognised and reassembled later. When wood species were identified during analysis, it was found that all Kohika paddles were made from tawa. All fragments of this species were then re-examined to see whether they could be fitted to the existing artefacts. This process was very successful, and many fragments not previously recognised as being parts of these artefacts were rejoined. Each is described in turn below, followed by a general discussion of the artefact type at Kohika. KOH161 (a–e) consists of five fragments that are parts of a large steering paddle. The first three were found near one another in the site and recognised as being part of

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 97 Figure 6.8 Four bowls and bowl fragments

the same piece. Two further pieces were located during laboratory analysis and the result is an unfinished paddle, at the stage of manufacture when a slab of wood split from a tree trunk had been adzed into general shape. The final product would have been 2.73 m long and resulted in a very straight steering paddle or oar. KOH162 (a–d) was found as four pieces in the site. It was reassembled in the laboratory to form a nearly complete canoe paddle. The handle is circular in cross-section near the top but becomes sub-rectangular nearer the blade. The wood has been cut from a quite small-diameter tawa trunk. It has the distinctive form shared by all paddles from Kohika, as discussed below. This paddle was the only one from Kohika with decorative carving in the thickened area where the handle joins the blade. This ornamentation and the lack of wear on its tip suggest it may have been a ceremonial paddle rather than regularly used. KOH163 is a paddle handle that had snapped where it joined its blade. It is almost perfectly circular in cross-section along its length. The top of the handle is thickened and has a simple double spiral pattern incised on it. Unlike the previous example, the slightly thickened area where the handle joined the blade had been left plain. KOH164 is a paddle handle similar to KOH163. Snapped off at the junction with its blade, it too is circular in cross-section at the top but becomes rectangular further down towards the distinct thickened area that had joined it to the blade. KOH165 is also a paddle handle that had snapped off just short of where it joined its blade. KOH166 is a paddle blade and part of the handle. The blade had split in half and the two pieces were found separately in the site. Like the others it has a distinct thickening at the point where the handle joins the blade KOH167 is most of the blade of a paddle that had snapped off below the junction

98 Kohika Figure 6.9 A steering paddle roughout

with the handle. The lower end is heavily rounded off by wear. KOH168 is a small paddle blade fragment. KOH169 is the very worn tip of a paddle and KOH170 (not illustrated) is a smaller fragment from the middle of its blade. While the two cannot be directly joined, their colour and surface texture are identical on both sides, allowing a secure association of the two pieces. KOH171 is a fragment split from the side of a paddle blade. KOH172 is the side and tip of a paddle blade reassembled from four pieces. Comments

Apart from the long steering paddle, there is only one almost complete example in this collection, but the fragments provide sufficient information to define the form of the Kohika paddles. This clearly establishes that a local tradition of paddle-making existed that is quite distinct from the one typically seen in museum storerooms in this country, in terms of both the shape of the paddle and the wood used. All the Kohika paddles were made from tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa). However, a study of 41 other Maori paddles from four museums (Wallace 1989: 224) has shown that the majority were made from kanuka with just a few from manuka, rata, puriri and kowhai, all of which are very hard, heavy, strong woods. A few examples from the southern South Island were made from totara. The only paddle made from tawa was an unprovenanced item from Otago Museum (Accession No. D23. 703). In his account of the Maori canoe, Elsdon Best (1925:158) records a preference for very hard strong woods for paddles, although he quotes an informant, Tuta Nihoniho, as saying that on the East Coast preferred timbers were matai, manuka, maire, heart pukatea and occasionally tawa. The tradition of using tawa for paddles is therefore not much mentioned previously. The form of the Kohika paddles also seems to be distinctive. To confirm this impression, all the approximately 300 paddles in the Auckland Museum collection were examined. Without exception all were of the form well illustrated by Best (1925, Figs 111 and 113), which have a slight kink where the handle joins the blade. This means that the blade follows slightly behind the handle when it is stroked through the water rather than being in the same line. This property makes it easier to prevent the handle from rotating in the paddler’s hand even when loosely gripped. However, this bend would also create a physical weakness between the handle and blade if the grain of the wood was straight and partially ran out at the kink. This does not seem to have been a problem with tough, wavy-grained woods such as kanuka, as little difficulty would be found in selecting a piece where the grain followed the curves of the paddle shape.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 99 Figure 6.10 Canoe paddle and paddle fragments

And, in fact, the junctions of handle and blade are not heavily thickened in any of the Auckland Museum examples, nor do they have ornamental carving at this point. The physical characteristics of tawa may account for some of the distinctiveness in the Kohika paddle form. Tawa, while moderately hard, is usually straight grained and

100

Kohika

free splitting. Any kink at the junction of blade and handle would be fatal when the paddle faced heavy use. So tawa paddles had to be very straight with the grain running cleanly from one end to the other. This also explains why the junction of the blade with the handle, always a weak point, was strengthened by a thickened section. These features are shown very clearly in the Kohika paddles illustrated in Figure 6.10. This thickened part also provided a field to be ornamented by decorative carving in the case of KOH162. One further feature of KOH162 is that the pointed end of the blade would control the water dripping from it between strokes and make it less noisy, useful when stealth was required. The only paddle of the Kohika form seen by R. Wallace in a New Zealand museum collection is the Otago example mentioned above. Moreover, the only collections where paddles of the Kohika form are typical are those made during Captain Cook’s voyages or in the early 19th century. Examples of these are illustrated in the catalogue of Cambridge University’s Oldman Collection (Oldman 1946, Plate 63, Item 52) of material gathered during Cook’s first voyage (Shawcross 1970) and in the extensive study of painted paddles by Neich (1993, Figs 24–34). These are strikingly like the Kohika examples, especially KOH162, though no painted patterns are preserved on that one. Furthermore, all the scenes sketched by Cook’s illustrator Sydney Parkinson in which paddles appear seem to show the Kohika style in universal use. In a recent publication on the art of Cook’s voyages (Joppien and Smith 1984) some 28 of the paddles figured can be ascribed to one or other style. Twenty-seven are of the straight Kohika style, with only one clearly of the kinked form. Only four of these paddles are portrayed in detail and these are clearly elaborate, ceremonial forms of the Kohika type. The abundance of the Kohika-style paddles in 18th-century illustrations and their rarity in modern New Zealand museum collections may be explained in two ways. The Kohika style may have been dominant in pre-European New Zealand where it was collected and illustrated by early voyagers. It may then have been replaced by a new style at the beginning of the historic era. If the latter were so, then it is odd that an illustration from Abel Tasman’s earlier voyage (Best 1925:7) shows the typical modern kinked Maori paddle form. Alternatively, the Kohika style may have been regional, perhaps occurring only in the Bay of Plenty/East Cape area, where Cook’s party may have collected most of their paddles. Neich has suggested that most of these came from the Poverty Bay area (1993:59–64). If so, then the artists on Cook’s expeditions or those contributing to the publications associated with them may have used the collected paddles as models rather than drawing from life when drafting illustrations. In general, it appears that the Kohika paddle style may have been a local East Coast and Bay of Plenty tradition that has not survived into the modern era.

Canoe hull pieces

Kohika was an island in a large swamp. Canoe transport would have been essential and six pieces of canoe hull were found there. Two of these are complete (or nearly so) bow or stern parts while the other four are merely fragments of hull. Five of the six items are illustrated in Figure 6.11. KOH140 (a–d) is pieces of a large canoe bow or stern made as a separate item to attach to the open end of a canoe hull. It was broken into five pieces, one of which was not recovered, by the mechanical digger that uncovered it in the agricultural drain. It is made from a large-diameter hollowed totara trunk and designed to attach to a hull by lashings that passed through four large chiselled holes along the edge of a simple vertical butt joint. Unlike KOH141 described below, no provision has been

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 101 Figure 6.11 Canoe hull pieces

102

Kohika

made to recess the lashings into grooves in the hull to prevent damage when the canoe was beached. Partly for this reason, but more because of the rough adzed surface of the piece, it appears to be unfinished. The gunwale on one side is intact and has three lashing holes distributed evenly along it, presumably for the attachment of a bow or stern piece or strake plank above it. The outer surface of the hull is flattened where these holes emerge to allow the batten that would have covered the joint to form a close contact. KOH141 is a smaller detachable canoe bow of rather more sophisticated design. The joint it would form with the main section of the hull is irregular, having been cut to fit the irregular shape of an existing hull. Six attachment holes, three each side, are present along the joint, all of which have grooves running out to the junction with the hull in which lashings could be recessed to avoid abrasion. Each gunwale has four holes to take lashings for extra pieces set above. This bow piece is also made from a hollowed totara trunk. KOH142 is a fragment of canoe hull 120 mm thick. It includes a portion of the angled midline keel. KOH143 appears to be a fragment of gunwale from near the bow or stern of a canoe. The oblique way in which the grain runs through the piece suggests it was from where the gunwale curves in towards the point of the bow. The edge has two lashing holes for a strake or other attachments. It is made of trunk-wood kauri. This canoe may have been imported from further north, perhaps from the Coromandel peninsula, where kauri is abundant. KOH144 is similar to KOH143, a piece of canoe hull gunwale from near the bow or stern. It has three lashing holes along its upper edge and is made of trunk totara. KOH335 is also similar to KOH143, with one lashing hole on its upper edge. It is made from totara. It is not illustrated in Figure 6.11.

Canoe fittings

In this category are one possible canoe bulkhead, three definite canoe thwarts (seats) and twelve other artefacts of which several are also likely to have been seats but others less certainly so. The bulkhead, the three seats and eight of the other fittings are illustrated in Figure 6.12. KOH145 (a and b) are pieces of an artefact identified as a possible canoe bulkhead. It is a 12 mm thick plank made from rata or pohutukawa. It has a D-shaped outline and six irregularly distributed lashing holes around its edge. It may have formed a partition in the canoe to aid bailing by preventing water from moving freely along the inside of the hull. KOH146 is half of a carefully made canoe seat. It is made from a dressed totara plank and is identical in shape to a canoe seat in Auckland Museum. KOH151 is a canoe seat made from an unpeeled stem of tawa with deep notches chiselled in each end to allow it to be lashed across the gunwales of the canoe. KOH152 is a very similar seat made from a peeled manuka stem. The remaining twelve artefacts are tentatively identified as canoe seats. They are rather casually made from natural sticks by notching their ends. Four are whole but the remaining eight are broken-off ends made from the stems of six different species of broadleaf shrub and tree. They were not necessarily permanent fittings and may have been produced casually when a canoe was being outfitted for a specific purpose – for example, a fishing trip. In addition to the above items, KOH345 was very tentatively identified as a fragment of spiral fretwork from a carved bow or stern carving.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 103 Figure 6.12 Three canoe seats, one bulkhead and eight other fittings

The wide variety in the quality of workmanship of these fittings suggests that a range of different river and sea canoes was present at the site.

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Bailers

Figure 6.13 Canoe bailers

Four items were found that may have been parts of canoe bailers, and three are illustrated in Figure 6.13. KOH174 is a bailer with one side of its scoop missing. It suffered minor scorching in a fire after being broken. The terminal knob on the handle has been carved in the form of a stylised human face (Plate 7.14, below). Just below the knob a hole has been chiselled sideways through the handle for a cord to tie onto some part of the canoe to prevent it being washed overboard when it was urgently needed. It is made of totara with an unusual tightly waved grain, possibly selected to yield an item less liable to split, but ultimately it did not escape this fate. KOH179 appears to be the side of a bailer scoop and is rather similar to KOH177. The side wall is 10 mm thick and the end wall up to 35 mm. It has a simple chiselled perforation in the side wall near its broken edge that seems to have been part of an attempted repair. This artefact is made from heart totara. KOH177 may have been part of the side rim of a bailer. The fragment is too small to be sure of its origin and it is not illustrated. It matches the structure of the side of KOH174, however, and may have been a detached fragment of this or a similar artefact. It too is made of heart totara. KOH178 is a burnt and broken fragment of the side and end of a bowl-like container. The side wall is about 10 mm thick but the end wall is up to 55 mm thick. Made from matai, this artefact may have been part of either a bowl or a bailer.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 105

Heru (hair combs)

Heru were ornamental hair combs worn by men of rank to adorn their koukou or topknot and, as a consequence, objects of considerable tapu. They can be separated into three distinct types: those made from a single piece of bone, those made from a single piece of wood, and composite combs which consist of separate wooden teeth bound together by fine thread (Fisher 1962:47). The six Kohika combs are all of the second type, the one-piece wooden comb, and are illustrated in Figure 6.14. Early European visitors to New Zealand give many accounts of one-piece wooden combs. Monkhouse, Cook’s surgeon on the first voyage (1768–71), wrote: ‘But how great was our surprise to see combs in their hair! They were about two inches broad, the tooth very long: some were made of wood, others of bone – these combs appeared to be more fitted for ornament than use.’ (Beaglehole 1974:573). Combs were frequently collected and described in Cook’s time and seem to have been in common use (Joppien and Smith 1984). By the middle of the 19th century, however, explorers, missionaries and travellers mentioned combs as things of the past, and their manufacture and use had been largely discontinued (Gardner 1985:48). Only two collections of prehistoric combs are available for direct comparison with the Kohika examples. The first is from Kauri Point in the western Bay of Plenty, where a total of 334 large fragments and over 1000 detached teeth representing some 187 individual combs were excavated from an area of wet ground adjacent to a pa (Shawcross 1964, 1976). Most had been deliberately broken before being placed in a structure in the swamp, apparently as part of the ritual disposal of tapu objects associated with the head or hair of high-status individuals. The second large collection is from caves and rock shelters on the west coast of the Waitakere Ranges in Auckland (Lawrence 1989). KOH106 is the smallest comb in the collection. All the teeth have been broken off between 10 and 50 mm from their junction with the frame and only two found with the artefact. The total length of the comb cannot be determined but is somewhat more than 122 mm. One of the side-bars has also been lost and the break smoothed off. Its thirteen teeth are the thickest and have the second-narrowest space between them of any of the combs in the collection. KOH104 is the second-smallest comb and is fairly complete. During its life a sidebar and up to two teeth had broken off and the split edge was then rounded and smoothed to allow continued use. Seven of the remaining thirteen teeth are present for their full length, as is one side-bar. The curvature of the top of the frame suggests it was originally 45–50 mm wide. Unlike the other combs the frame is the same length as the teeth rather than being shorter. KOH103 is the most complete comb in the collection and only half of the twelve teeth and the ends of the two side-bars are missing. It is near median size for this collection but has the fewest teeth and the widest gaps between each of them. KOH105 is badly damaged, with all of its teeth detached and the ends of both sidebars missing. Six detached teeth were found with this comb but these have missing tips. The top of the frame is badly worn rather than broken and all but the base of the ornamental boss has been lost. As only the butts of the teeth survive, their width and the groove width are difficult to measure. KOH101 is a comb with a complete frame but its teeth are broken 40–70 mm from their bases. Both side-bars are present for part of their length. Five fragments of teeth, all minus tips, were found. It was the second-largest comb in the collection. KOH102 is the largest comb, with the longest and the widest frame, but it is also the most fragmentary, with most of one side missing, and the length of the teeth is

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Figure 6.14 Six heru or hair combs

unknown. This damage appears recent and is probably associated with its discovery by mechanical digger. Only ten teeth remain and these are represented by short stumps, but the frame width indicates that a minimum of eighteen teeth were originally present.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 107

The condition of the remaining parts of the frame suggests the comb had less wear than any of the others when discarded. Comb measurements are shown in Table 6.2. Some of the values are minimums and are recorded with a + sign after. Frame width, frame length, frame depth, tooth length and total length are the maximum dimensions. Side-bar width was measured where it was attached to the frame and, in the three combs where both bars are present, the values are the average of two measurements. Tooth depth and width are averages of at least 30 separate measurements taken mainly on detached tooth fragments. Table 6.2

Comb dimensions (mm)

KOH number Frame width Frame thickness Frame length Side-bar width Tooth length Tooth number Tooth thickness Tooth width Groove width Total length

106 40 3.6 51.0 3.8 71+ 13 3.05 1.70 0.52 122+

104 40+ 4.3 76.5 6.1 75.0 13+ 3.7 1.65 0.38 151

103 42.2 5.6 119.5 4.6 105.5 12 4.8 1.59 0.52 225

105 51.3 6.1 99.0 5.5 132+ 18 5.25 1.54 0.40 231+

101 51.2 5.60 115.8 7.4 159+ 15 6.3 1.45 0.43 275+

102 52+ 5.6 157+ 7.3 120+ 18+ 4.6 1.6 0.40 277+

Average 46+ 5.1 103+ 5.8 110+ 15+ 4.6 1.6 0.44 213.5+

Summary

An examination of the literature on heru (Fisher 1962, Gardner 1985, Lawrence 1989, Shawcross 1964, 1976) shows the Kohika examples to be well within the known range of forms. As an assemblage they have a degree of coherence of form and style that suggests a single local manufacturing tradition or even a single maker. The attributes of this comb style are: • all are round-topped and comparable with Type A as defined by Shawcross (1964:388) • belong to the end of the prehistoric sequence • have no ornamentation apart from the knob • have the knob placed near the top of the frame rather than further down the side (as with most Kauri Point combs); as the frame may represent a human head the knob is the nose • have a variable frame length that ranges from the average Kauri Point length to 20 per cent greater than the longest comb in that very large collection • have a relatively standard frame width and thickness that are very similar to the Kauri Point ones • have teeth that are very much finer (1.5–1.7 mm wide), longer (up to 1.5 times) and more closely set (4.9 per centimetre) than the very finest in the Kauri Point collection • have side-bars, like many of the Waitakere examples but unlike any of the Kauri Point combs; these are necessary to protect the fine teeth from damage during use and are almost identical in form to those of modern plastic • the side-bars have four degrees of taper • all are made from mapara, the resinous heart of rimu, as are all the Kauri Point combs (Wallace 1989:229) and eleven of twelve Auckland Museum combs identified by this author (Lawrence 1989) • none of the combs appears to have been deliberately damaged, in marked contrast to the Kauri Point situation where all the combs appeared to have been ritually broken before being discarded in a specific place.

