Maori Storage Pits Point to Large Settlement

TAURANGA, NEW ZEALAND—A road-widening project has uncovered more than 20 food storage pits and a pataka, or food storage building, on the Otumoetai peninsula of New Zealand’s North Island. Their size suggest that there was a large Maori settlement in the area between 200 and 400 years ago. “Kumara pits similar to those found on Maxwells Road are apparently found quite frequently in the Bay of Plenty, however we understand none have been found in the area of Tauranga to date,” Marcel Currin, Tauranga City Council communications adviser, told the Bay of Plenty Times. “Artifacts including obsidian (volcanic glass) and fragments of stone adzes have been found in the area,” he added. To read more about prehistoric archaeology in the Pacific, go to "Letter From Hawaii: Inside Kauai's Past."