A midden located beneath the path of the Pilot Bay boardwalk under construction is not believed to be part of an archaeological discovery, says Tauranga City Council.

The pipi shells, discovered at the site last week, are currently being assessed by the Historic Places Trust, which is expected to discuss preliminary results this week.

Contractors working on constructing the Pilot Bay boardwalk are continuing work around the midden site.

City Park Rangers team leader, Warren Aitken, believes archaeologists have not found anything of significant interest so far.

'Progress is continuing,” says Warren.

'We still haven't got back to the sites where they are excavating at the moment. It won't actually hold the project up too much.”

The boardwalk is being leap-frogged past the midden site, and the contractor will complete the section when the archaeologists are satisfied, says Warren.

There are two archaeologists observing the progress.

'It's all factored into the budget that we have. We are fully aware that we would come across some sites, and as part of our authority from the Historic Places Trust we are required to have archaeologists there, so that's all factored in.

'Depending on the size of the site, and the amount of time, they are excavating it might cost more - nothing massive at all, it's not a major cost as such.”

The midden, containing pipi shells and fishbones, was found under the path of the Pilot Bay boardwalk on Friday, July 5, only days after construction started on the project.

The boardwalk excavation itself is only going down about 150mm to remove topsoil, says Warren.

The age of the items is unknown. The area is said to have been occupied by Maori about 700 years ago.