Wairau Bar
This was originally believed to have been due to ploughing, but work by Bruce McFadgen shows that at some stage, probably between the two periods of occupation, the site was subject to either large storm surge waves or a tsunami which probably contributed to the scattering.
The record seems to show that the partial skeletons of several children were found in shallow graves but these were in such poor condition and scattered that Duff was either unable or unwilling to keep the fragments using the methods of those days.
Eighty small, one-piece, triangular, stone or bone fishing lures with lashed unbarbed hook were found.
The 21 skeletons with teeth all exhibited some developmental enamel disorders, showing they had suffered long stressful periods during childhood but survived to reasonably healthy adulthood.
Tooth decay was rare, especially amongst males (a similar trait to neolithic people of the Americas (North American Indians).
Many of the skeletons showed multiple signs of stress such as Harris lines (on X-rays of long bones such as the tibia) caused by either infection or a poor diet.
[4] The skeletons were all found in shallow graves, with the heads pointing towards the east and the feet to the west, as was the practice in eastern Polynesia.
The results of DNA analysis reinforce the idea that some of these people were original settlers from East Polynesia, as they had a very different diet based on soft starchy food.
Scientists found that there was a wide range of DNA mutations indicating that settlers were part of a reasonably large group.
One of the mutations was associated with insulin rejection as found in type 2 diabetes[5][6] This reinforces the mathematical modelling done in the past that shows the same pattern.
Work will now begin on tracing East Polynesian populations that have the same DNA mutations in order to discover the specific homelands of the Wairau Bar settlers.
The plant is usually associated with the far north of New Zealand but may have been grown further south during the warmer climatic period associated with early Polynesian settlement.
The study also showed the site to be much bigger than previously thought—at least 11 hectares (27 acres) and possibly larger as two boundaries have not been accurately plotted.
"Intact" skeletons (many minus the head) were found in four groups, with the oldest (1–7) being closer to the sea and at the western end of the site.
The bottom layer of the midden showed that at the very earliest occupation time shellfish, such as mussels, were much larger, averaging 250 millimetres (9.8 in) long.
As well as the remains of numerous butchered moa, seals, porpoises, the extinct Haast's eagle, Eyles' harrier, New Zealand swan and New Zealand raven, kurī (Maori dogs), tuatara, kiore, shellfish such as pipi, pāua, cockles, and marine bones from eels, skate, sunfish and sharks were found there.
At the time of the latest investigation the local Rangitāne Iwi reburied 60 skeletons claimed to be their forebears in a formal ceremony at the lagoon site.
[10][11] A study of a turret shell artifact completed in 2011 shows a direct link between the Wairau Bar site and East Polynesia.
This is only the second artifact found in New Zealand originating from East Polynesia dated to the early Polynesian colonial period.
(The other is the early East Polynesian pearl lure found at Tairua[12] identified by A. Powell of Auckland Museum.)
