Wairau Bar

Archaic Maori burial ground and midden site in the northern South Island, New Zealand, at the mouth of the Wairau River. The site is remarkable for its rich grave goods, including adzes, necklace units, and fishhooks - similar to those from contemporary sites in the Marquesas and Society Islands. Dated to c 1100-1350 AD, Wairau Bar also produced perhaps the richest non-organic artifact assemblage of any site in New Zealand. It is from the Moa-hunter period.

An archaic Maori burial ground in the northern South Island, New Zealand, excavated by Sir Roger Duff. The site is remarkable for its rich grave goods, which include adzes, necklace units and fishhooks, similar to those from contemporary sites in tropical eastern Polynesia (Hane, Maupiti, Vaito’Otia). Dated to the llth-12th centuries ad, Wairau Bar has produced perhaps the richest non-organic artefact assemblage of any site in New Zealand.