14th-Century Polynesian Settlement Found in New Zealand

News August 8, 2014

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WHITIANGA, NEW ZEALAND—The Waikato Times reports that a temporary Polynesian settlement that was reused over the course of the fourteenth century has been unearthed at the site of a new housing development, located on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand’s North Island. Evidence of cooking, gardening, making tools, and repairing waka, or canoes, has been found. A large, greasy earth oven lined with stones may have been used for cooking seals. Moa fish hooks, basalt and chert, and a midden were also uncovered. Makere Rika-Heke, Heritage New Zealand Maori heritage advisor, said that the discovery is a reaffirmation of some of the old traditions kept by local people. 

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