Jim Wakefield discovered a cross carved into the Kaimanawa wall near Lake Taupō. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
Jim Wakefield discovered a cross carved into the Kaimanawa wall near Lake Taupō. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
A Celtic cross has been found carved into an ancient rock formation near Lake Taupō - a site that briefly hinted at a re-writing of the country’s history books in 1996.
Interest and speculation in the Kaimanawa wall reached fever pitch in 1996 when first the NZ Listener and then the Holmes show featured the views of respected archaeologist Barry Brailsford. After a cursory examination Brailsford ssaid the uniform stone blocks that made up the wall could possibly be man-made and the best proof to date to confirm speculation about a pre-Māori race of people who arrived in NZ more than 2000 years ago.
Late last month Australian amateur historian Jim Wakefield took a look at the rock formation for himself.
“I did the usual tourist thing and took some photos then decided to climb the large hill behind the wall ... several metres above the top of the wall I passed a kind of rectangular stone box with a wall facing out and covered in moss.
“We don’t see moss this thick in Brisbane so out of interest I scraped a little away which revealed what I thought was a small crack in the rock under the moss. After more scraping I uncovered the cross. I became quite excited and happy as this was so unexpected.”
He sent photos of his discovery to Auckland War Memorial Museum and received a reply from the curator of archaeology Josh Emmitt, who has done fieldwork in the Taupō region on Māori rock art and has studied stone sources in the area.
What appeared to be a Celtic cross was found carved into the curious Kaimanawa wall near Lake Taupō. Photo / Jim Wakefield
He said the cross was likely carved about the same time as the public frenzy erupted over the origins of the wall, in 1996.
“If I had to guess someone may have seen the ‘box’ you observed nearby and scratched a Celtic cross into the stone in an effort to provide support for the pseudo-science interpretation of the natural Kaimanawa ‘wall’ being that of a pre-Māori occupation. "
Exploring the mysterious Kaimanawa wall. Photo / Outdoor Kid
At first glance, the wall appeared to be made up of huge man-made blocks, stacked in the shape of a wall. When it made the news in 1996, it became so popular that it was hard to even see the wall because of the number of people who made the journey to see it.
A report by Department of Conservation regional archaeologist Neville Ritchie in 1996 soon put the rumours to bed and interest in the site quickly fell away. He found it was part of a large ignimbrite outcrop. After the volcanic rock flowed into place about 330,000 years ago, it cooled and cracked, leaving the appearance of a stone wall.
In his report, Ritchie said the presence of a long horizontal crack along the length of the visible outcrop added to its man-made appearance but further into the hill, it was less uniform and several other features - such as natural layers in the rock matched from one block to the next, meaning it had started as one piece.
Barry Brailsford also accepted Ritchie’s findings, detailing the whole episode in his 2019 autobiography Beyond the Boundaries of Time.
He said the possibility that the eight squared blocks at the front of the wall, and those revealed in a gap behind the wall, were part of a carefully built structure, was a theory that really took off after the NZ Herald took a geologist to the site.
“That theory took flight when a geologist The NZ Herald brought to the site declared it was not a natural formation. Conjecture ran wild. Had ancient pyramid builders left their mark in our land? Cartoonists had a wonderful fortnight adding their insights, while various experts jumped up and down shouting ‘Rubbish! Rubbish! Rubbish!’.
“Sense prevailed when a small, unofficial team of archaeologists and geologists turned up with sharp spades and settled the case after a day’s illegal toil. I didn’t initiate this endeavour but happened to be on site when it unfolded. And I’ve forgotten the names of those involved.
“They carefully dug a trench along the front of the wall that allowed them to track the face of the stone deep into the ground. Two metres down it merged with the bedrock. The huge blocks belonged where they stood, and had not been shifted or shaped by humans.”