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The Kohika comb style, though similar to that of the upper levels of the Kauri Point site (Shawcross 1976, Fig. 4), is closer to the one seen in several of the Waitakere examples (Lawrence 1989). The Kauri Point combs change over time from being ‘square topped’ to ‘round topped’ and show an increase in size. The Kohika combs are all large and round topped. No two are identical in any of the collections but Kohika shows the most consistent style, with variation being mainly in frame and tooth length. Manufacturing method

A detailed examination of the combs gives some idea of the methods used to make them. The most difficult part of the process would seem to be cutting the teeth, and the wood selected had perfectly straight grain to allow parallel teeth to be cut. Close examination of detached teeth of the original combs showed they had been made by cutting grooves from both sides that met at the centre. In order to understand how this might have been achieved, some replication experiments were attempted by R.Wallace. Groove cutting tools tried were a rat (Rattus exulans) incisor and modified flakes of obsidian and chert. Several things were learned quite quickly. Chert flakes were the most successful because rat incisors and obsidian were too brittle to have been ideal for the purpose. The tool that was developed could be called a scriber. A fine-edged flake was struck and a bite taken out at one end of the cutting edge to form a sharp corner or point. The sharp edge was then deliberately blunted. This was essential as a sharp edge can more readily cut wood across the grain, a process that must be avoided when cutting teeth that follow the grain exactly. The first step in cutting was to start the groove by gently drawing a line along the grain of the wood with the point of the scribing tool. Some skill was necessary to make this exactly parallel with and the correct distance from the previous groove. The scriber was then drawn up and down the deepening groove with increasing pressure. A small amount of oil run into the groove speeded the process greatly. The grooves were not cut but rather dented or compressed into the surface with very little material being removed. This compressed wood material partially rebounds when wet, creating a groove significantly narrower than the tool used to make it. When the groove penetrated halfway through the blank, another matching one was made from the opposite side until it nearly met the first. A new tooth could be split off and the scriber run up and down in the gap to remove any excess wood. The technique created remarkably fine grooves and with some practice it was possible to make teeth as fine as those of the Kohika combs. The hardest part in making combs was getting the grooves exactly regular and parallel, and the great skill of the prehistoric craftsmen is reflected in the extremely neat finish of the Kohika combs. It was also found that a variety of fine-grained rock and some shells could be employed to make scribers and that the main requirements for their successful use were strong fingers coupled with great care and manual dexterity.

Javelins/darts

Six artefacts (Fig. 6.15) from Kohika are identified as darts or javelins as described by Best (1924:94). Such missiles were produced in bulk and stored on fighting stages and in pits in fortified pa to be rained down on attackers or propelled with the aid of a whip into a pa from the outside. In the latter case they were placed butt first in the ground and the end of a whip looped around just below the pointed end in such a way that, when the dart was whipped out, the whip-cord was released. These artefacts

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 109

could also have been made as toys designed to foster martial skills in children. The Kohika darts illustrated in Figure 6.15 are all manuka sticks with a ‘bulrush shaped’ section behind the point or, in one case, a barbed end. This thickening would allow the cord of the whip to be looped behind it and would add weight to the front of the dart to make it fly better (Best 1924). Auckland Museum holds a bundle of almost identical artefacts found together in Lake Rotoaira and these show the same diverse range of tip forms. KOH119 is the only complete dart in the collection. KOH120 is the barbed point of a dart, the only such point found in this site. It is almost identical to two found at the Kauri Point swamp site by Shawcross (1976: 292–93). KOH121 has the ‘bulrush’ thickened part carved in a simple ornamental form. KOH122 is another dart fragment, including the thickened part. KOH123 is similar to KOH122 but the thickening is in two sections separated by a narrow gap. KOH124 has a simple thickening near the point.

Potaka (spinning tops)

There are seven spinning tops in the Kohika collection (Fig. 6.16). An eighth one, not described here, was irresponsibly removed from the site by a visitor during the excavation (S. Webster, pers. comm. 2003). Tops were common items in Maori material culture and their manufacture and use continued into living memory (P. Harrison and M. Penfold, pers. comm.). They are small cones of wood that were set in motion by a length of fibre wrapped around the top and whipped away by the stick to which it was attached. More whipping kept it spinning. Different types of top were made and used in a variety of children’s games and, occasionally, in more serious situations (Best 1976:153–63). The Kohika examples are of two forms, a short broad one and a tall slim one. The latter are said to be jumping tops that could be made to leap into the air (P. Harrison, pers. comm.). All the Kohika examples appear to be rather casually made toys and all are made from manuka except KOH112, which is made from a heavy, resinous type

Figure 6.15 Six darts or javelins

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of totara. It is the most carefully produced top with a depression in its upper surface. It is identified by Dr Paki Harrison as a humming top, the sound being produced by the hollow in the top and by the slightly squared sides. KOH113 has been identified as a jumping top, being tall and slim with a groove around its circumference to accommodate the wound string. KOH114 is a plain broad top. KOH115 is similar in shape to KOH114 but somewhat smaller. KOH116 is similar but smaller again. KOH117 is a tall slim jumping top. KOH118 is the smallest top.

Adze and chisel handles

Figure 6.16 Seven potaka or spinning tops

Three artefacts in the Kohika collection fall into this category. One is an adze haft still in the process of manufacture, another is a finely made handle for a very small stone chisel head, and the last a socket for a composite haft of a small chisel, conceivably for tattooing. KOH109 is an unfinished adze handle. It is made from a small branch of rimu cut to include its junction with a larger one (Fig. 6.17). KOH110 is a finely made chisel handle made from heart kanuka (Fig. 6.18). The chisel head it was designed to hold must have been small, as its butt sat in a tapered socket 25 mm long widening to a maximum of 11 mm. Just such a blade of greenstone is described in Chapter 9. KOH111 appears to be a miniature version of an adze socket (Fig. 6.18), designed as the wooden butt extension for an adze (Wallace 1982). One end has a socket that appears to be for the butt of a small chisel. The other end has another socket to take the head of a handle. Such a composite handle and socket has previously been recorded only for full-sized woodworking adzes. Its size, however, suggests only a very small woodworking chisel or even a tattooing chisel that was hafted. Tattooing chisel handles of this form have been reported by Robley (1987:48) and if this socket was for a composite tattooing handle then it is a unique prehistoric artefact. It is made from puriri.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 111 Figure 6.17 An adze handle rough-out

Figure 6.18 A chisel handle and a chisel socket

Flute

KOH107 is part of one side of a flute or putorino (Fig. 6.19). Such instruments were made in two half sections that were then bound together. It is smaller than most of those in museum collections (M. McLean, pers. comm.) and is made from mapara. It is unornamented but very finely finished.

Net gauges

KOH241 is a very carefully finished tab of totara slightly tapered at the end with a finely drilled hole near one corner (Fig. 6.20). This artefact is identical to one of a set of net gauges from Tikopia held in Auckland Museum (D. Bonica, pers. comm.). These gauges were used to standardise the mesh of nets during manufacture and repair. If

112 Figure 6.19 A section of a putorino (flute)

Kohika

KOH241 is accurately identified, then its circumference would generate a mesh with an aperture of 15 mm. The hole in one corner would allow a string to hold together a set of different-sized gauges. KOH243 is a flat piece of rimu (Fig. 6.20) very similar in thickness, general appearance and finish to KOH241. It too could have been a net gauge.

Thread reels

Figure 6.20 Two net gauges

Two items, KOH239 and KOH240, are small strips of heart totara with broad notches along each side (Fig. 6.21). They were identified as reels for fine thread (P. Harrison, pers. comm.). The notches are to prevent the thread from sliding and becoming tangled, and such tools are made for Maori weavers to this day.

Fibre working tools

Figure 6.21 Two thread reels

Eighteen Kohika artefacts are tentatively identified as fibre working tools (Fig. 6.22). They are short pieces of wood, eight of which have spatulate points and ten needle points. It is suggested here that they were used for a variety of purposes related to weaving, net making, rope working and so on. All are illustrated in Figure 6.22 but only three of the better-made and more distinctive are described here. KOH261 is a very beautifully made kaui, or weaving tool. It is a leaf-shaped piece of heart totara wood with a 13 mm long point at one end. Unlike the others in this category, it is beautifully finished and may have been a high-status object used for the finest weaving. KOH251 is a cone-shaped piece of totara identical in form and probable function to a marlinspike – a tool for loosening knots and strands in ropes and cordage. KOH254 is a carefully made artefact shaped from a stick of manuka that tapers to a slight knob at the top and has a steep bevel at the other end, leading to a projecting tongue.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 113 Figure 6.22 Fibre-, net- and rope-working tools

Wakahuia lid?

KOH108 is a flat plain slab of totara with rounded, tapered edges. It could have been a lid for a simple wakahuia, or treasure box. This item is not illustrated.

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Ladder

KOH231 is a ladder with four notched steps (Fig. 6.23). It is made from a small trunk of mahoe 1205 mm long and has a hole piercing the bottom end to allow it to be lashed to something. We believe it was for a pataka in Area D.

Bevelled strips

KOH242 is a set of eight strips of totara 14–20 mm wide by 3–4 mm thick, broken into sections 25–150 mm long. The edges of one face have been bevelled. The original function of these items is not known but they must have been a component of a larger artefact associated with the White House level (Square D7). They are not illustrated.

Wedges

Six items have been identified with varying degrees of confidence as wood-splitting wedges (Fig. 6.24). They have the expected acute triangle profile and most show evidence of hammering on their butts or breakage at the other end. KOH232 is a wedge carefully made from maire trunk-wood. It has a groove cut around its top, presumably to take a binding to reduce splitting, and its tip has broken. The others are less clearly wedges but most have some degree of battering on their tops.

Pegs

Seven items are identified as pegs in this collection (Fig. 6.25). They are rather casually made from a variety of species and quite robust. Figure 6.23 Ladder

Posts

A sample of sixteen has been identified as being manufactured stakes or posts but, in general, they are too fragmentary to be ascribed to the main defensive palisade. All had been split out of small to medium-sized trees. Only one (KOH263) is a complete section of stem and had been made into a post or stake 1360 mm long. The other items are merely split pieces of wood of similar cross-section, frequently having the outer surface of the tree trunk (minus bark) as one face. The wood identifications of these artefacts include tawa, pukatea, matai, rimu and totara. They are not illustrated here.

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 115 Figure 6.24 Wood-splitting wedges

116 Figure 6.25 Pegs

Kohika

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 117 Figure 6.26 Items of unidentified function

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Sharpened sticks/stakes

Ten stems cut off at one end and adzed into sharpened ends at the other were brought back to the laboratory while numerous other examples were discarded in the field. They may have been parts of various above-ground structures, including low fences separating activity areas within the site. Nine are manuka and one is mahoe.

Miscellaneous items

Five very carefully made items with no obvious function are illustrated in Figure 6.26. Some may have been fittings associated with houses or canoes.

Lashing vines

Plate 6.2 Two coils of rata vine.

Many coils of lashing vine were found at Kohika and a sample of nineteen was collected from eleven different locations. All are 3–7 mm in vine thickness and probably of white rata (Metrosideros albiflora). The coils are of two types: smaller ones 1–3 m long wound into a coil some 175 mm across, and larger ones with 5–22 m of vine measuring about 220 mm across. A total of 140 m of vine is present in these coils. Two coils are shown in Plate 6.2. Most pre-European Maori structures were lashed together. Superior houses could have employed manufactured twine but for most work, such as palisades, vines would have been used. These could have been collected in the bush, coiled on the spot and transported to the site by canoe. They are very flexible when green but become stiff when dry and, if stored dry, would have required several days’ soaking before use. The Kohika coils were all found in peaty deposits, suggesting they had been stored in water at the swampy margins of the site to keep them in a usable state.

Adzed fragments

Twelve items, KOH271 to KOH282, show extensive adze marks on some of their surfaces and preserve evidence of careful use of a stone adze.

Wood chips

KOH308–334 and KOH351– 354 are chips of wood produced as waste during adze working. These were collected to investigate woodworking technology, and a preliminary discussion can be found in Boileau (1978). Wood chips were abundant in the site and a sample of more than 200

The wooden artefacts from Kohika 119

was retained for analysis. This indicates three forms of adzing: steep-angle chopping used to sever trunks or stems, rapid reduction of surfaces by levering off large chunks, and shallow-angle adzing to dress surfaces to a smooth finish. The steep-angle chopping was done at an angle of up to 30 degrees and indicates very vigorous adze work. Several of the flake scars are deep enough to suggest that the adze blade was driven up to 50 mm into the wood in a single heavy blow. The second and commonest type of wood chip resulted from rapid reduction of a wood surface. These are large splinters and strips of wood with one or both ends broken off across the grain. All of these are of totara and most can be placed into one of three sub-categories. First are those with one end chopped off at a steep angle and the other end smashed off at right angles. Second, those smashed off at both ends. Third, those smashed off at one end and the other thinning out to a point or edge where the grain ran out. The ratio between these types is close to 1:4:1 in the sample. Each wood chip has a single split surface on its lower face and remnants of several scars on its upper face where several flakes had previously been split off. These wood chips were clearly produced by driving an adze into an exposed end grain and levering up a strip of wood until it broke across the grain. The adze was then driven under the newly broken end to lever off another strip, a process that continued until the splinter ran out or the end of the log was reached. In this case the adze was being used as a cross between a cutting tool, a wedge and a lever. Totara is a very free-splitting wood and it should normally be possible to split it into blanks of the correct size with little need for such a rough reduction process as indicated by these wood splinters. However, it is interesting that one activity where splitting is not normally possible is hollowing out logs during the manufacture of canoes or very large bowls. The necessity of preserving a watertight hull in one piece meant that wood had to be levered and smashed out rather than wedged and split off. It follows that many of the wood chips could derive from canoe building. Wood chips resulting from shallow-angle dressing of timber are less common in the sample. These are mostly about 1 mm thick and have one side with several shallowangle adze scars and the other with a single scar or merely a single split surface where the adze had cleaved a piece rather than cut it. The low frequency of such dressing chips is surprising considering the abundance of adze-marked timbers, but the sample returned to the laboratory is not considered to be representative. Evidence of yet another type of adzing is seen on sharpened stakes and stems where the sapwood had been cut off. The adze marks on the artefacts suggest the removal of long narrow shavings by multiple short adze blows, one after another. Such chips were not included in the sample and may also have not survived burial in quantity.

An overview of the Kohika wooden assemblage

The artefacts described in this chapter are the result of activities associated with built structures, food acquisition and preparation, transport, defence and the working of other materials, including fibre and manufacturing waste. Housing is discussed in Chapter 7. Food acquisition and preparation are reflected in the fifteen fragments of bird spears, the 28 pieces of digging and horticultural implements, the six knobbed ends of shafts (probable digging tool shaft fragments), the fifteen beaters and the six bowls. These artefacts reflect active exploitation of forest birds, vigorous horticultural activity and a strong emphasis on fern root as a food source. Artefact manufacture involving woodworking is represented by an adze handle,

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one chisel handle and one socket for a composite hafted chisel. Together with the wood chips and wedges, these artefacts show that many of the items found were actually made on the site. The fibre-working tools include two reels for fine thread, nineteen weaving and rope-working implements and the two net gauges. The nineteen paddles, six canoe parts, three or four bailers and thirteen possible canoe seats and fittings reflect the importance of transport technology. The abundance of such artefacts is expected in a swamp site located within a network of rivers, streams and lakes where canoes would have been the primary means of transport. One must also bear in mind the evidence for contact further along the coast. One of the canoe fragments is made from kauri and could imply that the site was part of a network of waterborne communications wider than the local area. There is a notable absence of some of the wooden weapons of Classic Maori culture. The only possible ones are the six javelins or darts, but these may have been toys. The palisade posts and coils of lashing vine that were used to bind them certainly reflect defence, and we may note the contemporary existence of many fortified sites in the hills around the swamp. One of the great benefits of wetland archaeology is that items of status, ornamentation, religion, art and play are relatively well represented. Apart from the elaborately carved house parts discussed later, there are six ornamental hair combs, seven spinning tops and part of a flute. Such artefacts imply the presence of people who practised the more sophisticated Maori arts. The overall picture is of a lightly defended horticultural, fishing and fowling lake village occupied by a community practising a wide variety of economic, industrial, social and cultural activities and with some time for leisure. The people participated in exchange networks, as reflected in exotic materials. In short, this wooden artefact collection might be seen as typical of a late period, but clearly before European arrival.

References Beaglehole, J.C., 1974. The Journals of Captain James Cook. Volume I: The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1772. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Best, E., 1924. The Maori. Vol. I. Wellington: The Polynesian Society. Best, E., 1925. The Maori Canoe. Dominion Museum Bulletin No.7. Wellington: Government Printer. Best, E., 1976. Maori Agriculture. Dominion Museum Bulletin No.9. Wellington: Government Printer. Best, E., 1977. Forest Lore of the Maori. Dominion Museum Bulletin No.14. Wellington: Government Printer Boileau, J., 1978. Wood from Kohika: a study of timber exploitation and woodworking technology. Unpublished MA research essay, University of Auckland. Colenso, W., 1868. On the geographic and economic botany of the North Island of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1:233–83. Colenso, W., 1891. Vestiges: Reminiscences: Memorabilia of works, deeds and sayings of the ancient Maori. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 24:445–67. Downes, T.W., 1928. Bird snaring on the Wanganui River. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 37:1–30. Fisher, V.F., 1962. The heru or Maori comb. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 5:47–50. Gardner, J., 1985. What value and use are the records of explorers, missionaries, traders and early settlers to the study of combs in an archaeological context? Unpublished MA research essay, University of Auckland. Joppien, R. and B. Smith, 1984. The Art of Captain Cook’s Voyages. Volume I: The Voyage of

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the Endeavour 1768–1771. Volume II: The Voyage of the Resolution and the Adventure 1772–1775. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Lawrence, J., 1989. The Archaeology of the Waitakere Ranges. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Matthews, R.H., 1910. Reminiscences of Maori life fifty years ago. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 43:598–605. Neich, R., 1993. Painted Histories. Auckland: Auckland University Press. Oldman, W.O., 1946. Skilled handwork of the Maori: being the Oldman Collection of Maori artefacts illustrated and described. Wellington: The Polynesian Society Memoir No.14. Purdue, C., 2002. What is a fern-root beater? the correlation of museum artefacts and ethnohistorical descriptions. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Otago. Ranapiri, T., 1895. Ancient methods of bird snaring amongst the Maoris. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 4:132–52. Robley, H.G., 1987. Moko, or, Maori tattooing. Papakura: Southern Reprints. Shawcross, F.W., 1964. An archaeological assemblage of Maori combs. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 73:382–98. Shawcross, F.W., 1970. The Cambridge University Collection of Maori artefacts, made on Captain Cook’s first voyage. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 73:305–48. Shawcross, F.W., 1976. Kauri Point Swamp: the ethnographic interpretation of a prehistoric site. In G. de G. Sieveking, I.H. Longworth and K.E. Wilson (eds), Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology. London: Duckworth, pp.201–20. Wallace, R.T., 1982. Woods used in the manufacture of Maori adze helves and composite helve sockets. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 4:170–84. Wallace, R.T., 1985. Studies in the conservation of waterlogged wood in New Zealand. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Waikato. Wallace, R.T., 1989. A preliminary study of wood types used in pre-European Maori wooden artefacts. In D.G. Sutton (ed.), Saying so doesn’t make it so. Wellington: New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph No.17.

7

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika R.T. Wallace, G.J. Irwin and R. Neich

Kohika pa adds to the knowledge of traditional Maori architecture, and this chapter reconstructs the buildings that stood there. The evidence consists of surviving timbers and excavated floor plans, which are interpreted in the context of archaeological and ethnographic information from elsewhere. In an earlier report Wallace and Irwin (1999) described a generic Kohika house but this chapter describes the individual buildings. The chapter briefly reviews the literature on traditional Maori buildings and describes the parts found at Kohika. A number of carvings, mainly from buildings, are described also. There are general discussions of both the buildings and the carving styles. The combined evidence gives us a view of an assemblage of houses and pataka of varied form, size and decoration.

