Historic storage pits found in Te Puna

The discovery of 15 food storage pits during work on new sports fields at Maramatanga Park in Te Puna may have slowed the project but it also offered an insight into the area's early residents.
Chris Mallows, an archaeologist with Opus Consultants in Tauranga, said that historic finds were anticipated because of the area's long occupation so Western Bay of Plenty District Council had to obtain an authority from New Zealand Historic Places Trust for the work.
That authority required an archaeologist and, to conform with tikanga Maori, a cultural monitor from Pirirakau to be on hand.
"Our role was to record as much as possible," says Chris, who has been in New Zealand for seven years after working as an archaeologist in Britain and Ireland and as a forensic archaeologist for the United Nations in Bosnia.
"We were allowed to do a complete excavation and given as much leeway as we needed - the system worked very well."
The council's reserves and facilities manager, Peter Watson said, given that there was an archaeological site recorded on the council's GIS system, the council followed due process in applying for an archaeological authority before starting earthworks.
"The discovery of these sites is an important part of the history for the area," he said. "However, the amount of archaeology found was more than expected, which subsequently had an impact on construction."
The storage pits, which varied in size but averaged about 2m by 1m, were probably used for kumara and rua (potatoes) and Chris says there may be potential to have a starch sample from the site analysed to confirm just what was kept in the pits.
Julie Sparham, an environment manager for Pirirakau Incorporated Society, says archaeologist Dr Louise Fury, who has studied the Omokoroa Peninsula, suggests that some Maori settlements were nomadic, the sites being used and re-used over many years.
Sometimes used as the main kainga (village), these sites may also sometimes have been used to grow food and store it, before the residents moved on. They would eventually return and re-use the storage areas and supplies seasonally.
"Given that the Bay of Plenty was one of the most highly populated regions in times of early Maori occupation, a discovery wasn't unexpected," Julie says.
"If the topsoil layers are removed you can see clearly if there has been any modification or archaeology because of the different colour of the disturbed soil.
"It's like taking off a mask."
As well as the storage pits, archaeologists also found a number of small oven "scoops", probably for cooking shellfish and Chris says it may be possible to carbon date a shell.
"We had post holes, rua pits and storage pits - it was a really interesting site," he says.