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From issue: November 2000

Rescuing Knowledge

by Janet Davidson and Foss Leach

A heap of old shells at Raumati Beach yielded much information about past ways of life in the area.

For over a century, observers have commented on the numerous pre-European shell middens of the Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua. More than thirty years ago, local historian Wattie Carkeek advocated systematic excavation by archaeologists to recover the information contained in such sites. Until recently, however, there had been no thorough study of a midden between Paremata and Foxton.

The view from Raumati Beach, looking across the channel to Kapiti Island. Photo: Grant Sheehan

Most people regard them as just heaps of old shells, not realising they may contain clues about environmental change and details of past ways of life.

As the pace of development accelerates on the Kapiti Coast, more and more sites are threatened with destruction. The Historic Places Trust has become involved in monitoring developments and organising rescue investigations. A recent study of material salvaged from a site at Raumati Beach provides an indication of what can be learned from a humble shell midden, even after it has been damaged.

As part of the condition for an Authority for a subdivision to proceed, Trust archaeologists Rick McGovern-Wilson and Karen Greig, assisted by Susan Forbes, mapped the scattered remains of a previously unrecorded midden, which had been exposed and damaged by stripping of vegetation. They filled five "clean sacks" with samples taken from different areas of the site. These were analysed in the Archaeozoology Laboratory at Te Papa as part of a FRST-funded research programme, Bridge & Barrier: 800 years of Maori occupation of Cook Strait.

An archaeologist working on the midden at Raumati Beach.

The site is close to the location of Wharemauku Pa, described by E.J. Wakefield in 1840, but it contained no European artifacts and radiocarbon dates show that it is probably at least 200 years older than the pa. Although the deposit consisted mainly of shells, enough fish bone was recovered to provide a fascinating glimpse of the fishing activities of the former occupants of the site. Most numerous were kahawai and red cod, but a surprising variety of other fish were also present. Many of the fish could have been caught in the immediate vicinity, but others prefer rocky habitats, suggesting that people fished from canoes around Kapiti or further south.

The Raumati fish catch has several unusual features. Firstly, it has a higher proportion of kahawai than any other site so far studied in New Zealand. It adds to a growing body of evidence that in pre-European times, kahawai fishing was particularly important in the north-western Cook Strait area. The presence of flounders/soles is also unusual, although they are to be expected in this vicinity, particularly around the stream mouth. Even more unusual is the presence of hoki, which is a deep-water species. This fish has previously been identified in only two out of 126 archaeological sites studied at Te Papa. Its presence at Raumati may indicate a period of colder weather in the past.

Once the fish were identified, it was possible to estimate the sizes of individuals from bone measurements, using formulae previously worked out by measuring and boiling down modern specimens and measuring their bones. The average length of the kahawai was 439mm. They ranged from 252mm to a whopping 693mm. The red cod, on the other hand, were quite small, ranging from 153 to 509mm with an average of 301mm.

By far the greatest number of shells are tuatua, which are still gathered in large numbers on this coast. Tuatua contain an unusually high amount of carbohydrate for a sea food and would have been an important source of energy for pre-European Maori in the area. Two other species of locally occurring surf clams are also represented. However, there are also some rocky shore shells. These were probably brought back for variety by people who had been fishing further afield.

There are two species of tuatua in New Zealand and both are represented in the Raumati samples, which is another unusual and important feature of this site. One species is found in slightly deeper water and may be more tolerant of colder sea water conditions. These shellfish, along with one of the other surf clams, which also lives in slightly deeper water, may have been washed ashore and collected live during stormy weather.

The Raumati tuatua were compared with samples from an early site near Foxton, where only one species was found and the shells are smaller. The differences may simply reflect different gathering practices by different groups, but may also reflect variations in climatic conditions through time. From the ratio of two isotopes of oxygen - 16O and 18O - in the shells, the sea water temperature in which they lived can be estimated.

The Raumati shells grew in colder water than the Foxton shells. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the Foxton site was occupied during an earlier, slightly warmer period, and the Raumati site at the onset of the cooler, stormier period known in Europe as "The Little Ice Age".

Another surprise in the Raumati samples was the discovery of a number of tuatua shells that had been modified for use as scraping tools. Maori used shell scrapers in various ways. The most likely use at Raumati is for scaling fish. In historic (and quite recent but pre-freezer) times, Maori in this area preserved fish and shellfish by drying them in the sun. The Raumati site and others like it reflect centuries of such practices.

We do not know how long the Raumati site was occupied or how the different areas were related, as the connections were destroyed before the site could be investigated using archaeological methods. Even so, the samples from this damaged midden have provided new and valuable clues to past human activities and environmental changes on the Kapiti coast, new pieces to fit into a developing jigsaw.

Janet Davidson and Foss Leach are archaeologists at Te Papa.