The buildings

The Whakatane and District Historical Society team collected many dressed timbers from a carved house, but they did no formal excavation and found no floor plan. The result is that the house tells us much about the details of construction of a superior house but not much about its dimensions. The remains of a pataka (raised storehouse) were found in the same area. In Area D, the university team excavated a sequence of artificial floors and found two houses, with their floor plans revealed by postholes and post butts. However, although these houses were substantial, they were of a less formal, pole and thatch construction. Area D also supplied timbers from a possible third house and pataka for which we have no floor plans. Figure 7.1 is a reconstruction of the house in the HS Area. It had at least four carved poupou that were set in the ground, a carved figure on a board (poutahuhu) that possibly faced into the interior of the house, plus a carved human figure on a post (poutokomanawa) that supported the ridgepole (tahuhu). All of the carvings were the work of one artist. Figure 7.2 is the house that stood on the excavated Yellow House horizon, shown without its facing boards at the gables and wall ends (maihi and amo). Minor decorations and carvings were associated with this house. A smaller house of the same construction, not illustrated here, stood directly above this house on the White House horizon and probably reused some of the parts. There are indications that yet a third building in Area D may have stood underneath both these two on the Bright Yellow level. The details of the three excavated floors were shown in Figures 4.15–17. Figure 7.3 is a pataka that has been reconstructed from several distinctive components (including the ladder described in Chapter 6). It stood close to the houses in Area D but the precise location is unknown because the supporting posts did not survive in situ. 122

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 123

Figure 7.1 A reconstruction of the carved house from the Historical Society (HS) Area

The estimated dimensions of the buildings are shown in Table 7.1, except for the carved house in Figure 7.1. The body proportions of the human figures in the surviving parts of the poupou indicate that it had a wall height of 1.0–1.2 m, but other dimensions could vary while wall height stayed the same. However, we would not expect the carved house to have been smaller than the houses in Area D. The dimensions of the White and Yellow houses were based on floor plans and of the Bright Yellow House and pataka on the size of surviving timbers. Table 7.1

Estimated dimensions of excavated houses and pataka

Building Yellow House White House Bright Yellow House Pataka Area D

Width 5.35 m 3.65 m 3.00 m minimum 2.60 m

Length 7.24 m 5.40 m 4.50 m (1.5 x width) 3.90 m (1.5 x width)

Height at ridgepole 2.85 m 2.30 m 2.00 m 1.80 m

Floor area 38.8 m2 19.7 m2 13.3 m2 10.1 m2

A brief review of Maori architecture

Archaeology rarely discovers the actual remains of above-ground buildings. The exceptions have been isolated finds, such as the spectacular carvings found near Waitara in Taranaki (Duff 1961). Systematic excavations of wet sites have been few; the ones most comparable with Kohika being two swamp sites at Lake Mangakaware near Te

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Figure 7.2 A reconstruction of the pole and thatch house from the Yellow House floor, Area D

Awamutu (Bellwood 1978). Underground evidence of the floor plans of buildings survives in dry sites as features such as patterns of postholes, hearths and scatters of artefacts and other debris (Davidson 1984:151–63). All of these sources of information provide a context for the review of the Kohika houses and pataka. Whare

Prickett (1982:111–12) has shown that the Maori house (whare) was a conservative cultural form that persisted through much of New Zealand prehistory and well into the European era. Many historic and ethnographic descriptions of traditional Maori buildings are available but, unfortunately, none written by someone who had actually built one. As a consequence, construction details are usually quite superficially treated. Most accounts date to the 19th century, when Maori architecture was progressively adopting European construction techniques and materials. The last descriptions of houses built by traditional methods were made in the 1920s (Firth 1926). Knowledge of construction methods was lost and by 1949 Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa) wrote: ‘No detailed description of the framework of the common Maori house is available to me and my memory cannot supply details which were never noted despite frequent contact with them.’ (Buck 1949:117). An explanation for this is provided in this chapter. Modern Maori architecture is focused on the whare whakairo or communal meeting house, a form that has continued to evolve and develop up to the present day (Neich 1993:89–121). Traditional Maori houses were constructed using a system fundamentally different from modern building methods and, in some aspects, to ones described as traditional

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 125 Figure 7.3 A reconstruction of the pataka from Area D

in parts of tropical Polynesia. Scholars have classified Maori houses in various ways, the most basic distinction, according to Prickett (1982:116), being between what Best (1924:559) called ‘carefully fitted houses constructed of wrought timbers, with or without embellishment’ and those made from pole and thatch. The former can be divided into meeting houses, or large communally owned structures often embellished with carved, painted and woven decoration, and smaller, privately occupied sleeping houses. In the following account the main sources used are Prickett (1974, 1979, 1982) for traditional houses, Williams (1896) for contact-period houses, Phillips (1952), Makereti (1986) and Firth (1926) for 19th-century and early 20th-century houses, and Anon. (1988) for the modern carved house. Additional information is from Bellwood (1978), Best (1924), Buck (1949) and Prickett (1982). The Kohika house illustrated in Figure 7.1 can be taken as a model of a house constructed from dressed timbers. Construction began by setting up a line of centre posts spanned by a ridgepole (tahuhu) that projected at the front. As this formed the primary structural support, the house can be seen as being built from the top down. The walls were then formed by setting vertical boards in the ground, poupou at the sides and epa at the ends. Each poupou had a slot in the top to take the tongue (teremu) of a rafter (heke) forming a mortise and tenon joint. How rafters joined at the ridgepole

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is not clearly described. If they met end on, poupou would occur in matched pairs on either side of the house, as in the case of modern meeting houses. If rafters crossed at the ridgeline and were lashed together, each poupou would be systematically offset from its matching one on the opposite side of the house. The latter appears to have been normal during prehistory, as can be seen by posthole patterns excavated by archaeologists (Davidson, 1984, Figs 97, 101, 102 and 103). This form has been used in Figure 7.1. A cable (tauwhenua) ran up each poupou, along the top of the rafters and down to the opposite poupou. This held the joints of the structure together under compression (Best 1924:565, Makereti 1986:299). This cable is said to have attached to a buttress (pou matua) set up outside each poupou. Such accounts are sketchy and not entirely logical, leaving unclear the question of how the ends of the tauwhenua were anchored. While photos of 19th-century houses sometimes show a line of light posts outside the walls (Neich 1993, Figs 69, 106 and 131), it is clear their function was to support the thatching so it projected well clear of the walls of the house, a necessity in such large houses in the absence of projecting rafters. These disappeared as soon as corrugatediron roofing and steel gutters were adopted. Lines of postholes outside and parallel to house walls were not found at Kohika and are rare in other sites. The primary load-bearing structure of the house was thus a ridgepole spanning two or more posts supporting a series of arches whose joints were held together under compression by a cable. This primary structure was then reinforced by lighter vertical and horizontal elements. A horizontal batten (kaho-paetara) ran the length of the side walls, on the outside near their tops. Lashed to this element were vertical battens (tumatahuki) placed between poupou. The tops of the end wall posts were connected to a pair of special rafters (heke ripi). Purlins or stringers (kaho) ran across the rafters, either lashed to the rafters or held in place by having the tauwhenua looped around them (Best 1924:565, Makereki 1986:299). There was a single door (tatau, kuaha or whatitoka) and window (pihunga, mataaho or matapihi) in the front wall, often closed by solid slabs of wood that sat in grooves in sills and lintels and slid sideways into cavities in the wall insulation. Accounts of how lintel and sill plates were fitted (Williams 1896, Firth 1926) are either vague or relate to large late 19th-century houses (Makereti 1986:307–8). The above account relates to superior houses made from dressed timbers. Most whare, however, would have been constructed of a framework of undressed poles with all joints lashed together where elements crossed, as in the Kohika house shown in Figure 7.2. Such houses were not necessarily smaller than ones made from dressed timber and the difference would have been visible mainly from the inside, because the load-bearing structure formed the internal surface and the insulation was placed against the outside. One of the best insulation materials was the bulrush raupo (Typha augustifolia). It was used in the house reconstructions in Figures 7.1 and 7.2, as the pollen record demonstrates an abundance of the species around the site. Raupo was set vertically on the walls and the roof and lashed in place to light horizontal elements (Neich 2001, Figs 7.1, 11.5). These elements were made from thin sticks or even the cane-like supplejack (Rhipogonum scandens). Inside superior houses, wall insulation between poupou was covered by an ornamental latticework (tukutuku panels) supported by the tumatahuki. The roof insulation was usually further topped off by a more durable thatch such as toitoi leaves (Cordateria conspicusa) held in place by poles or cables. Houses could be finished off with facing boards placed above the door (pare), window (korupe), the gables (maihi) and ends of the side walls (amo). A plank set on edge (paepae) could be placed along the front of the porch (Fig. 7.1).

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 127

Pataka

There is a well-attested concept of raised platforms in Polynesia, either open or enclosed, for the storage or display of food, gifts, other belongings or even corpses (Geelen 1974). These are generally referred to as fata or pafata from the Proto-Polynesian *fata (Walsh and Biggs 1966). In New Zealand, open storage platforms called whata and enclosed storehouses built on raised platforms supported by posts, usually called pataka, were notable features of 19th-century Maori culture. Most New Zealand and many international museums have examples of elaborately carved and ornamented pataka in their collections. Different types were built to store food, clothing or tapu items, sometimes including human remains. They varied greatly in size and construction, with some being of dressed timbers, others of pole and thatch or even, in the case of smaller ones, assembled from sections of old canoes (Best 1974, Earle 1966, Geelen 1974, Phillips 1952). Pataka were frequently ornamented with carvings, paint and feathers, and the larger and more elaborate ones were similar in appearance to small houses. Pataka are shown in many depictions of 19th-century Maori settlements (e.g. Best 1974, Earle 1966). During the century, communal meeting houses grew in size and elaboration and assumed their current role as the main vehicle of group prestige (Neich 1993) and, conversely, pataka declined in importance. However, pataka were described as the most notable buildings in early 19th-century villages (Cruise 1974). This view is supported by a recent study of the numerous carvings recovered from swamps in north Taranaki (Day 2001), which are loosely dated to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The author concludes: ‘Probably one of the most obvious facts is that the prestigious architectural structures in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for the northern part of Te Tai Hauauru ki Taranaki were pataka.’ (Day 2001:117) Evidence exists of other pataka from potentially pre-European and certainly early contact-period contexts. This includes part of a doorway recovered during excavations at Oruarangi, a site not inhabited after the 1820s (Green and Green 1963:33, Teviotdale and Skinner 1947:343). The set of pataka carvings recovered at Miranda in the late 19th century, is rumoured to have been buried in pre-European times (Lysnar 1915:57). There are the well-known Te Kaha pataka carvings in Auckland Museum whose history is reported to date from as early as 1780 (Geelen 1974:32). A pataka paepae recovered from waterlogged soils at Chartwell in Hamilton (Edson, pers. comm.) may also be early. Geelen (1974:32–3) lists further potential examples of contact-period or older pataka. Unfortunately, the above records all lack good chronological provenance. They and the early European eye-witness accounts relate mainly to the 19th century, and leave unclear the extent to which raised storehouses were features of pre-European Maori culture. This led Groube (1965:56) to suggest that highly carved pataka, along with much else in 19th-century Maori culture, arose as a result of European influences. Such influences may have included steel carving tools and the need to relocate property (other than root crops requiring the controlled temperatures of underground storage) out of reach of newly introduced rats and pigs. Unfortunately, evidence of raised storage platforms and storehouses is usually ephemeral in the prehistoric Maori archaeological record, as it may consist of little more than a few postholes. Waterlogged deposits containing parts of the superstructure of storehouses from chronologically secure contexts offer the best hope of demonstrating the antiquity of pataka. At Kohika we have found evidence for probable pataka in three of the excavated areas and can date these to the late 17th century. The evidence consists of structural

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timbers that match those of ethnographically recorded storehouses, and can be distinguished from those of houses by details of form and by smaller dimensions. There are significant differences between pataka and whare made from carefully dressed timbers. Figure 7.1 illustrates the essential features of a dressed-timber whare while Figure 7.3 does the same for a plank-built pataka. Pataka walls were formed from planks lashed to a raised platform whereas whare planks or posts were set in the earth. Pataka walls had a single thickness of planks sewn edge to edge with a batten covering the joint while whare walls were formed by a line of well-separated posts with insulation attached to the outside. Unlike whare, pataka often had side walls of horizontal planks and never had windows. Finally, pataka dimensions overlap with those of whare only at the upper end of their range. The last point is relevant as we have good data on whare dimensions at Kohika. The structural timbers from Kohika strongly support the presence of pataka. Many items found in the peat of Areas B, D and the HS Area could as easily have been kept in storehouses as in houses. Also, in Square B1 there were standing posts consistent with a raised pataka, with valuable artefacts present but no house in the immediate vicinity. The argument will be developed that at Kohika there were not just houses, but integrated households, which also included storehouses and other less formal structures such as cooking shelters for which there are both floor plans and suitable timbers.

Description of the parts of buildings at Kohika

In order to facilitate description of the timbers recovered, a standardised nomenclature has been adopted for the way boards were cut from tree trunks and the types of lashing holes cut into them, as illustrated in Figure 7.4. Timbers from the Historical Society Area

The society team recovered a large number of dressed timbers from their Squares 1 and 2. A feature found only in this area was that some had been partly consumed by fire. This had removed only the upper parts of timbers that had originally been set upright in the ground, their lower parts having been protected from fire damage by moisture from the saturated ground. The absence of charring on other timbers strongly implies that the buildings had been abandoned for a period prior to the fires. In this

Figure 7.4 Types of lashing holes on house planks

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 129 Plate 7.1 KOH14. Poupou base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.2 KOH16. Poupou base, Historical Society Area.

scenario, the structure would have disintegrated and its timbers lain in contact with the saturated ground prior to the fires, leaving only the tops of standing posts dry enough to burn. Afterwards, the surviving bottom halves remained standing until they rotted off at ground level. When recovered, all timbers had one side more weathered than the other, indicating that they had lain exposed for an extended period before being incorporated into waterlogged deposits. Four poupou with carved ornamentation on one surface were recovered (Plates 7.1– 4). They had clearly been parts of a whare whakairo or carved house. All had their tops burnt off and were damaged by decay at ground level. Extrapolation from the proportions of the carved human figures indicates that the poupou were once approximately a metre tall. Stylistic analysis is provided below. The poupou, KOH14, KOH16, KOH17 and KOH18, are very similar in size, 205–280 mm wide and 30–40 mm thick. Part of the base of KOH16 was still partially intact and shows they had chisel ends that allowed them to be driven into the ground. KOH44 (Plate 7.5) is notably thicker at 85 mm than the others and is interpreted as a poutahuhu, a post set in the centre of the front wall of the house supporting the ridgepole and with its carving facing into the interior (Figure 7.1). Such posts often had the same type of carving as poupou. All of these items were made from totara and, on the basis of the carving style (see below), were a matched set. KOH53 (Plate 7.6) is the corner broken from a very elaborately carved pare, or flashing over a door. Analysis of the carving style is given later in this chapter.

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Plate 7.3 KOH17. Poupou base, Historical Society Area. Plate 7.4 KOH18. Poupou base, Historical Society Area.

KOH1, KOH3 and KOH345 (Plates 7.7–9) are fragments broken off elaborately carved slabs. KOH345 is a small (35 mm) fragment of spiral fretwork. These items are too small to allow discussion of the function of the timbers they came from. It is likely that KOH1 and KOH3 are from the whare whakairo, but it is quite possible that KOH345 is from a carving on a canoe. KOH7 (Plate 7.10) is a large (1030 mm tall) stylised human figure executed in the round. The base is flat and it sat on the ground rather than being set into it. It is in a very weathered state but the top is broken in a way that shows it once had a post extending upwards from it. It is interpreted as a poutokomanawa or central house post supporting the ridgepole. An attempt was made to reconstruct it. Using only stone tools, Paki Harrison, Dante Bonica and Wiremu Puke carved a figure as close to the original as they could achieve (Plate 7.10). The surface ornamentation is, necessarily, conjectural. All other house timbers found in this area were without carved ornamentation. Some had also been partly burnt but most had remained untouched. KOH9 is a nearly complete 765 mm-long poupou (Fig. 7.5). The base has rotted off at ground level, but it is not burnt. The intact top has a square notch cut to take the tongue on the lower end of a rafter. It has a face-type eyelet just below this notch, probably for holding the tauwhenua cable in place. KOH12 is a 155 mm-wide wall slab (Fig. 7.5), burnt off square at the top and rotted off at ground level. This could have been either a poupou or an epa. It has two

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 131 Plate 7.5 KOH44. Poutahuhu base, Historical Society Area.

Plate 7.6 KOH53. Pare fragment, Historical Society Area.

edge eyelets opposite each other that would have allowed a horizontal structural element to have been attached without the lashings being visible from inside the house. Such horizontal elements can be located on Figure 7.1. KOH13 (Figure 7.5) is another slab burnt and rotted off in a similar way to KOH12 that has just one edge eyelet. KOH15 is a plank (Fig. 7.5) whose base and burnt-off top form an angle of 80 degrees to its edge, which implies that it was leaning 10 degrees to one side when part of a structure. As such, it could have been an amo (Fig. 7.1) cut to match the inward slope of the side walls. The two lashing holes at the base could have been used to connect it to the wall behind or to a paepae.

132 Plate 7.7 KOH1. Part of carving, Historical Society Area.

Plate 7.8 KOH3. Fragment of carving, Historical Society Area.

Plate 7.9 KOH345. Fragment of spiral from carving, Historical Society Area.

Kohika

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 133 Plate 7.10 KOH7. Poutokomanawa figure, Historical Society Area, and modern replica carved by Paki Harrison, Dante Bonica and Wiremu Puke.

