[3] They extend for 50 kilometres in a northeast–southwest direction through largely uninhabited country to the south of Lake Taupō, east of the "Desert Road".

The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "breath for food" for Kaimanawa.

[8][9] The Tuwharetoa tangata whenua claim an “oral tradition” of the place as a kōhatu (rock).

[8] The wall formation was inspected by an archaeologist and a geologist; neither saw evidence of a human origin.

In a preliminary investigation, archaeologist Neville Ritchie of the New Zealand Department of Conservation observed "matching micro-irregularities along the joints."

[8] Peter Wood, a geologist of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences at Wairakei, inspected the blocks for an afternoon and concluded they are natural fractures in "jointed Rangitaiki ignimbrite, a 330,000 year old volcanic rock that is common in the Taupō Volcanic Zone.

Fractures in the Rangitaiki ignimbrite formed when it cooled and contracted after flowing into place during an eruption.