More ancient Māori artefacts found in coastal Christchurch suburb

Wednesday, 26 January 2022

Redcliffs School before it was demolished. Two Māori adzes were recently found on the site.

A Christchurch coastal suburb is still giving up ancient Māori artefacts, and two stone tools found there in recent years are being offered to hapū.

The two toki ōnewa (basalt adzes) were found on the grounds of the former Redcliffs School on Main Rd, Redcliffs. One was found within an “oven feature” while the other was found within a “cultural layer” of charcoal-stained sand.

Both were uncovered by Underground Overground Archaeology, said Neill Atkinson, an acting deputy chief executive at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Underground Overground was an archaeological consulting firm that undertakes research on behalf of private and public clients.

Both adzes were discovered in works associated with shifting Te Raekura Redcliffs School from its former site under the cliffs to its current site fronting the estuary.

The public notice published in The Press on Jan 24, 2022 concerning two stone adzes found in Redcliffs.

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The adzes may look something like this one found near the Manawatu River.

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Finds like these were governed by the Protected Objects Act 1975, which provided that taonga tūturu did not belong to the landowners, Atkinson said. Rather they were “cared for by the Crown until ownership is established”.

The act “reconnect[ed] newly found taonga tūturu with traditional owners, which is usually iwi or hapū in the area of the find”, he said.

“The act protects taonga tūturu from ‘finders keepers’ or other landowner rights,” he said.

The exact date of the finds could not be confirmed, but the landowner would have been either the Ministry of Education or Christchurch City Council.

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage published a notice in The Press on Monday notifying potential claimants of the finds and advising them how to make claims. They have 60 days to lodge claims.

If nobody stepped forward, or their claim was invalid, the stone tools will continue in “Crown care” and the file can be reopened.

The mouth of the estuary and Redcliffs were very significant occupational sites from the early periods of Māori life in Aotearoa-New Zealand, said Tā Tipene O'Regan, the Ngāi Tahu history kaumātua.

The basalt material also suggested an “earlier phase of occupation” than if they were pounamu, for example, he said.

Two Redcliffs caves – Monck’s and Moa Bone Point – yielded many archaeological treasures, including moa bones, a waka-canoe, a carved wooden kurī-dog, and middens indicating the Māori residents had a diet rich in fish, birds and shellfish.

“It is likely that archaeological remains associated with Redcliffs Flat once completely covered the former school site, and has been significantly disturbed by fossicking, landscape modification, and development throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and an unknown amount of archaeological material survives in situ in between these areas of disturbance,” reported Underground Overground in a 2019 report to city council.

Ownership of the adzes would be decided by discussion and assessment among Ngāi Tapu hapū (sub-tribes), O’Regan said, and he “imagined” it was likely they will be added to the many Redcliffs artefacts held by Canterbury Museum.

The museum cares for taonga Māori on behalf of iwi, hapū and whānau, said Hatesa Seumanutafa, associate curator Māori and Pasifika.

“Unfortunately there’s no easy way to tally up the number of adzes we care for, but it’s definitely in the thousands. Most of them have been acquired in various ways since we opened in 1867,” Seumanutafa said.

The museum receives six or seven adzes a year on average, although it varies year to year. Donations can range from a single stone implement to a box full.

Underground Overground could not be contacted prior to deadline. The culture ministry declined to release photos of the adzes until rūnanga could be consulted.