Aotearoa Archaeology

    When talking about ethics last week Erin showed us a picture of the Maori warrior head and that got me thinking that I would like to do an entry about Maori culture. I have always loved New Zealand since I was there 6 years ago (time sure does fly!). 
 

Wairau Bar

    Wairau Bar is thought to be the oldest settlement in New Zealand.  As well it is believed that within one or two generations of landing this area was settled.  This site was discovered in 1939.  During the original excavation 44 skeletons were found and examined.  There were originally 3 different groups discovered at the site.  Before they were reburied in 2009 they were reexamined using modern testing and it was found that the skeletons exhibited a wide variety of ages.  However only one child skeleton was found. 
  
      One thing which was interesting was that only 21 of the skeletons had teeth.  And those which had teeth also had stress in their childhood, yet they overcame the disease and lived quite healthy lives as adults.  It was also found in the examination of the bodies that there was a difference in the health of the individuals between the 3 groups and among the sexes. 

    Unfortunately I was only able to gain access to the abstract of the paper, as it appears that the author has taken it off of the internet.  Which means that I am only able to look at 2 of the groups which are mentioned briefly in the abstract.
   
    It was found that Group 3 had the most skeletons of older females than the others.  As well it was found that between the different groups there was contrast in health.  For group 1 was found to have a higher rate of periodontal disease as well as a less extreme wear pattern.  As a side note I should mention that periodontal diseases are those which affect the tissues that support and surround teeth.

    I really wish that I could have accessed more information about this site, but even what I found was difficult to find.  As well it appears that it is very hard to do archaeological work in New Zealand as the Maori people need to give consent and there does not appear to be many sites around New Zealand where work is taking place.


Buckley, H. R, Tayles, Nancy,. Halcrow, Siân E., Robb, Kasey., Fyfe Roger 2009.  “The People of Wairau Bar: a Re-examination” Journal of Pacific Archaeology Vol 1:1.