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Figure 7.5 Poupou and other vertical house elements from the HS Area

The timbers described above have been adze-dressed on all four faces and have neatly made lashing holes chiselled through them. They are vertical elements from a very carefully made house, most probably the whare whakairo. In contrast, KOH10 (Fig. 7.5) is a rather roughly made poupou that could have come from a more casually constructed building. It has been split from the outer surface of a pukatea (Laurelia novae-zelandiae) trunk with only the split surfaces dressed. The three lashing holes down the length of the board are casually chiselled and unevenly placed. KOH55 (Fig. 7.6) is identified here as a nearly finished pare (flashing board over a door) or korupe (over a window). It is a slab of totara 575 mm by 135 mm with a zigzag outline on its upper margin. It is similar to a pare from a Maori house at Waipa (Angas 1979:36) and to a smaller item (KOH54, described below) found in Area D. The wood has been adzed relatively smooth but no lashing holes had yet been cut. KOH57 (Fig. 7.6) is a slab of totara 488 mm long by 108 mm with a deep Ushaped hollow down its length. One end has a deep square notch and the other the remains of a square tongue. This artefact fits the description of a door sill (Williams

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 135 Figure 7.6 Door or window parts from the HS Area

1896:148). The way it could have operated in a house is illustrated in Figure 7.1.The square notch would have fitted around a solid jamb or epa at one side. The tongue at the other end would have been inserted between a two-piece jamb that allowed the door slab to slide into the wall cavity. KOH58 is identified as a door jamb. It is a board 1230 mm by 535 mm with two large square holes cut through it and the remains of three edge eyelet-type lashing holes along one edge (Fig. 7.6). It is nearly identical to a door jamb described by Bellwood (1978, Fig. 11). We could not find a source for Bellwood’s ascription, but there is a matched door sill and lintel in Auckland Museum collected from Oruarangi that would fit into a jamb of this form. Nine artefacts from Squares 1 and 2 meet the definition of tumatahuki or vertical house wall battens (Fig. 7.7). They were split from heart totara, the top half adzedressed, and a simple hole chiselled near the very top. The larger six (KOH42–48) are clearly from the same house. They range from 1135 mm to 1005 mm long, a variation to be expected as house walls often rose in height from back to front (Firth 1926). These battens are all in an excellent state of preservation and have no evidence of rot at their bases. Tumatahuki typically support tukutuku panels with their tops lashed to the kaho-paetara. Clearly, when the house was abandoned, the lashings rotted and the battens fell onto the wet ground and escaped fire. Three smaller battens (KOH49–51) were also recovered from Squares 1 and 2. Although identical in form to those described above, they are only 705 mm to 560 mm long. A further batten (KOH52) of a different type was found in the same area. Unlike

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Figure 7.7 Tumatahuki battens from the HS Area

Kohika

the others, it has a hole in both ends and may have had a different function, such as to hold the front wall insulation in place (Fig.7.7). KOH59 is a slat 1545 mm long and 40 mm wide (not illustrated). It is slightly tapered and snapped off at one end. There are many possible functions for such an item in the house construction, including covering the junction between two planks, trimming around doors and windows, and holding insulation onto the front wall. Several timber planks that were probably parts of pataka were found in the Society area. These have lashing holes enabling them to have been sewn edge to edge. KOH11 and KOH21 (Fig. 7.8) are probably from pataka epa on the front wall (see Fig. 7.3), as their tops are cut at 45–55 degrees from the vertical. KOH11 has three simple lashing holes along one edge and two on the other. KOH21 is a burnt-off fragment with two simple lashing points along its remaining intact edge. It is the only burnt fragment in the collection that was not the base of a post set in the ground. KOH22 (Fig. 7.8) is a plank originally 720 mm by 155 mm with simple lashing holes at each corner. KOH71–74 and KOH40 are board fragments with lashing holes that imply they may have been from sewn plank structures. Four items, KOH23–25 (Fig. 7.9), and KOH29 (not illustrated), are slabs split from the surface of pukatea trunks with simple lashing holes at their tops. The only intact one is 1827 mm tall and has a base bevelled to allow it to be driven into the ground. They are rather casually made and dressed on the split face. Whatever structures they were from must have been relatively low in status but high enough to have allowed people to stand up. They could have been walls of cooking shelters.

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 137

In summary, timbers were found that demonstrate the presence in this area of plank-built buildings including a definite whare whakairo, a probable pataka and some other informal structures, perhaps including cooking shelters. Timbers from Area D

Excavation of this area found a sequence of house floors with an adjacent cooking area set against a palisade (Figs 4.15–17). The postholes and intact butts of these houses demonstrate that they were constructed of pole and thatch and used the palisade as their back wall. The dressed timbers recovered from this area appear to have come from a number of structures that stood in the immediate area. Undressed poles are difficult to attribute to specific buildings when found as scattered pieces. Six items have incised or relief ornamentation. KOH2 is a fragment of a board (Plate 7.11) from the Yellow House level that is elaborately carved on both sides. KOH6 (Plate 7.12) is a weathered knotty fragment recovered from the White House level that has incised carving on its surface. KOH4 is a long (459 mm), narrow (32 mm) fragment detached from a plank with an incised pattern on one face (Plate 7.13). KOH5 is a small slab of wood with an incised line drawing on one side that could have been either a doodle or a preparatory sketch for a carving (Fig. 7.10). KOH54 is a complete artefact recovered from the Yellow House level (Fig. 7.10). It is 350 mm by 95 mm with a zigzag upper margin and four lashing holes. It could have been a korupe (window facing board) or a pare of a house or pataka. While such items could relate to structures of status marked out as different from domestic ones by ornamentation, the evidence from Area D allows the clear possibility that they were attached to pole and thatch houses and that there was, therefore, more diversity in house status and decoration than has been envisaged. KOH56 is a carefully made item 398 mm long, U-shaped in cross-section, and with deep U-shaped recesses cut in each end (Fig. 7.10). It could have been a lintel plate for

Figure 7.8 Possible fragments of pataka from the HS Area

Figure 7.9 Dressed slabs split from pukatea tree trunks, HS Area and Area B

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Plate 7.11 KOH2. Fragment of elaborate carving, Area D.

Plate 7.12 KOH6. Fragment of elaborate carving, Area D.

Plate 7.13 KOH4. Fragment of elaborate carving, Area D.

the small door of a pataka, as illustrated in Figure 7.3, where it is shown trimming the epa over the door opening and with the recesses at its ends fitting around the epa at each side. In this case the door would be only 325 mm wide. Three rafters from a small plank-built house or pataka were recovered in Square D2 just outside the palisade line. KOH34 and KOH35 (Fig. 7.11) appear to be a matched set of heke ripi rafters that abutted the end wall. Each has holes along only one side so it could be lashed to the tops of epa, as illustrated in Figures 7.1 and 7.3. KOH34 has five plain lashing holes cut through one edge and three face eyelets on the upper surface. KOH35 has ten edge eyelets, five cut from the upper and lower surfaces respectively. In contrast, KOH36 has only three face eyelets, suggesting it was a normal rafter, not attached to an end wall. The purpose of the face eyelets seems to have been to hold a tauwhenua, or tensioning cable, in place along the length of the rafter. These rafters were carefully made and provide intricate details of their construction and the design of their joints (Fig. 7.12). From their lengths we can estimate the width of the building from which they came. A roof pitch of 110 degrees and walls sloping outward by five degrees give a building approximately 2.50 m wide at the

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 139

Figure 7.10 (top left) Timbers recovered from Area D Figure 7.11 (top right) The three rafters from Area D

Figure 7.12 Detail of rafter tenon joints

Figure 7.13 Parameters used to estimate the width of a building in Area D, based on rafter dimensions

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Figure 7.14 Two parts of pataka from Area D, plus two indeterminate items (KOH30 and 31)

Kohika

base (Fig. 7.13). This is narrower than the pole and thatch house floors in Area D, which ranged from three to five metres wide. Furthermore, the side wall posts of the latter were narrower than the rafters and could not have formed joints with them. Therefore, we are dealing with parts of another building altogether. As the two items described next are clearly from a pataka, it could well be that these rafters are from that structure too. KOH19 is a pataka epa fragment with five neatly chiselled holes along its edge. KOH20 is a flashing strip, semi-circular in cross-section, that was recovered still attached to KOH19, the remains of lashings being still present (Fig. 7.14). These items are clearly from the wall of a very carefully finished pataka made from dressed planks set edge to edge. KOH32 is a board, triangular in outline, with seven holes piercing it (Fig. 7.14). It could be the end epa of a small pataka cut to accommodate the inward slope of the side wall. KOH30 is a thick slab 700 mm by 200 mm with a triangular cross-section (Fig. 7.14). It has three large simple lashing holes along its thick edge. The thinner edge is mostly broken away, leaving two of the original five or six smaller holes intact. The function of this item is uncertain. Also of uncertain purpose is KOH31, an adzed totara slab 450 mm long with its ends bevelled on alternate sides (Fig. 7.14). KOH37 and KOH38 (not illustrated) are pieces of one plank well over 2 metres long with an L-shaped cross-section. Its function, too, is not clear. KOH39 is a short batten with one end bevelled. KOH60 is a slat bevelled at each end. In addition, 23 other fragments of dressed plank recovered in Area D were, in general, too small to associate with particular structures. They were so numerous and of such a variety of wood species (kauri, totara, matai, rimu, kahikatea and pukatea) that we could suggest that other buildings made from dressed planks existed in this area of the site. Timbers from Area B

Area B lay near the eastern palisade and very few dressed wooden timbers were recovered here. KOH26 (Fig. 7.9) is a possible poupou, 1480 mm long, of dressed pukatea with a chisel end. Only three further plank fragments were found in this area. Posts and palisade timbers

Sixteen items were identified as fragments of stakes, posts or palisades. All were either natural stems or had been split from small to medium-sized trees. The species include manuka, kanuka, tawa, matai, rimu, pukatea and totara. A large number of comparable items were not analysed.

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 141

Discussion of the buildings

It is clear that one whare whakairo and possibly other dressed-plank houses stood at Kohika pa as well as numerous sleeping houses more simply constructed from pole and thatch. Also present were plank-built pataka. On the basis of current evidence, it is established that houses and pataka occurred in households on low-lying ground close to the lakeshore. There were also less formal structures – probably cooking shelters. However, storage pits were found only on top of the mound in Area A. Indeed, pits would have been restricted to high areas of the site to keep their floors above the water table. Therefore it is unlikely that any of the waterlogged timbers from Kohika belonged to roofed storage pits, and we are unable to tell whether any were decorated, for instance, by a simple carving over the door. However, this seems quite possible, given that houses of pole and thatch construction did have modest decorations. A notable feature of the analysis of the houses is the way in which the assemblage of timber relates to the floor plans. Houses and other domestic structures constructed from pole and thatch are visible archaeologically only by their floor plans and a relatively small number of distinctive timber elements and minor decorations. Most of their remains could not be recognised, even if they constituted a majority of the buildings. In contrast, the dressed planks recovered yielded considerable information concerning houses and other structures, even when their floor plans were not found. Archaeological sites normally supply only floor plans, but at Kohika parts of the superstructures of Maori houses were recovered. These provide details of construction not otherwise available to us, in particular how dressed timbers were joined together. A striking feature is how much trouble was taken to ensure the lashings were not visible. This was achieved by mortise and tenon joints and the extensive use of face and edge eyelets in preference to simple holes that passed directly through the planks. With lashings exposed mainly on the outside of the frame, visible or accessible only during house construction or repair, the internal timber surfaces of the houses remained unimpeded and ‘clean’. This aspect is illustrated in Figure 7.15. The use of facing boards on the front elevation of the house seems to continue this principle. This deliberate masking of construction details goes some way to explaining gaps in the ethnographic literature on house construction. Despite having had repeated contact with such houses, Peter Buck may have had no memory of the details simply because they were constructed so as to be almost completely hidden from sight. In contrast, the systems described by Buck (1938:277) from tropical Polynesia have open scaffolding-like frames secured by visible, and often ornamental, lashings. Maori practice was to avoid this. An exception is the tukutuku panelling, whose exposed lashings were artistic patterns. The question arises why the New Zealand Maori developed this approach. The answer may be, in parts, environmental, ecological and technological. The need to adapt to a colder climate by constructing thick, well-insulated walls in the superior Maori house types was met by using squared timbers and planks obtained from available large-diameter trees. Assembling such timbers into structures requires different techniques from those employed in tropical Polynesia on houses constructed of poles. Maori adopted techniques for connecting planks that resemble those used in canoe building. Canoes were made from planks fitted together with watertight joints to form hull surfaces that had no lashings exposed to abrasion when landing. Early Maori already had such techniques in their voyaging repertoire. The result may have been a transfer of technology from canoe to house construction in the context of the very different environment in New Zealand. However, one difference is that, while canoes

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Kohika

Figure 7.15 Detail of the internal and external framing of a superior house

had their lashings recessed from outside, superior houses had theirs concealed from inside. The deliberate masking of construction methods may have contributed to another feature of Maori architecture, the persistence of the meeting house into modern times. In tropical Polynesia, the form of a building is influenced by the visible techniques of construction. The adoption of European building methods inevitably radically altered its appearance. The Maori house conceals its construction methods so that the inward and outward appearance of the meeting house was retained in a highly recognisable way despite the adoption of European materials and construction methods. Thus the cultural continuity of buildings of central importance to the community was assured.

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 143

Woodcarvings from Kohika

Items from Kohika bearing carved embellishments include architectural components of houses: namely poupou, poutahuhu, pare and poutokomanawa, a paddle and a canoe bailer. All of these were made of totara, apart from the paddle, which was tawa. Carved parts of house: poupou

Because the tops were burnt off, the length (or rather the height) of each poupou is arbitrary. KOH14: poupou base with burnt-off top, 345 long by 205 wide by 30 mm thick (Plate 7.1). The surviving carving depicts a portion of a torso with a large plain spiral on the shoulder and a shallow sulcus separating the body from the upper leg, which has a plain surface. A deep curving cut outlines the edge of the figure. In the space beside the body and standing on the curve of the hip is a small supplementary figure with a round elongated face, open mouth with straight tongue, hands to hips. Overlying the body is a small contorted supplementary figure with a hand to its mouth. Apart from the shoulder spiral, no surface decoration is present. KOH16: poupou base with burnt-off top and chisel-ended base, 460 by 240 by 40 mm (Plate 7.2). The surviving carving consists of a lower leg and foot with projecting toes of the main figure on the poupou. Between its legs was a small supplementary figure, possibly without an obvious head, outlined in carving that pierces the poupou plank and displays some shaping even on the rear of the poupou. There is no surface decoration. KOH17: poupou base with burnt-off top, 425 by 280 by 35 mm (Plate 7.3). The surviving carving seems to depict a lower portion of a figure with its hip curving out at a marked angle from the body, perhaps with a lower arm ending in a hand on the body. There is also a small supplementary figure standing on the curve of the hip. There is no surface decoration. KOH18: poupou base with burnt-off top, 365 by 220 by 37 mm (Plate 7.4). The surviving carving depicts the lower portion of a figure, with a shallow sulcus separating the stomach from the hip. A large plain spiral covers the hip and there may have been a supplementary figure overlying the body. In the curve between the body and the hip there is a supplementary male figure with its feet on the hip. Apart from the spiral on the hip, there is no surface decoration. KOH44: poutahuhu base with burnt-off top, 290 by 175 by 85 mm (Plate 7.5). The surviving carving possibly depicts a wide leg and foot of the main figure, with the remains of a small supplementary figure between its legs. This panel is notable for the depth of the timber and the consequent deep cut outlining the leg, making it more likely to have been a poutahuhu rather than a poupou. General comments on the poupou and poutahuhu

Some general compositional features can be discerned from the carving that survives on these fragments. All of the carving has been executed in the same style, almost certainly the work of one individual carver. His work is characterised by the deployment of large plain spirals on shoulders and hips of the main poupou figure, which is the only surface decoration pattern used. He placed small supplementary figures on the body of the main figure, standing on the hip in the curve of the main figure outline and between its legs. He marked the outlines of his main poupou figures with a deep smooth curving cut and left the body of the main figure in fairly flat low relief. However, his large plain spirals and supplementary figures overlying the main figure show that he had good control of his two layers of relief. Within the outline of the main

144

Kohika

figure, he separated its body from its legs with a wide shallow sulcus. There are limited indications that he may have pierced his carving right through the poupou, a practice seen in other pre-European examples. An instructive comparison can be made with the complete small early poupou found near Waioeka, now in Auckland Museum, not so much in carving style, which is different, but in size and constructional form. This Waioeka poupou indicates a side wall height of about 80 cm; much of the carving is pierced right through the panel, and the supplementary figure between the legs has its head carved in low relief on the lower torso of the main figure. This form of figure between the legs is reminiscent of the figure on KOH16 and may also be compared with the figure between the legs of the pataka doorway figure from Thornton swamp, near Kohika, now in the Museum of New Zealand. Carved parts of house: pare

KOH53: pare fragment very elaborately carved, 265 by 65 by 25 mm (Plate 7.6). This pierced openwork portion of a pare is carved on the front only, with a flat back. A wheku-type face projects at an oblique angle from the upper edge of the pare. This face has bulbous eyes not intended to take shell inserts, the brows are slightly curved and are the same width as the mouth. A continuous double ridge runs down over the forehead to the nose and each nostril is well defined. The mouth is wide open with four teeth indicated and the lips are carved as two parallel raumoa ridges crossed at intervals by ritorito ridges. Surface decoration over the rest of the fragment consists of the same double raumoa ridges crossed by angular groups of three or four ritorito. Some of the ridges have nicked notching along the apex. This surface patterning forms a double spiral with pointed ends, creating the motif known as puwerewere. Most of the stylistic affinities of this pare are to be found in stone-tooled carvings from the Hauraki area, most notably the Patetonga pare in Auckland Museum, the Newman pare in Whanganui Museum, and the Miranda pataka doorway in the Museum of New Zealand. In the wider field, these affinities would extend into the full range of the western and northern sinuous styles, which are nearly all stone-tooled and date from pre-European times. Carved parts of house: poutokomanawa figure

KOH7: human figure executed in the round, central house post, 11030 by 280 by 155 mm (Plate 7.10). Although deeply eroded and therefore lacking any evidence of surface decoration, most of the compositional features of this carving can still be determined. It is very definitely a poutokomanawa figure, intended to stand as part of a central post supporting the ridgepole. Many small houses had only one poutokomanawa, usually in the interior. Larger, later 19th-century houses often have two or even more interior poutokomanawa and some elaborate houses also have a comparable figure, tokoihi, at the exterior central front of the porch. Judging by the size and period of this Kohika house, this figure is probably the only poutokomanawa from the house, presumably from the interior. Early contact-period accounts of houses indicate that the pare and the small interior poutokomanawa figure were symbolically the two most important carvings of the house. Closely constricted within the original dimensions of the post, this stocky, shortbodied figure has narrow sloping shoulders, a wheku-type face with large open mouth and slightly protruding tongue. Its left hand reaches up the lower jaw while the right is placed on the middle of the chest. The legs are wide apart, with a supplementary figure between having its head carved in low relief on the lower torso of the main

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 145

figure. It is a fair assumption that this figure represents a major named ancestor of the person or group owning the house. Stylistically, it can be attributed to the hand of the same person who carved the poupou for this house. Carved boards and slabs

KOH1: board fragment, pierced and elaborately carved on both sides, 435 by 120 by 43 mm (Plate 7.7). This is a fragment from a larger composition of uncertain purpose. It could perhaps be part of a pare of a previously unrecorded form, but the carving on both sides probably precludes this. Its being pierced and carved on both sides may suggest a portion of a canoe prow or stern, though of uncertain form. At this stage, its identification must remain undetermined. The surface decoration consists of an early form of raised taratara-a-kai in linear and spiral arrangements. The spirals are double with a ‘looped’ centre. KOH2: board fragment, elaborately carved on both sides, 100 by 85 by 30 mm (Plate 7.11). This could possibly be part of a pare. It has a curved facet worn smooth below that suggests abrasion against a moving surface, as in an entryway. The notching above this curved facet could be the remains of rauponga surface decoration. KOH3: board fragment, elaborately carved on both sides, 172 by 45 by 43 mm (Plate 7.8). This fragment is shaped out with matching pierced carving on both sides but only one side has raised taratara-a-kai surface decoration. The bases of broken connectives remain in the central plane of the fragment. It could be part of a pare. KOH4: long, narrow plank fragment with incised pattern visible, 459 by 32 by 18 mm (Plate 7.13). This is a narrow strip split off a larger plank. On the back it has been adzed flat. On the front it bears raised taratara-a-kai surface decoration. It may be a portion of a poupou but none of the other definite poupou have taratara-a-kai surface decoration. KOH5: slab of wood, with incised line drawing on one side (Figure 7.10). This is a flat slab split off a larger piece. One side is plain with shallow adzing marks. The other side shows very shallow incised curving lines, perhaps forming outlines of carving patterns, but no definite form can be discerned. These lines may have been huahua drawing for later carving, but the surface has been adzed and polished flat, suggesting that these lines might be just idle markings. KOH6: weathered fragment with incised carving visible, 325 by 70 by 65 mm (Plate 7.12). This piece shows only minimal incising with no definite pattern. KOH345: fragment from elaborate carving possibly broken from spiral fretwork (Plate 7.9). This fragment is too small for any specific function to be determined. Paddle

KOH162: parts of nearly complete canoe paddle with decorative carving on loom where handle joins base, 1670 by 306 by 40 mm (Fig. 6.10). Unfortunately, the carving at the loom has been badly eroded but it would seem to have been a complex pattern of raised taratara-a-kai. This suggests affinities with the paddles, often with kowhaiwhai painted on the blades, collected by Captain Cook in 1769 and later explorers in the Poverty Bay area (Neich 1993:59–73). However, while these Poverty Bay paddles were also carved in raised taratara-a-kai, they almost all featured a manaia head with a long curved jaw. The carving on the Kohika paddle seems to have been a different composition, although now beyond determination. It is also carved deeper into the surface of the loom and is separated from the blade by a definite deeper curved edge, whereas the carved head on the early Poverty Bay-style paddles protrudes markedly from the rest of the paddle surface. Many of the Poverty Bay paddles also feature a manaia head at the butt of the handle, absent from the

146 Plate 7.14 KOH174. Carved handle of bailer, Area D.

Kohika

Kohika paddle. The rounded rectangular section of the Kohika paddle handle contrasts with the round section of Poverty Bay paddle handles. Consequently, the Kohika paddle must represent a parallel but different tradition of prestigious paddles bearing elaborate carving at the loom. Bailer

KOH174: bailer with projecting handle, knob with carved human face, damaged (Fig. 6.13, Plate 7.14). With its handle projecting back from the scoop, this bailer is of the less common form, which is usually left plain compared with the elaborately carved and more common war-canoe bailers. There are indications that this plain form was used in smaller uncarved river and swamp canoes. Known examples of this form are from Coromandel, Hauraki, Rotorua and Taupo. Several have a simple face mask carved on the butt of the handle, as on this Kohika piece where the wheku-type face projects downward. The handle shows signs of wear and the face may have been altered by abrasion, especially the flattened nose. The round bulbous forehead is wider than the open mouth; there is a deep straight cut above each eyebrow, and no surface decoration.

