‘Unusual’ skeleton carefully unearthed

A human skeleton discovered by a digger operator at the Papamoa Top 10 Holiday Park is today being carefully unearthed by archaeologists.

A drainlayer uncovered the skeleton about midday yesterday while working on the site of the holiday park's new conference centre and guest lounge.


The Papamoa Top 10 Holiday Park building site where the skeleton was found.

Heritage New Zealand lower northern regional archaeologist Dr Rachel Darmody says the skeleton will be uncovered and examined by archaeologists before being sent to Auckland University for further examination.

While finding human bones is not uncommon in the Papamoa area, Rachel says it is unusual to find a full skeleton.

'It doesn't look like its fallen in battle, but I don't know if it's an actual burial or whether it's a re-burial.

'It's being very carefully taken out because it is a bit more unusual to have a full skeleton. We are going to have and archaeologist look at it, they will do all the analysis on it.”

The initial inspection will be able to tell if the person was male or female, give a rough age, and sometimes an indication of what diseases a person might have had.

Rachel says it will take most of today to remove the skeleton.

It will then be examined at Auckland University for analysing, before being returned to Nga Potiki for burial.

Holiday park general manager Rebecca Crosby says they have been working closely with Papamoa iwi Nga Potiki and Heritage New Zealand since the discovery.

'A karakia was said over the site and the workers yesterday, and excavation work will continue today.

'We would like to assure all of our guests that the resort is still fully operational."

The Papamoa dunes have seen centuries of occupation and conflict among various iwi. Matire Duncan of Nga Potiki iwi says the dead in those conflicts were buried where they fell.

You may also like....

2 comments

Interesting.

Posted on 21-08-2014 21:49 | By Robert

with a couple of missing persons from the past this could be kinda interesting. Might not be that old.


so let me get this straight!!!

Posted on 22-08-2014 11:38 | By Sambo Returns

The skull has not had a race/age/creed, or anything else verified?, so why is it being returned to Nga Potiki?, a rather ambiguous statement, I would have thought.


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.