Archaeological Sites

Archaeology is all about the discovery, recovery and interpretation of the surviving evidence of past human activity in its context in or above the ground.

Archaeological sites are distinguished from other heritage sites due to the fact that they tend to be the relics and ruins of our past. They may be on land, in water, or in the coastal marine area.

The Historic Places Act 1993 defines an archaeological site as a place associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New Zealand.A place associated with post-1900 human activity may be gazetted as an archaeological site under the Act however

There are a variety of archaeological sites in New Zealand. These are described in more detail in series of brochures published by the Historic Places Trust - click the links below to download a copy.

• Maori pa sites are fortified places with banks and ditches. They are often found on cliffs, headlands or ridges
  
  
• Remains of cultivation areas and gardens can be seen in soils and in the form of lines or walls of loose stones or stone mounds (other types of site associated with cultivation and settlement include artificially levelled terraces, and pits for storing kumara)
  
  
• Middens - these are ‘rubbish dumps’ that may contain shells, bones, artefacts, charcoal and sometimes oven stones. These can be Maori or European.
  
  
• Rock art sites which may contain paintings, drawings, carvings or engravings.
  
  
• Shipwrecks, fish traps, and wharves are other types of archaeological site.
  
  
• Other historic sites containing evidence of whaling, trading, and gold mining industries or the remains of mission stations, military redoubts, buildings and structures of early towns.