Discussion of the Kohika carving styles

The people of Kohika obviously possessed a rich and varied tradition of woodcarving expressed in stone-tool carving. It was applied to a range of objects of the types documented ethnographically from early post-European Maori culture, although some important carved elements that might have been expected are absent, such as small items like flutes. Very few prehistoric or early contact stone-tooled carvings are documented to the Bay of Plenty. Among the most important would be the Waioeka poupou, the Te Kaha pataka and the Mokoia Island storehouse carving (all in Auckland Museum), the small doorway carvings from Thornton (in Whakatane Museum), the semi-subterranean storehouse doorway from Omarumutu (in Canterbury Museum), the storehouse doorway from Thornton (in the Museum of New Zealand), the Mokoia Island poupou in Tamatekapua house at Ohinemutu, and the Puwhakaoho poupou in Houmaitawhiti house at Otaramarae. Apart from the comparison made with the Waioeka poupou above, none of these shows any close stylistic relationship to the Kohika carvings. Probably most noticeable in this respect is the occurrence of an early form of raised taratara-a-kai surface decoration at Kohika, close to the raised taratara-a-kai present on many early carvings usually attributed to the East Coast and possibly an earlier form than that seen on some of the above Bay of Plenty carvings. For other comparisons it was necessary to look further afield, including early stonetooled carvings from the Hauraki area. Similarly, a stone-tooled poupou from Whangara (now in Auckland Museum) gives a wall height of 112 cm, and a stone-tooled poupou collected by Cook’s first expedition from Tolaga Bay (recently rediscovered in the Tuebingen University Museum) gives a wall height of 92 cm. Stylistically, these Ngati Porou poupou add to our understanding and appreciation of the Kohika poupou especially in terms of their size, their plain spirals on shoulders and hips, their pierced carving, and the supplementary figure between the legs with its head on the lower

Houses, pataka and woodcarving at Kohika 147

torso of the main figure. Nevertheless, this lack of comparable pieces limits the insight to be gained from wider comparisons but points up the supreme importance of the carved assemblage from Kohika. Within the Kohika carving assemblage, the work of at least four individual carvers can be distinguished: Carver A

His work includes all the poupou (KOH14, 16, 17, 18), the poutahuhu (KOH44) and the poutokomanawa figure (KOH7) and is characterised by the features described above. Since these were parts of a house built at Kohika, it is a fair assumption that he was a local man. His carving style is very consistent and distinctive but, on the basis of the other early Bay of Plenty and East Coast carvings described above, it cannot be closely linked to any other known early styles, whether from Ngati Awa or wider afield. This may suggest that the generally recognised specific tribal styles of the Bay of Plenty are a more recent development. Carver B

This carver was responsible for the pare fragment (KOH53), which suggests that he had connections with the Hauraki area. This small pare would have been portable from the Hauraki area but could also have been carved on the site. His work is characterised by a fine detailed touch with careful attention to surface decoration. Carver C

His work is limited to the face on the bailer (KOH174), where the differences from the face on the pare by Carver B are very obvious. Carver D

His hand can be recognised on carved fragments KOH1 and KOH3 and perhaps KOH2, characterised by his use of deep relief pierced carving and high raised tarataraa-kai surface decoration with limited pakura spirals. The top of his taratara-a-kai ridges are often completely flat and he does not use the ridge apex notching seen in the work of Carver B. Carver D favoured a round double spiral in taratara-a-kai with looped centre, while Carver B produced an angular pointed spiral in raumoa and ritorito. Thus the carvings from Kohika, with their range of individual styles linking to different areas of the country, suggest that this might have been a diverse community with wide external connections to people from other areas.

References Angas, G.F., 1979. Early paintings of the Maori. Illustrated and described by George French Angas. Wellington: Reed. Anon., 1988. Tane-Nui-A-Rangi. Auckland: University of Auckland. Bellwood, P., 1978. Archaeological research at Lake Mangakaware, Waikato, 1968–70. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph No.9. Best, E., 1924. The Maori. Vol. II. Wellington: The Polynesian Society. Best, E., 1974. Maori storehouses and kindred structures. Wellington: Shearer, Government Printer. Buck, P.H., 1938. Vikings of the sunrise. Philadelphia: Lippicott. Buck, P.H., 1949. The coming of the Maori. Wellington: Maori Purposes Trust Board. Cruise, R.A., 1974. Journal of a ten months’ residence in New Zealand. 2nd Edition. Christchurch: Capper Press.

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Davidson, J.M., 1984. The prehistory of New Zealand. Auckland: Longman Paul. Day, K., 2001. Maori wood carving of the Taranaki region. Auckland: Reed. Duff, R., 1961. Waitara Swamp search. Records of the Canterbury Museum, 7:303–26. Earle, A., 1966. Narrative of a residence in New Zealand. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Firth, R.W., 1926. Wharepuni: a few remaining Maori dwellings of the old style. Man, 26:54–9. Geelen de Kabath, M.A.X., 1974. Raised storage structures in New Zealand prehistory. Unpublished research essay, University of Auckland. Green, R.C. and K. Green, 1963. Classic and early European sites on the Hauraki Plains. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 6:27–34. Groube L.M., 1965. Settlement patterns in New Zealand prehistory. Dunedin: Anthropology Department, University of Otago. Lysnar, F.B., 1915. New Zealand, the dear old Maori land. Auckland: Brett. Makereti, 1986. The old-time Maori. Auckland: New Women’s Press. Neich, R., 1993. Painted Histories: early Maori figurative painting. Auckland: Auckland University Press. Neich, R., 2001. Carved Histories: Rotorua Ngati Tarawhai woodcarving. Auckland: Auckland University Press. Phillips, W.J., 1952. Maori houses and food stores. Dominion Museum Bulletin No.8. Wellington: Government Printer. Prickett, N.J., 1974. Houses and house life in prehistoric New Zealand. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Otago. Prickett, N.J., 1979. Prehistoric occupation in the Moikau Valley, Palliser Bay. In B.F. Leach and H.M. Leach (eds), Prehistoric man in Palliser Bay. National Museum Bulletin No.21, pp.29–47. Prickett, N.J., 1982. An archaeologists’ guide to the Maori dwelling. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 4:111–47. Teviotdale, D. and D.H. Skinner, 1947. Oruarangi Pa. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 56:357–63. Wallace, R. and G.J. Irwin, 1999. A Kohika wharepuni: house construction methods of the late pre-contact Maori. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 21:67–86. Walsh, D.S. and B. Biggs, 1966. Proto-Polynesian word list I. Auckland: Linguistic Society of New Zealand. Williams, H.W., 1896. The Maori whare: notes on the construction of a Maori house. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 5:145–54.

8

Kohika fibrework S. McAra

This chapter completes the description of the waterlogged assemblage from Kohika. As with wetland archaeological excavations world-wide, the remains of woven fabrics, rope and netting were extremely fragile and presented problems for excavation and conservation, particularly in the initial excavation by the Historical Society. The accumulating evidence suggests the existence of households near the lake in Area D and the HS Area, and possibly also in Area B, and the distribution of fibre artefacts supports this. In Area D, cordage, netting and a few plaited items (KOH296– 301) were found in association with the Yellow House horizon, not within the house, but outside in the peat that formed in the former shallow lakeshore. This was an active area of disturbance and treadage; canoes landed, midden was dumped and people and dogs were active. Similarly, in the HS Area, cordage and several plaited items (KOH302–307, KOH340, 341) were found in the vicinity, but some fine matting probably came from inside the carved house itself. In Area B, fibre remains (KOH295), probably of rope (see Appendix ), were found outside the palisade. The techniques represented by the fibre remains include one- and two-ply spiralwrapped cordage, three-ply braiding, checked and twilled fabric plaitwork, and netting. The Maori ropemaking technique which is here termed ‘two-ply spiral-wrapped’ appears to be previously unrecorded. All items appear to be made using strips of raw harakeke (New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax). Few Maori archaeological sites have yielded fibre artefacts, and many of the surviving examples are in poor condition. A range of Maori fibre-working techniques was recorded during the early 20th century (e.g. Buck 1926a, 1926b) and more recently, in the context of a cultural renaissance, some ‘how-to’ books have emerged (e.g. Hopa 1971, Pendergrast 1986, Puketapu-Hetet 1989). The archaeological finds, however, provide information about both recorded and hitherto undocumented fibre-working techniques, which had fallen into disuse. There is a small literature about fibre from specific excavations. For example, Lawrence (1989) describes pieces found in caves in the Waitakere Ranges dating to c.AD 1750–1850, while Anderson et al. (1991) describe fibre material retrieved from Fiordland, including numerous pieces of raw harakeke worked into cordage and knots. Lander (1992) draws on her skills as a fibre artist to describe pieces of c.1820 fibrework from Raupa on the Hauraki Plains. In a recent paper, McAra (2001) describes several portions of well-preserved harakeke nets measuring between 20 and 40 metres long from a Banks Peninsula cave. The Kohika plant fibre collection consists of fragments representing several kinds of fibre-working technique. They are primarily short lengths of cordage that divide into the categories of two-plied and braided. A few pieces are too matted and decayed to clearly identify the technique. There are several fragments of twill plaiting, and the remains of a net. With regard to terminology, Connor’s (1983) classification system 149

150 Kohika

for describing fibres is followed here, where possible. The cordage fragments are too short for it to be possible to specify the uses to which they were put. Whakatane and District Historical Society members glued much of the collection to sheets of cardboard, further limiting the amount of investigation possible. R. Wallace identified small fragments of cuticle, one from a representative sample of each technique, as being harakeke, but it was not possible to identify particular cultivars. Significantly, none of the pieces described in this paper is made from muka (dressed fibre). Instead, strips are used, made by splitting the softened leaf. Harakeke can be softened in several different ways (McAra 2001): by scraping its shiny side (e.g. with the flat edge of a mussel shell); drawing it over embers to make the leaf ‘sweat’; or boiling it. The author has also successfully used dried leaves, which are soaked and then partially redried, before working with them while they still retain some moisture, a technique practised with dried coconut fronds in Samoa (Pendergrast, pers. comm. 2002). Softening the leaf prevents shrinkage. The condition of old harakeke artefacts depends on whether they were preserved dry or wet. It may also depend on measures taken by the makers to prolong the lifespan – for example, by smoking the material or rubbing oil or tree gum into the fibres. Conservator D. Johns (pers. comm. 2002) affirms that both wet and dry conditions retard decay, but in a dry cave the waxy cuticle may curl and flake off, leaving the fibre intact, while in a swamp it is the most waterproof part of the harakeke and will last longest. The fishing net in the Canterbury Museum, taken from a dry cave, has several areas where the cuticle has flaked off leaving the muka fibre intact (McAra 2001). In comparison, the Kohika pieces have lost much of the fibre, in places leaving only the cuticle, although in some parts the imprint of the fibre is visible as dark lines on the cuticle.

Cordage Single ‘spiral-wrapped’ bunches of strips and ‘two-ply spiral-wrapped’ cordage fragments

The author could discover no Maori name for the two variant techniques observed in the Kohika cordage fragments, so two descriptive terms are used. The first is the ‘single spiral-wrapped bunches’ (1SWB) of raw harakeke (Plates 8.1a and 8.1b) and the second is the ‘two-ply spiral-wrapped’ (2PSW) bunches of raw harakeke (Plate 8.1c; Figs 8.1a and 8.1b). The distinguishing feature of 1SWB and 2PSW cordage is that the strips in each bunch are contained by a wider ‘wrapping strip’ 7–10 mm wide which spirals around the bunch, leaving gaps through which the inner strips are clearly visible. In both cases, each ‘bunch’ of strips is cylindrical and contains about ten strips, each approximately 2–3 mm wide. Some of the 1SWB examples show kinks along the length, suggesting the imprint of a lost counterpart such as KOH300.3 (Plate 8.1b) and KOH300.13. It is likely that the 1SWB examples are simply the component parts of 2PSW cordage. KOH298.5 looks different from the other 1SWB pieces, as the spiral wrap leaves fewer gaps (Plate 8.1a). Perhaps it was used differently, or perhaps the spiral wrap was wound more tightly. Table 8.1 gives details of 1SWB pieces. The 2PSW pieces consist of two elements, each comprising ‘bunches’ of harakeke strips, twisted anti-clockwise (Z-twist) into two-ply rope (see Table 8.2). The fragments of cordage are too short for joins to be visible where one of these wrapping strands runs out and another is added in – presumably the new strip would have to be knotted to the previous one. Some of them are in poor condition and it is not possible

Kohika fibrework 151 Plate 8.1a KOH298.5. Fragment of single spiralwrapped bunches of harakeke (1SWB) resembling a handle.

Plate 8.1b KOH300.3. Fragment of 1SWB resembling one half of a pair of two-ply spiral-wrapped bunches (2PSW) of harakeke.

Plate 8.1c KOH298.1. Short fragment of two-ply spiral-wrapped bundles of harakeke (2PSW).

to identify the spiral wrapping. It seems more likely that this is due to decay than to a variant technique, because other 2PSW fragments show traces of the wrapping strip. Table 8.1

Single spiral-wrapped bunches of harakeke (1SWB)

Length of KOH number fragment (mm)* 298.5 190

Approximate width of wrapping strip (mm) 5

Approximate number of raw strands per element 7–10

Comments

Spiral wrap leaves fewer gaps than on other pieces. 300.3; 300.13 210, 120 8 8–12 Both pieces appear to be from a 2PSW rope 302a & 302b Fragment appears to be 1SWB tied in a knot; b is a 50mm length of 1SWB. * All measurements in this chapter are approximate.

Plate no. 8.1a

8.1b

–

152 Kohika Figure 8.1a KOH298. Drawing of twoply spiralwrapped bunches of harakeke (2PSW)

Figure 8.1b Diagram of technique for making 2PSW

Table 8.2

Two-ply spiral-wrapped bunches of harakeke (2PSW)

KOH number 298.1 298.2–4

Length (mm) 140 140

Number of twists 6 4

299.1

210

6

299.2–3 299.4–5 300.7 300.9; 300.10–12; 300.14–15

270 250–70 7 290 13 120–220 5–10

341

380

12

Comments Diagram (Figs 8.1a and 8.1b) based on this piece Some are partly unravelled – fibres appear crushed in places Thickness c.15–20 mm; spiral wrap in poor condition; c.5 mm wide where visible These two are knotted or tangled pieces Little remaining of spiral wrap No spiral wrap Thickness c.10–15 mm; spiral wrap c.10 mm wide; spiral wrap absent on some pieces (decay?); quite loose and unravelled pieces Little remaining of spiral wrap; 2nd longest piece

Plate no. 8.1c – –

– – –

–

Three-ply braids (whiri)

A range of styles of braided ropes was used widely by Maori, from small items such as sandals and kete (handles, carrying straps [kawe]) to large items such as the ropes for long nets. Four-ply braids are cylindrical, while three-ply braids are flatter. Thickness and width vary depending on the quantity of strands in each ply as well as the tension used in the braiding. Three-ply cordage is the only kind of braiding represented in this collection. The Kohika braids vary in width and thickness and all are neatly made, holding

Kohika fibrework 153 Plate 8.2 KOH303.8–11. Short braided fragments, showing two straight examples (KOH303.8 and 9) and an X and a Y braid (KOH 303.10 and 11).

together tightly except where the fibre has decayed. Some visibly diminish in width as the fibres decrease down the braid. Most are fat braids, tightly worked with thick strands. Most of the fragments are short, single sections of braid, but a few of them start as two braids, converging into one in a ‘Y’ shape (e.g. KOH303.11), and there is also an ‘X’ shaped braid (e.g. KOH303.10, KOH340), which has two wider braids and two narrower ones (Plate 8.2). None of the surviving fragments shows a commencement or finishing knot. All of the fragments must have come from a longer rope or ropes because they are too short to be useful (Tables 8.3 and 8.4). The ends of each are broken, rather than being frayed or having come unravelled, possibly a result of decay processes rather than use wear. Table 8.3 Three-ply cordage

KOH number 298.6–7

Length (mm) 110 each

Width (mm) 7

Thickness (mm) 3

Number of twists 12–13

300.1

90

14

4

8

300.2 300.4–6

120 50 each

14 5

5 3

11 4–5

Comments Probably both part of one longer braid Probably both part of one longer braid

Plate no. – –

Probably part of longer – braid 300.8 420 20 13 36 Tightly braided and thick; – longest piece in collection 300.4–6 Each piece approx. 70 mm long, thin, and 3–5 twists; probably part of one – longer braid; similar to 298.6, 208.7 303.6–9 70–180 9–13 2–3 6–15 8.2 306.3–5 100–130 10 3–6 5–9 – 340.1–3 80–130 9–15 5–7 8–10 340.2 has a folded-back – fragment of 3 twists 340.5–10 80–210 7–12 4–7 7–12 Lengths of braiding, – varying thickness and condition 340.12 180 – Width of braids varies along length, so separate fragments of different widths are not necessarily from separate original braids.

