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Archaeological Remains of
New Zealand's First Gardens

The First Gardeners

Kumara pit remains, Pukemaire. Picture: Kevin Jones, DoC

When people from tropical Polynesia came to New Zealand around 800 years ago they brought with them a range of plants from their homeland. Those we know to have survived are kumara, yam, taro, gourd, a tropical cabbage tree and paper mulberry. Unfortunately most of these plants could only be grown in the warm climate of the upper North Island. Techniques were developed to enable some plants, particularly kumara, to survive as far south as Banks Peninsula. Some of the gardening techniques and innovations have left behind archaeological remains that show how Mäori successfully adapted their Polynesian ancestors' style of gardening to New Zealand.

Archaeological remains of garden systems

The complex at Pukaroro on the Wairarapa coast. Archaeological remains of gardens are usually part of a complex landscape that may contain a range of garden features, soils, quarries, storage pits and pa. Picture: Kevin Jones, DoC

Archaeologists have found evidence for a variety of gardening techniques used to improve plant yields. Changes to the soil were made to optimise fertility, water retention and warmth. Elevating the soil temperature by adding a layer of sand or gravel meant plants could be planted earlier and harvested later, therefore extending the growing season.

Large "stone-field" garden systems can contain many different features, including stone rows made from stones cleared from plots. These were used to mark boundaries and form places to grow plants.

Maori women digging land for a kumara garden, 1839. Louis Auguste de Sainson. Picture: Alexander Turnbull Library PUBL-0034-2-387*

Other features include stone mounds, additions of gravel, shell, charcoal and ash to soils and levelled terraces on slopes for gardens. Archaeologists have studied this type of garden system in detail at Pouerua, Northland, the volcanic cones of Auckland and the south-east Wairarapa coast.

In many areas soils were modified to improve fertility, particularly in the Waikato, South Taranaki and Nelson regions. Large areas of garden soils, sometimes over hundreds of hectares, have been identified from the addition of gravels and coarse sand not naturally found in the area. Sand and gravel quarries or "borrow pits" are often found near these soils. They are large, irregularly shaped hollows in the ground from which this additive material was obtained.

Traditional Maori kumara, Ipomoea batatis. Picture: Graham Harris, The Open Polytechnic of NZ

Archaeologists have also studied the gardening implements used by Mäori. Ko or digging sticks were made from wood and were used to prepare the ground. Sometimes these implements have been preserved in swamps and have been later uncovered.

In the wetter parts of Northland and the Bay of Plenty, water was controlled through complex systems of ditches and drains. Some of the better known of these systems are found at Motutangi in Northland and Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty. This use of water control to increase plant production is a widespread and ancient Pacific tradition brought to New Zealand by the Mäori people's Polynesian ancestors.

Pataka - provision house - at Otumatua Pa, 1840 Charles Heaphy. Picture: Alexander Turnbull Library A-146-009*

Although many gardening traditions were brought from the Pacific, Mäori also developed new techniques more suitable for gardening in a temperate climate. Storage pits were invented to protect kumara "seed" stock and food supplies from the cold and wet winters.

The archaeological remains of these storage pits can often be found on ridges and river terraces above gardens throughout the North Island and northern South Island. There are two common forms: rua, or bell-shaped, and rectangular. There is some regional variation, with rectangular pits with raised rims being found mainly on the east coast of the North Island and bell-shaped underground pits in Taranaki.

Storage pits, Piarere, Waikato. Picture: NZHPT

As well as gardening, Mäori also obtained plant foods from wild plants. The use of wild food is harder to detect from archaeological remains, however, archaeologists have found evidence of the use of bracken fern root, hinau, tawa and karaka berries as food.

Otuataua Stonefields

A combined project between the Department of Conservation, Manukau City and Auckland Regional Councils enabled the purchase of 100 hectares of land to protect the Otuataua Stonefields as a reserve. Less than two hundred years ago over 8,000 hectares of stonefields around Auckland's volcanic cones were part of a complex system of gardens and settlements.

Otuataua Stonefields, near Auckland. Picture: DoC

Almost all the remains of these places have been overrun by modern day Auckland or quarried away. The 100 hectares of land making up Otuataua is one of only two major remnants left. The reserve contains evidence of a wide range of Mäori garden practices and also more recent European garden systems from one hundred years ago. The Otuataua Stonefields is an historic reserve which can be freely visited. Contact the Department of Conservation or Auckland Regional Council for further information.

Further Reading

Davidson, J. 1987. The Prehistory of New Zealand. 2nd Edition. Longman Paul, Auckland.
Leach, H. 1984. 1,000 Years of Gardening in New Zealand.
Reed, Wellington.

* Photo: Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

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