NZAA Conference 2016 (Part 1)

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Kia ora,

I've just recently gotten back from this year's New Zealand Archaeological Association conference held in Blenheim (up the top of the east coast of NZ's South Island) last week. Our hosts for the conference were the local tangata whenua, Rangitāne O Wairau.

The destination of a mid-conference field trip was the Wairau Bar, the location of the earliest known archaeological site in New Zealand, with occupation dated to ca. 1300 AD. 

Wairau Bar was the location of excavations undertaken around the middle of the 20th century by researchers from the Canterbury Museum, which resulted in the recovery of a rich range of artefacts and human remains (kōiwi) from a number of burials and their relocation to the museum. Unsurprisingly, the holding of the kōiwi from the Wairau Bar at the Canterbury Museum remained an especially sore point for Rangitāne O Wairau for many years. 

In 2008, Rangitāne signed a memorandum of understanding with Canterbury Museum and the University of Otago, guaranteeing the return of the kōiwi (which were reinterred the following year), while also allowing some scientific research on the remains and further study of the site. The hosting of the 2016 NZAA Conference by Rangitāne O Wairau at their newly built conference centre was a significant step forward in the process of healing.

More about the most recent research into Wairau Bar, headed by archaeologists at the University of Otago, can be found here. 

More on the conference itself shortly!

A large, stone-lined hāngi (earth oven) at Wairau Bar, excavated in 2009. Image has been sourced from the Southern Pacific Archaeological Research (SPAR) website here.



  

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