154 Kohika

Table 8.4

Three-ply braid variants

298.8

Length of fragment (mm) 170

Length of components (X is point where braid parts intersect) A–X X–B X–C X–D 60 110 70 –

303.10

200

60

30

40

160

303.11

260

80

180

70

–

340.4

190

80

110

90

–

340.11

230

120

110

60

90

KOH number

Comments 3-ply braid in Y-fragment shape; in many places fibre is lost and only epidermis remains Pair of thin braids forming X shape, 7–10 mm wide Pair of thick braids meeting to form a thicker single braid (Y shape), 19 mm wide 3-ply braid in Y-fragment shape, 10 mm wide, 5 mm thick X braid – piece C–X is thinnest; X–B thickest

Plate no. –

– 8.2

–

–

Plaitwork (raranga) fragments

These fabric fragments come from the main body of plaiting (raranga). The starting and finishing points of the plaiting are missing, making it difficult to establish the direction of plaiting or to show which strips were the dextrals and which the sinistrals. Further, the plaiting has degraded even within the surviving pieces to the extent that it is not possible to be certain whether irregularities are due to intentional shaping, errors or the loss of fibres through disintegration. The function of the original objects can only be surmised. There are several pieces of plaitwork, with two styles in evidence. The first is fine twill work (Plates 8.3 and 8.4), and the second is 1/1 plaiting using wider strips (Plate 8.5). KOH301a and 301b are the smallest fragments, so it is difficult to identify any plaiting pattern. It appears that, in these two fragments, the strips lie 2/1 in the rows in one direction, and 1/1 along the other. The rest of the plaited twill pieces are 2/2 on both the dextrals and the sinistrals. Variations in plaiting technique are conventionally employed to create patterns or to shape an item (e.g. to tailor the shape of a cloak to the body, or control the finished shape of a basket or kete). There appear to be variations in the Kohika plaiting but they are difficult to detect because of the condition and small size of the fabric fragments. However, there are wear lines on some of the fragments, suggesting folds in the fabric, and others have an edge which may have been created by a break along a wear line during the decay process. Such a folded piece was found by members of the Whakatane and District Historical Society in Square 1. The possible uses of such plaitwork are many (e.g. a kete, cloak or mat) and cannot be ascertained here, but the fineness of the work indicates that they must have been time-consuming to make. The plaited check pieces are wider, and KOH306.1 shows folded-over edges resembling the edge on a rourou (a basket in which food is served). Similarly, one strip is also folded back on the piece shown in Plate 8.5. Such items take only a few minutes for an experienced weaver to make and are often used only once. Plaited items are listed in Tables 8.5 and 8.6.

Kohika fibrework 155 Plate 8.3 KOH304.1. Fine twill close-up, showing condition of fibres.

Plate 8.4 KOH305.1. A larger piece of fine twill, showing the curvature in the plaiting.

Netting (taa kupenga)

One tray of the Kohika collection contains the remains of a small net with braids and grommet or ring (KOH297, and 297A–C; Plates 8.6a and 8.6b, Table 8.7). These items use the same technique of net-making that is described in Buck (1926b), with the direction of netting switching for alternate rows in what Buck calls a ‘boustrophedon manner’ (a row-reversal method that is also used in knitting). Similar netting has also

156 Kohika Plate 8.5 KOH303.4. Broad checked plaiting, showing one folded-back strip (at lower part of image).

Plate 8.6a (bottom left) KOH297. A grommet with netting still attached. Plate 8.6b (bottom right) KOH297. Small fragment of mesh.

Kohika fibrework 157

Table 8.5 Plaited twill with narrow strips

Plate Comments no. Horizontal* rows, 4 strips 2/1 survive; vertical* rows, – 7–8 strips 1/1 survive 301b 2/1? Horizontal rows, 7 strips 2/1 survive; vertical rows, – 4 strips 2/1 survive 303.1–3 2/2 3 fragments around 40 x 120 – 105 x 110 mm – 304.1–8 2/2 fragments around 60 x 120 – 90 x 120 mm 8.3 305.1–3 2/2 3 fragments fine twill 8.4 306.2, 307.1 & 2 2/2 fine twill – *Horizontal and vertical in relation to the writing of the KOH numbers on the card to which the items are attached. Because the pieces are so fragmented, it is not possible to identify sinistrals and dextrals. KOH number 301a

Table 8.6

Type 2/1?

Plaited check with broad strips

KOH number Strip width Type Comments 303.4–5 15–20 1/1 2 fragments of check 306.1 15–20 1/1 Bends on one edge* similar to upper edge of rourou * This edge is the ‘lower’ edge in relation to the card to which the items are attached. Table 8.7

Plate no. 8.5 –

Netting and component parts

KOH number 297

Comments Fragment of mesh with approx. 14 visible mesh diamonds (more bunched up at top) attached to card upside down. Piece is made in boustrophedon manner [297A]* Grommet: a circular loop made out of harakeke (?) strips. The circle is about 30 mm in diameter, and spiral-wrapped with a strip in which a knot is visible [297B]* Braid fragments number B1–B7, and vary from 4 to 11 twists long; all are of same width/thickness, and 3-ply [297C]* Mesh fragments. Most have broken into individual knots, but in top right corner, near braids B6 and B7, a bunch of mesh survives (characteristics: 10 mm gauge, knot size about 10 mm high; mesh direction: boustrophedon. Strip width approx. 7 mm; add-in knots visible in places, next to or incorporated into mesh knots) * The author has assigned the number KOH297 to match the fragment shown in Plate 8.6b.

Plate no. 8.6b

8.6a

– –

been recovered in other archaeological excavations (e.g. McFadgen and Sheppard 1984). The netting was probably shaped into a cone, a shape found in several kinds of net (see Buck 1926b). The grommet is made from strands of harakeke, formed into a tight ring and spiral-wrapped with another strand. This probably held the narrow end of the net in place. Plate 8.6a shows the grommet with a small fragment of netting attached, but this picture was taken before the author had seen the Kohika fibre fragments; the grommet now sits with the netting fragments (here termed 297B and 297C), but with the netting no longer attached to it.

158 Kohika

Table 8.8

Other pieces: fragments whose technique is unclear

KOH number 295 296.1–2 302a, 302b

Table 8.9

BOX Box 1 Box 2 Box 3 Box 4 Box 5 Box 6

Description and comment 1 fibre fragment, technique unclear 2 fibre fragments, technique unclear Two separate fragments, one of which appears to be tied into a loose knot or crushed in a coiled-up position

Contents of boxes (KOH number and technique)

Numbers 298.1–8 340.1–10 300.1–9 301–302 295–297a 300.10–15 297A–C 303–308 299.1–5 340.11–12 341

Contents Cordage (various) Cordage (various) Raranga Cordage (various) Netting with braids and grommet Raranga (1/1, 2/2) 3 x 3-ply braids Cordage (various)

Discussion and conclusions

The Kohika fibre pieces were found in the swamp beside the site, near former houses and pataka and in the same areas as numerous wooden artefacts (G. Irwin, pers. comm. 2002). The cordage remnants (including the braids) consist of short lengths. The longest piece is 380 mm, so we cannot be certain whether they were intended for use as short lengths only, such as handles, or for greater lengths, such as would be used for tying and binding. There is no evidence of fibres emerging at regular intervals from each twist along one side of the braid, as would be the case if these braids had formed the edge or base of a kete-like article. The most unusual cordage in the Kohika collection is the two-ply, spiral-wrapped fragments. These are the only examples of twisted (as opposed to braided) cordage made with unscutched harakeke leaves and distinctive spiral-wrapping that the author has been able to locate. Enquiries to the four main New Zealand museums have yielded no further examples; all other examples of two-ply cordage the author has seen are made from processed muka. Nor has she been able to find a published description of this particular cordage technique. It is not described in Buck (1921, 1926a, 1926b, 1949), Connor (1983) or Crosby (1966). It is possible that this technique was common in the past but of no interest to collectors of the time (Pendergrast, pers. comm. 2002). This kind of cordage was perhaps useful, on the one hand, for making thick, strong rope when the only harakeke cultivars available lacked sufficient muka, or when the muka was particularly difficult to extract, so that unscutched leaf strips had to be used. On the other hand, perhaps it was made for specialised uses and certain conditions, as the waxy cuticle may have given the fibre some protection against the elements. However, if this were the only reason, the author believes, after experimenting with the technique, that three-ply braids would be easier to make. Further experimental research could explore techniques for making the two-ply twist from raw harakeke.

Kohika fibrework 159

It would be easier to make the two-ply using the twist-and-wrap technique with two people, because it takes two hands to maintain one set of bunched strips and wrapping strip, while performing the twisting action with even, correct tension. However, unless further information comes to light, the uses for this technique remain speculative. Table 8.8 lists other miscellaneous fragments of fibre and Table 8.9 shows the location of items by KOH number, as they were packed in boxes for return to Ngati Awa.

References Anderson, A., J. Goulding and M. White, 1991. Bark and fibre artefacts. In A. Anderson and R. McGovern-Wilson (eds), Beech forest hunters: the archaeology of Maori rockshelter sites on Lee Island, Lake Te Anau, in southern New Zealand. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph No.18, pp.43–55. Buck, P.H., 1921. Maori food supplies of Lake Rotorua. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 53:433–51. Buck, P.H., 1926a. Maori plaited basketry and plait work: 1, mats, baskets and burdencarriers. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 54:705–42. Buck, P.H., 1926b. The Maori craft of netting. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 56:597–646. Buck, P.H., 1949. The coming of the Maori. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs. Connor, J., 1983. A descriptive classification of Maori fabrics: cordage, plaiting, windmill knotting, twining, looping and netting. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 92:189–213. Crosby, E.B.V., 1966. Maori fishing gear: a study of the development of Maori fishing gear, particularly in the North Island. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. Hopa, N.K., 1971. The art of piupiu making: an instructional manual setting out the materials, design and assembly of the Maori skirt, central item of Maori costume. Wellington: Reed. Lander, M., 1992. Fibre fragments from the Raupa site, Hauraki Plains. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum, 29:7–23. Lawrence, J., 1989. The archaeology of the Waitakere Ranges. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland. McAra, S., 2001. Maori fishing nets in the Canterbury Museum. Records of the Canterbury Museum, 15:83–99. McFadgen, B.G. and R.A. Sheppard, 1984. Ruahihi Pa: a prehistoric defended settlement in the south-western Bay of Plenty. Wellington: National Museum of New Zealand. Pendergrast, M., 1986. Te mahi kete: Maori basketry for beginners. Auckland: Reed. Puketapu-Hetet, 1989. Maori weaving with Erenora Puketapu-Hetet. Auckland: Pitman.

9

Artefacts of bone, tooth, pumice and pounamu G.J. Irwin

The excavations at Kohika and the analysis of its waterlogged remains have established the presence of lakeside households in Area D and the Historical Society (HS) Area. There is evidence for houses, pataka and other more casual buildings, and the associated wooden and fibre artefacts cover the whole spectrum of domestic life. There is also some evidence suggesting a third household in the vicinity of Area B, which was also close to the lake. In contrast, Area A, which is located on the higher and drier part of Kohika, has provided evidence for cooking and for roofed storage pits and bins that could not have been built on low-lying land near the lakeshore without flooding. The main aim of this chapter is to investigate further the developing picture of Kohika by describing the nature and distribution of artefacts of more durable materials, including bone, tooth, greenstone (pounamu) and pumice (Table 9.1). This assemblage, unlike the waterlogged one, is more typical of many dryland sites in being neither large nor remarkable in its composition. However, the artefacts are known to fall within a short interval of time, and comparisons with other sites help to define Maori material culture in the Bay of Plenty as it was not long before the arrival of Europeans.

Pendants Pounamu

There are two greenstone pendants from Kohika and both are similar to examples from Oruarangi illustrated by Furey (1996:39). One is a kuru pendant (Plate 9.1a) and the other a chisel pendant (Plate 9.1b). The latter has a rounded cross-section and a suspension hole drilled at the end opposite the bevel. The edges of an earlier, broken suspension hole can been seen beyond it. This item might have begun its life as a chisel and then become an ornament, or it could have had a dual function. Bone

A fine bone pendant in the style of a tiki is shown in Figure 9.1 and Plate 9.2. The curvature of a human long bone has been used to create the torso, and the genital area conforms to a hei tiki. The head is broken but it retains the bottom of an eye and an open mouth. Tooth

A drilled human incisor is shown in Figure 9.1. Drilled human and dog teeth were commonly seen by Cook and his party in 1769, worn singly or in groups, suspended from an earlobe or sometimes from the neck (Davidson 1984, Furey 1996:47).

160

Artefacts of bone, tooth, pumice and pounamu

Table 9.1

161

Artefacts from Kohika

Artefact type Pendant (kuru) Pendant (chisel) Tiki pendant Tooth pendant Toggle Fishhook Fishhook Fishhook Fishhook blank Fishhook point Needle Needle Awl Awl Awl Chisel Chisel Adze Chisel Adze chip File Pigment bowl Pigment bowl carved Kumara god

Material greenstone greenstone human bone human incisor bird bone human bone human bone human bone human bone dog tooth bird bone dog mandible bird bone seal scapula dog humerus dog tibia dog tibia greenstone greenstone greenstone sandstone pumice pumice pumice

Provenance Square B2, drain spoil Square A1 Ext., Layer B HS Area Square D3, Yellow House HS Area Square D3, Yellow House Square D10, Yellow House Square D13, white pumice Square D3, White House Square B1, pre-flood layer Square B4, brown silt layer Square B4, drain spoil Square D13, white pumice Square B4, brown silt layer Square D5, Yellow House Square B4, brown silt layer Square D6, Yellow House HS Area Square B1, drain spoil Square D6, Yellow House Square B1, drain spoil Square D14, upper black sand HS Area HS Area

Illustration Plate 9.1a Plate 9.1b Plate 9.2, Fig 9.1 Fig. 9.1 Fig. 9.1 Plate 9.3a Plate 9.3b Plate 9.3c Plate 9.4a Plate 9.4b Plate 9.5a Plate 9.5b Plate 9.5c Plate 9.6 Plate 9.6b – – Fig. 9.2, Plate 9.7 Plate 9.8a Plate 9.8b Plate 9.9a – Plate 9.9b Fig. 9.3

Note: M. Taylor identified the bone by species.

Toggles Bone

A toggle made of bone from a mollymawk or albatross is shown in Figure 9.1. One end is notched and the other not, and the toggle is otherwise plain, which is the same as a toggle illustrated from Oruarangi (Furey 1996, Fig. 104). The Kohika example is broken, but the edge of a hole remains that would have held a threaded cord. Toggles can be taken as an indication that breast pendants were present, even when not found (Davidson 1984:87).

Figure 9.1 Bone hei tiki pendant, tooth pendant, bone toggle

162 Plate 9.1a (right) Greenstone kuru pendant. Plate 9.1b (far right) Greenstone chisel pendant.

Plate 9.2 Bone tiki pendant (human).

Kohika

Artefacts of bone, tooth, pumice and pounamu

163

Fishhooks Bone

Three one-piece fishhooks made of human bone are illustrated in Plates 9.3a–c. All three have straight shanks and two have very incurved points, the third being incomplete. Two of the hooks also have a decorative projection for the attachment of bait string. The Kohika fishhooks are of a widespread form and very similar to ones from Kauri Point Pa (Davidson 1984, Fig. 50, pp.67–68), and provide a close date for the use of this type of hook in the Bay of Plenty. Two were associated with the Yellow House horizon in Area D, and the third with a white pumice floor in Square D13 at a level equivalent to the White House. A fishhook blank of human bone, shown in Plate 9.4a, is also from the White House. Tooth

A dog-tooth point of a two-piece fishhook is shown in Plate 9.4b. It is finely shaped and could be an ornament as well.

Plate 9.3a–c One-piece bone fishhooks (human).

Plate 9.4a (far left) Bone fishhook blank (human). Plate 9.4b (left) Fishhook point (dog tooth).

164

Kohika

Needles Bone

One complete bone needle is made of bird bone (Plate 9.5a), while another has no perforation (Plate 9.5b). The latter is shaped from the lower edge of a dog mandible and three of these, minus ventral surfaces, were found in Area B. The unfinished item was ground and polished and, if it was intended as a needle, the eye had not yet been drilled.

Awls/chisels Bone

A hollow-sectioned awl of bird bone is illustrated in Plate 9.5c. Like examples from Oruarangi (Furey 1996, Figs 271 and 272), the shaft of a long bone has been sliced diagonally at one end and sharpened to a point. This item came from Square D13, from a layer similar in age to the White House horizon. Awls made from a seal scapula and a dog humerus are shown in Plates 9.6a and b. Two other chisels, not illustrated, were made from dog tibia. Perhaps surprisingly, no bone tattooing chisels were found at Kohika, but the explanation may lie in the relatively small number of bone tools found in the excavations.

Plate 9.5a (below left) Bone needle (bird). Plate 9.5b (below centre) Bone needle (dog). Plate 9.5c (below right) Bone awl (bird).

Plate 9.6a (right) Bone awl (seal). Plate 9.6b (far right) Bone chisel (dog).

Adzes and chisels

There were hundreds of pieces of worked wood of all kinds among the waterlogged remains, including carvings, and some unfinished items, while a large number of wood chips and shavings indicates considerable woodworking on site. In addition, a wooden adze handle was found along with a chisel handle and a socket, both made to hold small stone heads. Yet only two stone tools are associated with all this activity – one stone adze and one chisel. The situation is a striking reminder of the bias of archaeological sampling. We can assume that the people of Kohika owned other stone tools and, conversely, we have an insight into the wooden artefacts and manufacturing waste that must have disappeared from dryland sites where adzes have been found.

Artefacts of bone, tooth, pumice and pounamu

165

Pounamu

A greenstone adze of Duff-type 2B form is illustrated in Figure 9.2 and Plate 9.7. It has a wide blade, a width greater than twice its length, a defined bevel chin and a quadrangular cross-section with the front slightly wider than the back. There is a scarfing groove on the back. Such an adze would have been suitable for dressing timber, and there is abundant evidence for this in the site. A finely made, quadrangular crosssectioned miniature greenstone chisel, only 12 mm long, is shown in Plate 9.8a. It seems likely that such a tool was used for fine work, including carving, with the haft tapped with a wooden mallet. Finally, among the artefacts of greenstone, there was a chip from the corner of an adze (Plate 9.8b). Figure 9.2 Pounamu adze

Plate 9.7 Pounamu adze.

166

Kohika

Plate 9.8a (right) Pounamu chisel. Plate 9.8b (far right) Pounamu adze flake.

Plate 9.9a Sandstone file. Plate 9.9b Pumice pigment bowl.

Stone file

A small sandstone file with an oval cross-section and flattened abrading surfaces is shown in Plate 9.9a. J. Davidson (pers. comm. 2002) notes that it is interesting that only one stone file was found, which suggests that they were used here, as often assumed for earlier sites, for working bone rather than wood.

Pumice containers

There were two small bowls of a kind often called pigment pots (Furey 1996:42), and the broken one illustrated in Plate 9.9b has a stylised face on the back.

