Storage pit depressions in the ground indicate semi-subterranean roofed food stores were present in many undefended sites as well as pa. Often there are one or two pits in association with the same number of terraces but in some areas large numbers of pits are present over some distance along a ridge or spur. For instance in the Colville area, up to 33pits are to be found in one site. By contrast, on the opposite coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, at Waikawau Bay, pits occur singly. This suggests that in some places there was a greater community emphasis on storage of food, while the small sites with single pits may be associated with small family groups responsible for their own food supply. Over 1700 sites with storage pit depressions have been recorded.
Many storage pits have been excavated in the Hauraki region. Sites at Opito and nearby Sarah's Gully had rectangular pits with small bin pits dug into the side walls and into the floor, dated to the 13th and 14th centuries. This is amongst the oldest evidence for storage in New Zealand, displaying sophistication in what was apparently a newly developed technique for storing kumara. A number of excavated pits have features such as external perimeter drains for keeping water out of the stores, or for removing water from within pits where internal drains and tunnels to the outside slope were constructed. There appears to be no regional pattern to the use of these features. Pits not visible on the surface are often uncovered during excavations, having been completely and deliberately filled in and the level surface used for another purpose.
The most common form of pit is rectangular. Rua, or underground pits with a narrow circular entrance at ground level, and pits dug into a scarp or slope are rare in the Coromandel area although they are common in the western Bay of Plenty.
Like middens, variation is also evident in the distribution of storage pits. It is noticeably apparent from Fig. 6 that few sites with pits have been recorded on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula south of Opito. This may be due to several factors which have not yet received any archaeological investigation, ranging from erosion of the soft volcanic ash soil infilling pit depressions through to a change in type of settlement. Excavations at Kauri Point and Ongare Point revealed numerous storage pits and an extremely complex pattern of infilling and reconstruction, very little of which was apparent at ground level. Pits were also uncovered in two sites at Whangamata during excavation. The inference is that pit storage was not carried out in the lower eastern Coromandel area to any great extent in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The absence of storage pits in sites on the Hauraki Plains can be easily explained by the unsuitable storage conditions in the poorly drained ground. However above ground storage structures were noted by European visitors to the area (Wilson ms). Food grown in the naturally fertile soil around the river settlements may also have been taken to higher ground where pit storage would have been more appropriate. This is apparent on Fig. 6 where numerous pits have been recorded in the low hills bordering the Hauraki Plains.
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