Pumice figure

A remarkable carved pumice figure of a kind commonly called a kumara god is shown in Figure 9.3.

Distribution of the artefacts and implications for functional areas

The artefacts described in this chapter were generally associated with houses, but none was found in Area A, which was used for pit storage and then cooking during the

Artefacts of bone, tooth, pumice and pounamu

167

occupation. The greenstone pendant of chisel form in Square A1 Ext., Layer B (Table 9.1) came from one of two late burials which date from after the village was abandoned. Nor was any artefact found in Area C, which lay partly in swamp beyond the perimeter of the site and partly in a cooking area. The absence of artefacts adds weight to the view that people did not reside in these areas. By contrast, Area D has striking evidence for buildings and a wide range of other evidence. All three one-piece fishhooks came from here, plus the fishhook blank. There was also a bird-bone awl, dog-bone awl and chisel, pumice pigment bowl, drilled human-tooth pendant and chip from a greenstone adze (Table 9.1). These artefacts are consistent with people living in this part of the site. In the vicinity of the carved house in the HS Area was a tiki pendant of human bone, a bird-bone toggle, a pumice kumara god, a pumice bowl and a greenstone adze. These items are consistent with the presence of a high-status household. The situation in Area B is not so clear. There were wooden timbers from at least one surface building, and three substantial posts standing in B1 (Fig. 4.4) probably supported a raised storehouse. It is likely that a house was nearby, but the area of archaeological excavation was too small to find it. Some valuable items were thrown out with the spoil from the agricultural drain, and these included two wooden hair combs, found by members of the Historical Society. Others found later by the university were a greenstone chisel (Square B1), greenstone pendant (Square B2) and dogjaw needle (Square B4). These all indicate rich deposits where the agricultural drain skirted the palisade. The excavation of undisturbed deposits yielded numerous bone artefacts, including a dog-tooth fishhook point, dog-bone chisel, bird-bone needle and seal-bone awl, together with a sandstone file that would have been suitable for bone working (Table 9.1). In addition, three dog mandibles with detached ventral margin were recovered. The pattern of evidence is consistent with another lakeside household in Area B that was only partly excavated.

References Davidson, J.M., 1984. The prehistory of New Zealand. Auckland: Longman Paul. Furey, L., 1996. Oruarangi: the archaeology and material culture of a Hauraki pa. Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum No.17.

Figure 9.3 Pumice kumara god

10 Sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts P.R. Moore

The analysis of obsidian artefacts can provide useful information about trade networks and wider cultural relationships by establishing where the obsidian came from. Generally, in the past, chemical analyses have been used to determine the original geological sources. An alternative method was developed by Moore (1988), in which a range of physical characteristics, such as colour, translucency and flow banding, could identify likely sources. However, this has rarely been applied to large assemblages. In this study, both physical characteristics and chemical (X-ray fluorescence or XRF) analyses were used to establish the sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts.

Methods

The excavations at Kohika produced over 2400 obsidian flakes, tools and cores with a maximum dimension greater than 10 mm, and a further 1040 smaller pieces of shatter. First, the entire obsidian assemblage was separated into two groups, ‘green’ and ‘grey’, based on their colour in transmitted light. Only two or three pieces could not be readily placed into either group on this basis, and these were later examined more closely. The grey obsidian could be further subdivided into: pebbles and part-pebbles with smooth water-worn cortex, and flakes with similar cortex; and flakes generally lacking water-worn cortex. Other characteristics such as translucency, flow banding and lustre were then considered, which resulted in some flakes in the second group, lacking cortex, being transferred to the first group. The general characteristics of the obsidian in these two groups – here referred to as the ‘pebble-type grey’ and ‘other grey’ – were then documented. All the obsidian of both grey types was weighed and pebbles were also measured. Potential sources of the two groups of grey obsidian were considered by reference to the descriptions of geological sources given by Moore (1988), and direct comparisons were then made between pieces from each Kohika group and reference samples from various geological sources, to determine similarities and differences in physical characteristics. This procedure resulted in the identification of the most likely sources. Lastly, nine samples were selected for chemical (XRF) analysis, to test the reliability of source indications from physical characteristics.

Physical characteristics Green obsidian

The bulk of the Kohika obsidian assemblage consists of flakes, pieces and cores that have a distinctive olive-green colour in transmitted light, and only one flake (1040), 168

Sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts

169

grey in colour and greenish-grey in transmitted light, could not be confidently assigned to this group. There is little doubt that all of the green obsidian originated from Mayor Island. Although this very large assemblage was not examined in detail during the sourcing study, it is evident from the types of cortex present on some pieces that the obsidian was obtained from several different localities on Mayor Island. At least eight of the flakes had been removed from water-rolled cobbles or boulders, probably collected from a beach environment. Several other pieces contained portions of rough, but not water-worn cortex, and could have come from colluvial deposits. The majority of flakes, however, lacked cortex and some of these may have been struck from blocks obtained from obsidian quarries on the island. ‘Pebble-type grey’

Thirty-five pieces of obsidian with smooth, water-worn cortex were identified in the collection. This included three almost complete pebbles, thirteen part or broken pebbles (many representing cores), and nineteen flakes with a small portion of cortex remaining. In addition, a further eight flakes, mostly lacking cortex but otherwise having similar characteristics to the above, were assigned to this group, making a total of 43. The ‘pebble-type grey’ obsidian is mostly greyish-black to black in colour, but some is medium to dark grey (Rock Colour Chart). In transmitted light the colour is a slightly different shade of grey from that seen in the ‘other grey’ group. However, the main factor that distinguishes the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian (apart from cortex) is its generally poor translucency. Many pieces also show weak flow banding, which is commonly vague or wispy. Only a few pieces show strong flow banding, and some are slightly colour-banded. Spherulites are generally rare – only about 20 per cent of the assemblage contains spherulites – although they are common in some individual pieces. Crystal inclusions (phenocrysts) are also rare, and usually very small. Vesicles (gas bubbles) were identified in two pebbles. One other feature of note is the streaky appearance of some material, which results in the obsidian having a dull or less vitreous lustre. Abundant microscopic gas bubbles are the probable cause. ‘Other grey’

This grouping consisted of 42 flakes without cortex, or with only a small portion of cortex. In general this cortex is very smooth and differs from that of the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian. It may have been produced by slight weathering of natural fracture faces (at the source) rather than by water rolling, although at least four flakes were clearly derived from water-worn pebbles or cobbles. About 25 per cent of the flakes have some cortex present. Most of the obsidian is black in reflected light, but some is greyish-black and one flake is dark grey in colour. A distinctive feature of the assemblage is that the majority of flakes have moderate to good translucency, with perhaps fewer than 20 per cent having poor translucency. Many also have a smoky tinge in transmitted light. The majority of flakes show weak flow banding which, in some cases, is vague or wispy. Strong flow banding is evident in only one flake and colour banding is very rare. Spherulites are present in about 30 per cent of flakes and are common in some. Crystal inclusions are rare. In contrast to the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian, flakes in this assemblage tend to have a more vitreous lustre, although a few show a slight streakiness (as described above). This obsidian, therefore, is of better quality overall.

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Kohika

Potential sources

There are about twenty known obsidian sources, or source areas, in New Zealand, of which at least seventeen consist of grey obsidian (Moore 1988). The Kohika grey obsidian could, potentially, have come from almost any of these sources, although many can be ruled out on the basis of one or more criteria. ‘Pebble-type grey’

It is evident that the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian came from a source that consisted primarily of rounded to well-rounded, water-worn pebbles. Such pebbles are likely to be found only on beaches (coastal or lake) or in rivers, where rounding occurred either over a considerable period of time or as a result of rapid transportation by water over a considerable distance. The size and shape of the pebbles may provide a clue as to the type of environment they came from, and this is considered now. One possibility is that the pebbles were obtained from the Tarawera River, which flows past Kohika. Fluvial gravel deposits exposed along the river upstream from Kawerau contain common obsidian pebbles, but these are predominantly sub-angular to sub-rounded and not well-rounded like many of the Kohika pebbles. Virtually all of the Tarawera River obsidian is also perlitic and not of flake quality, and differs in many other respects from the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian. For example, it contains abundant crystal inclusions and lacks flow banding. No obsidian pebbles were found at the mouth of the Tarawera River, or on the beach at Matata just to the north. An alternative source for the pebbles is Maketu, which lies about 35 kilometres northwest of the Kohika site. There, all of the obsidian is in the form of pebbles, some of which are well-rounded. Useful comparisons can therefore be made in terms of the size and shape of the pebbles. Although adequate measurements could be obtained for only five Kohika pebbles and part-pebbles, these are clearly small to medium-sized, with the largest being close to the upper size limit for pebbles (Fig. 10.1). Most are also slightly elongated. However, the shape of the pebbles can be better expressed by calculating their sphericity, which ranges from about 0.7 to 0.8, with a mean of 0.78 (Table 10.1). A sphere has a sphericity of 1. The size range of twelve rounded to well-rounded pebbles from Maketu is very similar to that of the Kohika pebbles and most of them also show only slight elongation (Fig. 10.1). Their sphericity ranges from 0.69 to 0.82 with a mean of 0.74, which is almost identical to the mean value obtained for the five Kohika pebbles. Two well-rounded obsidian pebbles collected from the ocean beach at Otamarakau, which lies between Kohika and Maketu, were also included for comparison (Fig. 10.1). These are both relatively flat in shape and have sphericities of 0.75 and 0.66 respectively. Other characteristics of the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian closely match those of the Maketu material, particularly the poor translucency, flow banding (and minor colour banding), and proportion of spherulites. Of the twelve measured pebbles from Maketu, only two (17 per cent) contain spherulites, which is very similar to the proportion (about 20 per cent) for the entire assemblage of ‘pebble-type’ obsidian. The Kohika obsidian also shows a superficial resemblance to some of the Waihi material, notably in flow banding and the poor translucency, although there is a slight but distinct difference in colour in transmitted light. ‘Other grey’

The main features that distinguish this group are the moderate to good translucency and smoky tinge in transmitted light, weak flow banding and very vitreous lustre.

Sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts

171

Table 10.1 Size, roundness and sphericity of Kohika obsidian pebbles

Number 1525 1529 1683 2434 3202–5

Roundness# Well-rounded Rounded Well-rounded Rounded Well-rounded?

Length (cm) 3.3 2.7 2.8 4.2 6.3

Width (cm) 3.0 2.5 2.3 4.2 5.5

Thickness (cm) 1.9 1.4 1.7 (min.) 2.3 2.4

Sphericity* 0.81 0.78 0.79 0.82 0.69

# Based on standard roundness scale. * Sphericity = 3冪 LWT/L3.

7 Cobble Kohika Maketu

6

Otamarakau

Length (cm)

5

4 Pebble 3

2

1 Granule 0 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Width (cm)

Based on these criteria alone, potential sources would include Otoroa (Northland), Fanal Island, Te Ahumata (Great Barrier), Cooks Beach, Hahei, Whangamata, Whakarewarewa, Whakamaru and Ben Lomond (Moore 1988). Some of these sources, however, can virtually be eliminated on other criteria: Otoroa and Fanal (abundant crystal inclusions, no spherulites), Whakamaru (common to abundant crystal inclusions, poor fracture) and Whakarewarewa (poor fracture). The type of cortex present on some of the flakes also does not match that seen on most material from Cooks Beach, Hahei or Whangamata deposits. That effectively leaves Te Ahumata (Great Barrier) and Ben Lomond (Taupo) as the most likely sources. Typical Te Ahumata obsidian has moderate to good translucency and a slight smoky tinge, very vitreous lustre and shows weak flow banding. Spherulites are generally sparse (although common in some pieces), and crystal inclusions are rare. Overall,

Figure 10.1 Dimensions of obsidian pebbles from Kohika, Maketu and Otamarakau

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Kohika

there would appear to be a good match, although the type of cortex on Te Ahumata material (finely to coarsely pitted) is not the same as that seen on the Kohika flakes. Direct comparison of the ‘other grey’ flakes with source material from Ben Lomond revealed that many have very strong similarities in translucency, the proportion of spherulites and phenocrysts, and flow banding. Ben Lomond obsidian also has a smoky tinge in transmitted light. It seems very likely, therefore, that the bulk of this obsidian originated from Ben Lomond, although a few flakes – notably those with remnants of water-worn cortex – may have been derived from another source.

Chemical analyses Sample selection

The selection of samples for XRF was largely dictated by the amount of material (minimum 10 g) required for analysis. This meant that for the ‘pebble-type’ group only four pebbles or part-pebbles were of suitable size, and for the ‘other grey’ group only five larger flakes could be used. Fortunately, the latter were either from different parts of the site or from different squares, thus reducing the risk that they had come from the same core, although this cannot be entirely ruled out. The selected samples showed some variation in physical characteristics. Of the four from the ‘pebble-type’ group, two were black, one greyish-black and one medium to dark grey in colour. Flow banding varied from weak to strong and three of the pebbles showed slight colour banding. Of the five ‘other grey’ flakes, four were black and one (3201) greyish-black in colour. All showed weak flow banding and had moderate or poor translucency, and one (2281) contained common spherulites. Three flakes had remnants of cortex, and two of them (2281, 3201) were probably derived from waterworn cobbles. Analytical data

XRF analyses of the nine Kohika samples and one obsidian pebble from Maketu (MK1A), were carried out by J. Wilmshurst of the Geology Department, University of Auckland in 2002. The results are provided in Table 10.2. (Values for Sc, V, Cr, Ni and Cu were mostly at, or below, the limit of determination, and have been excluded from the table.) Plots of selected trace elements are presented in Figures 10.2 and 10.3. From Table 10.2 it is evident that all the ‘pebble-type’ samples have a very similar composition, with only minor variation in the values for most elements. Flakes from the ‘other grey’ group also have a remarkably similar composition, although the Ba concentration for 3201 is unusually high. There are, however, significant differences between the two groups for most major elements and some trace elements (notably Rb and Zr), and there is little doubt that they were derived from different sources. Sources

The ‘pebble-type’ samples from Kohika have an almost identical composition to the pebble from Maketu (MK1A). They also have very similar values to an earlier ‘bulk’ analysis of Maketu obsidian (MK-1) obtained in 1987, which represents the approximate average composition (Moore, unpublished data). The close similarity of the ‘pebble-type’ analyses to those of Maketu obsidian is clearly illustrated in Figures 10.2 and 10.3. The ‘other grey’ samples have a very similar composition to obsidian from the Ben Lomond (Taupo) source, with almost identical values for many trace elements, particularly Rb, Sr, Y and Zr (Figs 10.2 and 10.3). Minor differences in some major

Sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts

XRF analyses of obsidian samples from Kohika and Maketu

Table 10.2

Pebble type Maketu Number wt (%) 1525 1529 1683 2434 MK1A 1429 SiO2 76.58 76.77 76.69 76.72 76.74 77.09 TiO2 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.18 Al2O3 12.76 12.67 12.75 12.74 12.69 12.42 Fe2O3 1.42 1.38 1.38 1.38 1.38 1.41 MnO 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.05 0.04 0.05 MgO 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 CaO 0.97 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95 1.12 Na2O 3.91 3.79 3.83 3.82 3.83 4.06 K2O 4.1 4.18 4.14 4.14 4.16 3.44 P2O5 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 (H2O) 0.03 0.07 0.05 0.01 0.02 0.05 (LOI) 0.79 0.55 0.68 0.48 0.41 0.31 (Total) 99.83 99.68 99.66 99.88 99.81 99.84 ppm Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Ba La Ce Pb Th Zn Ga

173

142 81 29 113 9 767 26 50 19 16 38 14

142 80 28 111 9 751 29 52 20 17 32 15

143 80 29 112 9 749 24 54 20 13 33 14

144 82 29 115 9 751 26 50 20 16 36 15

144 81 29 116 9 759 26 44 19 14 35 14

Other grey 1834 2281 77.09 77.01 0.18 0.18 12.42 12.47 1.41 1.42 0.05 0.04 0.2 0.2 1.12 1.12 4.05 4.05 3.44 3.49 0.02 0.02 0.05 0.04 0.34 0.24 99.88 100.03

120 87 24 157 7 676 22 36 25 10 31 14

122 87 25 158 7 681 23 31 36 11 30 14

124 86 24 158 7 689 25 34 16 13 32 13

2812 77.04 0.18 12.46 1.4 0.04 0.19 1.11 4.07 3.48 0.02 0.05 0.3 99.63

3201 77.04 0.18 12.45 1.42 0.05 0.19 1.12 4.1 3.46 0.02 0.03 0.23 99.79

122 86 24 155 6 680 23 43 16 13 28 13

123 87 25 160 7 1141 24 52 14 11 32 13

LOD* (ppm) 177 26 116 14 8 61 42 73 14 16

3 2 2 2 2 16 10 26 6 4 4 4

* LOD = Limit of determination Figure 10.2 Rb-Sr plots for analysed obsidian artefacts from Kohika (solid symbols) and source samples from Maketu and Taupo

Rb-Sr 150 Pebble type Maketu 140

Rb (ppm)

Other grey Taupo 130

120

110 50

60

70

80

90

100

Sr (ppm) Note: Data from Table 10.2 and Moore (1988, unpublished report).

174

Zr-Rb 170

150

Zr (ppm)

Figure 10.3 Zr-Rb plots for analysed obsidian artefacts from Kohika (solid symbols) and source samples from Maketu and Taupo

Kohika

130 Pebble type 110

Maketu Other grey

90 110

120

130

140

150

Rb (ppm)

element concentrations (notably Mg and Fe, and also Ba) may be due partly to the fact that the Taupo sample was analysed on a different XRF machine, in 1987 (Moore, unpublished data). Although the Ba, and possibly Ce, values for sample 3201 appear anomalously high, these may still lie within the compositional range of the Taupo obsidian; most other element concentrations are very similar to those of the other flakes and source sample. This flake had a slightly different colour and partly waterworn cortex, which could indicate that it came from a different deposit within the source area. Comparisons with compositional plots for all the Coromandel Peninsula sources revealed that, while the Kohika samples had similar values for certain elements, there were significant differences in many others. For example, the Rb/Sr ratios of the ‘other grey’ flakes are similar to those of Cooks Beach and Tairua obsidian, but the Zr/Rb ratios are very different. Waihi can certainly be excluded as a source for the ‘pebbletype’ obsidian on the basis of Rb/Sr ratios alone. Te Ahumata can probably also be ruled out as a source for the ‘other grey’ flakes based on the PIXE data provided by Neve et al. (1994), which indicates that Te Ahumata obsidian has significantly different values for Rb, Sr and Zr. However, other central North Island sources cannot be entirely excluded since the compositional data available for those sources are at present very limited. It is possible, therefore, that, while the bulk of the ‘other grey’ obsidian was almost certainly derived from the Taupo source, a small proportion of the flakes in this group could have been obtained from other sources.

Proportions of obsidian

The relative proportions of the different obsidians may reflect their desirability and availability. Mayor Island was the major source and the two grey obsidians were of minor significance. Maketu lies on the way to Mayor Island, so the appearance of obsidian from there may be no surprise and its low frequency a measure of its perceived value. The presence of Taupo obsidian is more interesting, because it shows longer-

Sources of the Kohika obsidian artefacts

175 Figure 10.4 Relative proportions of ‘grey pebbletype’ and ‘other grey’ obsidian from Kohika

100

Relative Proportion (percent)

90 80

Pebble type Other grey

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Total weight

Flakes only (weight)

Total number of flakes

distance contact and the possibility of political relations between the central North Island and the Bay of Plenty coast in late prehistory. Little can be said about the relative proportions of the two grey obsidians because the samples are so small, and what has been found may not be representative of the site as a whole. Certainly, the quantity of grey obsidian in Areas A, B and D is variable, as shown by S. Holdaway (in Chapter 11). The total weight of grey obsidian recovered from the site is only about 425 g. The ‘pebble-type’ constitutes approximately 250 g (60 per cent) of this, which would be equivalent to perhaps ten or twelve average-sized pebbles (Fig. 10.4). All of the 175 g of ‘other grey’ flakes could have been produced from the equivalent of just one handsized piece, although the variation in physical characteristics demonstrates that the flakes came from several different cores. Considering only the flakes, Figure 10.4 shows the relative proportions of each grey obsidian group by both weight and number. One could conclude that relatively fewer and smaller flakes were produced from the Maketu pebbles. In contrast, the higher-quality Taupo obsidian yielded a very high proportion of flakes and there were no cores (see Chapter 11).

Conclusions

Analysis of the large obsidian artefact assemblage recovered from Kohika has shown that, while the bulk of the obsidian undoubtedly originated from Mayor Island, a very small proportion – all grey in transmitted light – was obtained from other sources. Two different groups of grey obsidian were identified on the basis of various physical characteristics. One, ‘pebble-type’, was derived from water-worn pebbles and characterised in particular by poor translucency; the other, ‘other grey’, was distinguished

176

Kohika

mainly by the lack of water-worn cortex and predominantly moderate to good translucency. Consideration of the range of physical characteristics and direct comparisons with reference samples from potential sources suggested that the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian was probably derived from Maketu, 35 kilometres to the northeast. This was supported by comparison of the size and shape (sphericity) of pebbles from Kohika and Maketu. Physical characteristics of the ‘other grey’ obsidian suggested that it was obtained largely from either Te Ahumata (Great Barrier Island) or Ben Lomond (Taupo). Chemical (XRF) analyses of nine samples clearly demonstrated that the ‘pebbletype’ and ‘other grey’ groups had very different compositions and were therefore derived from different sources. Comparisons with analyses of source samples showed that the ‘pebble-type’ obsidian was obtained from Maketu, while the bulk (and possibly all) of the ‘other grey’ obsidian came from the Taupo (Ben Lomond) source. This provides the first definite evidence for prehistoric exploitation of the Maketu source. One might suggest (very tentatively on present data) that slightly more ‘pebbletype’ was present at Kohika but fewer flakes were produced from it, which reflects the difficulty in flaking well-rounded pebbles. Also, although the ‘other grey’ (Taupo) obsidian was of better quality and easier to work, it was obtained less often than the Maketu pebbles. Maketu, of course, is on the coast between Kohika and Mayor Island, from where the overwhelming bulk of the Kohika obsidian came.

References Moore, P.R., 1988. Physical characteristics of New Zealand obsidians and their use in archaeological sourcing studies. Unpublished report. Neve, S.R., P.H. Barker, S. Holroyd and P.J. Sheppard, 1994. Obsidian sourcing by PIXE analysis at AURA 2. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 26:93–121

11 The Kohika obsidian artefacts: technology and distribution S.J. Holdaway

The excavations at Kohika produced over 2400 obsidian flakes, tools and cores with a maximum dimension greater than 10 mm, and a further 1040 smaller pieces of shatter. Although not the largest assemblage of obsidian artefacts excavated from a New Zealand site, it is certainly one of the more numerous and therefore has the potential to add to our understanding of how obsidian was processed in the past. This chapter presents the results of a study of the morphology of the artefacts. The attribution of the obsidian to geological sources was described by P. Moore in Chapter 10, and the results used to separate artefacts derived from different sources in the analyses presented below. The aim of this chapter is to develop an understanding of the way obsidian was used as a resource at Kohika at three levels: first, at the level of the artisans who worked the stone into usable flakes; second, in terms of the various activities undertaken in different areas of the site; and, third, in relation to other sites in New Zealand with obsidian assemblages. From a theoretical perspective, it is useful to consider the economics of procuring obsidian, its use and abandonment. Like other technologies, the way stone artefact production and use was organised in prehistoric Maori society reflects the overall economic system. For instance, a relationship exists between the time invested in stone artefact production, the complexity of stone artefact technology and the permanency of settlement (e.g. Parry and Kelley 1987). Torrence (1992) argues that there is a close relationship between the design of stone artefacts and the amount of time available to modify the artefact during use. Among some hunter-gatherers the opportunities to capture prey are limited. Artefact maintenance will therefore be scheduled, and the artefacts themselves may be designed to minimise the chance of failure through careful design. Among horticulturalists, on the other hand, the stress associated with food acquisition is different. It may be more important to invest time in ensuring a ready supply of raw material by stockpiling flakes or cores than in the over-design of particular artefacts. Archaeologists sometimes use the term curated to describe artefact technologies where the design of items is emphasised, and expedient to describe instances where the need to have material on hand to work is given more weight. Kohika would seem an ideal location from which to investigate an expedient technology, since there can be little doubt that the economy of the people who occupied the site included horticulture and the obsidian was definitely imported into the site. The significance of this observation is considered at the end of the chapter. The methods of excavation are relevant. As described elsewhere, two phases of excavation occurred at Kohika. The lithic assemblage obtained by the Whakatane and District Historical Society is dominated by large flakes, while the assemblage produced by the university excavation is more numerous and has much higher proportions of small flakes and flake fragments. Some of the difference results from the different 177

178

Kohika

excavation methods used, meaning that comparisons between the two assemblages must be made with caution. While there were genuinely more large obsidian artefacts in the HS Area, the absence of smaller pieces in this assemblage reflects the excavation method employed. Obsidian is a hard yet brittle material and extremely prone to damage after it is discarded, and a large proportion of the artefacts from both assemblages is broken. While much of the breakage probably occurred at the time of deposition, some of the damage, particularly from the society’s assemblage, occurred afterwards (e.g. Kamminga 1982:10). More care was given to the artefacts recovered from the university excavation. Although artefacts were stored together in the same bag, individual pieces were frequently wrapped in paper to prevent damage. As will be demonstrated below, there is good evidence that some of the edge damage is a product of tool function in prehistory rather than post-excavation modification. However, the level of damage for the society’s assemblage is considerably higher than for the university’s assemblage. Many of the flake edges on pieces from the society’s assemblage have been chipped, no doubt as a result of friction during storage.

Analytical approaches

The methods adopted to study a collection of stone artefacts depend very much on the nature of the research questions. It is perhaps easiest to visualise these questions in terms of a series of different levels of behaviour by the people who lived at Kohika. At the narrowest level, the assemblage may be studied from the viewpoint of the artisans faced with working blocks of obsidian into useful products. Given the density of occupation at the site, it is unlikely that the work of any individual will be identifiable, but trends in the way blocks of stone were worked can be investigated in the assemblage as a whole. These trends allow the identification of the general reduction sequence – that is, the way blocks of obsidian were worked to form useful products. At a wider level, the ways blocks of stone were worked or used at separate locations in the site may be investigated, and these patterns correlated with those identified from the study of other types of evidence. At a still broader level, consideration can be given to how, and from where, the obsidian was obtained, and to the form of the block that was brought to the site. Finally, comparisons can be drawn between the Kohika obsidian artefacts and those found in other sites in New Zealand. Different types of information are relevant to each level. Minimally, each artefact may be placed in a group depending on whether it is complete or broken, whether it has evidence of macroscopic retouch, and whether it is a flake (i.e. with both an exterior and interior surface, as shown in Figure 11.1) or a core (with only exterior surfaces). Occasionally a flake was used as a core, with a number of negative flake scars covering the flake interior surface. Such pieces are grouped with the cores for the purposes of this study. Complete flakes have both a striking platform and a flake termination. Broken flakes represent the proximal, medial or distal fragments of a flake defined on the position of the break (either proximal, distal or both), and the presence of a striking platform or distal termination. Tools are identified by the presence of small flake scars concentrated along an edge, and are divided into complete and broken fragments using the same criteria as flakes. Cores are defined as either complete or broken, depending on the presence of a snap. For each artefact two further sets of variables are recorded. The first set records aspects of morphology that give insights into the way the artefacts were produced from a block of stone, and in the way pieces were modified as a result of use. The

The Kohika obsidian artefacts: technology and distribution 179 Figure 11.1 Terms used to describe flake fragments. Proximal flakes include a platform, distal flakes have a termination, and medial flakes lack a platform or a termination

Figure 11.2 Flakes with different exterior scar patterns. The identification numbers are given in brackets: a (1703), b (1637), uni-directional; c (1907), d (1735), bi-directional; e (1893), subradial; f (1688), radial

pattern of scars on the exterior surface of the artefact indicates the way flakes were removed from a core (Fig. 11.2). Scars that all originate from one direction or two opposed directions suggest that the core was worked by striking flakes from one platform or two opposed platforms. These are termed uni-directional and bi-directional patterns respectively. Flake scars that come from directions at right angles to each other, or from three or more directions, suggest that cores were worked from a number of platforms by turning the core. The first group is called sub-radial and the second radial. Scar direction can be assessed by orientating the flake relative to the platform (Fig. 11.3), and defining four arbitrary directions. Scar direction is then determined in terms of flake scars originating from one of the four quadrants. In the case of broken

180 Figure 11.3 Quadrants for assessing scar orientation. The flake is orientated with the platform at quadrant 1 (the figure is based on artefact 161)

Figure 11.4 Typology for edge modification: a (2617), b (2163), bifacial; c (2128), heavy; d (1145), e (1687), f (2175), g (1850), light; h (2490), i and j (1822), k (1635), notch

Kohika

The Kohika obsidian artefacts: technology and distribution 181

fragments that lack a platform (medial and distal pieces), exterior scar direction can be assessed only when the orientation of the piece can be reconstructed on the basis of ripple marks on the interior surface. In many cases this is not possible, so exterior scar morphology cannot be recorded. Other variables that may be used to reconstruct the core reduction sequence include the proportion of cortex on the flake. Clearly, flakes with a high proportion of cortex were removed when the block was first worked. The proportion of cortical to non-cortical flakes gives an impression of the size of the obsidian block, since larger blocks will produce proportionally fewer cortical flakes. For the pieces with macroscopic, or secondary, flake removals along one or more flake edges, additional variables are used to describe the location and form of the modification. For the Kohika assemblage, a simple typology was developed based on the slope and invasiveness (how far it extends across the body of the tool blank) of the edge modification (Fig. 11.4). A flake edge is modified by three processes. First, edges may be modified to produce a tool of a particular shape. There are suggestions, for instance, that tanged flakes found in New Zealand sites were modified by retouch to form types similar to the Easter Island mataa (Jones 1981). Second, cutting or scraping a flake of obsidian across a hard surface, thereby removing miniature chips, may modify the edge. Third, a flake edge may be modified to change the characteristics of the edge itself. This may involve blunting a naturally sharp edge, or perhaps resharpening an edge that has become clogged with material through use. While it may appear conceptually easy to differentiate tools produced by these three processes, in practice this is not the case (e.g. Jones 1972, Kamminga 1982:8, Leach 1979). Differentiating tools that were deliberately shaped through edge modification is generally achieved by comparing tools of similar morphology among many sites. The problem is that stone tools can also achieve a uniform shape through processes like resharpening and even consistent use. None of the obsidian tools found at Kohika has traces of extensive edge modification, so it would be difficult to argue that they were being deliberately shaped into a particular form. But regularities in both the invasiveness of the edge modification and its shape do exist on tools from the assemblage (see below). Previous studies of New Zealand obsidian assemblages have related patterns based on more or less invasive modification to different functions, although no one-to-one correlation between form and function has been found (e.g. Fredericksen 1987, Leach 1979, Morwood 1974). The general consensus seems to be that steeper, more invasive retouch results from scraping, particularly of wood, while less invasive retouch is associated with lighter scraping and cutting. As Fredericksen (1987) comments, a wide range of scraping and cutting functions for shell tools is documented in the ethnographic literature (see Harsant 1983 for a review). It is likely that stone was used for a similar range of functions, so it should not be expected that a simple relationship existed between tool form and function. In this study the patterns of edge modification found within the assemblages were used to develop a morphological typology for the Kohika tools. Whether these types are the result of deliberate shaping of an edge or of tool use is difficult to say and, in terms of the analysis presented here, may not be particularly important. Some of the obsidian brought into Kohika was used in ways that resulted in edge modification. Investigating how edge-modified artefacts vary in relation to the rest of the Kohika collection allows behavioural inferences to be drawn at each of the levels discussed above. What is of interest is how blocks of obsidian brought to Kohika were worked into products that were subsequently used and abandoned. In addition to a set of variables that describe the morphology of the flakes, a second

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set of variables is used to measure flake size. The conventions for recording the basic dimensions (length, width and thickness) for complete pieces are displayed in Figure 11.5. For broken pieces, these attributes are replaced by maximum length, the maximum dimension of the piece irrespective of the orientation. Likewise, for cores a maximum dimension is taken together with the length of the longest flake scar. These measures of flake size are combined with the attributes that describe flake morphology in the analyses presented below. As these progress from the narrowest to the broadest level of behavioural information, additional data concerning the spatial distribution of artefacts are introduced. In most cases, groups of artefacts defined on the basis of shared similarities in morphological attributes (the independent variables) are compared on the basis of measures of flake size (the dependent variables). Statistical tests (mainly t-tests, analysis of variance [ANOVA] and chi-square) are used to establish whether an inter-group distinction is significant. Most of the obsidian is sourced to Mayor Island, with a distinctive green colour in transmitted light. Most of the analyses presented below are limited to the material from this source. Moore (Chapter 10) also identified two groups of grey obsidian, one coming from the Maketu source and the other from Taupo. Less than 100 artefacts are from these sources and they have been excluded from most of the technological analyses. However, they are considered at the end of the chapter when raw material provisioning at Kohika is discussed. In summary, the analytical tests presented below are aimed at demonstrating the way the prehistoric inhabitants of Kohika exploited obsidian at three behavioural levels. To do this, two broad classes of attributes are recorded for each artefact. First, observations are made that relate to the technology of flake production and to modification of the artefact through use. A second set of attributes is taken as a measure of artefact size. Groups of artefacts combined on the basis of similarities in technological variables are then compared on the basis of artefact dimensions.

Core reduction sequence Complete flakes and cores

To begin at the narrowest behavioural level, the way the obsidian blocks were flaked at the site is investigated. As discussed above, the exterior scar morphology of each piece preserves a record of the flakes that were removed at an earlier stage in the reduction process. Flakes can be broken into groups based on their exterior scar patterns and comparisons made between groups in terms of their mean dimensions. Flakes with the same exterior scar pattern, which are on average larger than those belonging to other groups, were probably produced at an earlier stage in the core reduction sequence, while smaller flakes are likely to have been produced when the core was nearing exhaustion. Thus, a general idea of the core reduction strategy can be achieved simply by comparing the size of flakes with different scar patterns. Table 11.1 presents the results of a comparison of flake length, width and thickness for non-retouched flakes from Kohika according to exterior scar direction. Dividing the flakes into four groups, those with uni-directional, bi-directional, radial and subradial patterns, produces significant results. Radial flakes are the largest, followed by bi-directional and sub-radial flakes, with those having uni-directional flake scars being the smallest. This suggests that cores were rotated frequently during the first stages of reduction, leading to the production of radial flakes. As the cores became smaller, fewer platforms were worked, producing flakes with sub-radial and bidirectional patterns. Finally, flakes were removed from platforms in such a way that

The Kohika obsidian artefacts: technology and distribution 183

Table 11.1

Complete flake mean dimensions (and standard deviation) by exterior scar direction for all areas in the university excavation, Mayor Island obsidian

Radial N=21 Bi-directional, N=26 Sub-radial N=113 Uni-directional N=257

Length 32.5 (12.4) 29.2 (10.8) 27.3 (10.8) 24.1 (9.2)

Width 26.2 (9.9) 19.1 (6.4) 19.6 (7.4) 17.8 (6.9)

Thickness 7.8 (3.6) 6.0 (2.9) 5.8 (3.1) 4.4 (2.3)

Length F=6.5, df 3,413, p 23mm < 23mm TOTAL

Area A 160 105 265

Area B 221 214 435

Area D 194 230 424

TOTAL 575 549 1124

Pearson chi-square 14.0 df 2, p=0.001, phi=0.112 Table 11.13 Number and weight of flakes and flake fragments of maximum dimension less than 10 mm by area, Mayor Island obsidian

Area A Area B Area D

Number 144 404 449

Weight (g) 25.7 91.9 75.1

compared with flakes less than 23 mm long, than either B or D. Finally, if the cut-off point of 23 mm is applied to broken flakes, then Area A has proportionally more flake fragments with a maximum dimension greater than 23 mm than either Area B or D (Table 11.12). These results suggest that there are significant differences in the

The Kohika obsidian artefacts: technology and distribution 191

way blocks of obsidian were worked in different areas at Kohika. Area A has a greater proportion of large flakes, both broken and complete, compared with Areas B and D. Area D has the smallest proportion of large flakes, with Area B in the middle. A similar pattern is suggested by the distribution of cores, with Area D having the most (36) while Area A produced 31 and Area B 24. Given that high proportions of small debitage are produced during the working of cores, it would seem likely that Area D witnessed considerably more flake production than Area A. This interpretation is supported by the differences in the number of small flake fragments (with a maximum dimension less than 10 mm) among the three areas. As summarised in Table 11.13, both Areas B and D have over three times the number of small flake fragments than A. Small fragments like these are produced in abundance during the production of flakes, so their large numbers in Areas B and D would seem to confirm that these areas were the primary sites for obsidian flake manufacture, whereas A may have been a primary site for flake use. The complete flakes from the Historical Society assemblage are considerably larger than similar pieces from any of the areas excavated by the university (Table 11.14). Some of this size difference is no doubt due to excavation bias, particularly the failure to include smaller flakes in the HS assemblage. Still, this assemblage included some very large flakes, up to 111 mm long (Fig. 11.8). This would suggest that it came from a region in the site where some large blocks of obsidian were initially reduced, or that these large flakes represent a cache of pieces intended for later use as cores. Other activities are represented in this area, however, as evidenced by the 28 cores in this assemblage.

Figure 11.8 Large flakes from Historical Society: a (94), b (96), c (150), d (161), e (98) and f (158)

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Table 11.14

Complete flakes with length > 23 mm from the university excavations compared with those excavated by the Historical Society, Mayor Island obsidian

Area A N=72 Area B N=75 Area D N=89 Historical Society N=106

Length 33.6 (8.5) 33.0 (8.6) 33.6 (8.0) 50.0 (18.1)

Width 23.0 (6.0) 23.0 (7.8) 21.0 (8.0) 39.1 (15.8)

Thickness 6.7 (2.8) 6.4 (2.9) 6.5 (3.5) 11.2 (6.5)

Length F=47.0, df 3,356, p