4.2 The largest site, and the physically most dramatic, is the part of Hikotawatawa pa (U14/23 8) situated on the highest part of the property.

4.3 There are two other, smaller ridge pa. One has been damaged by a fenceline (Q14/1660), the other has been mainly quarried away (Q14/1810).

4.4 The remaining sites are levelled terraces that were used for houses, and pits used for storing the kumara and other crops. These sites are probably more extensive than is marked on Phillips’ plan, as he has indicated with his sensitive areas.

4.5 These sites contain evidence relating to the settlement of the area over a time period estimated to be from at least 1450-1850. Hikotawatawa pa appears to be the earliest site occupied, though it may not have been fortified in its earliest phase of settlement. Archaeological evidence in the sites includes defensive ditches and banks and palisades, storage pits, houses, cooking areas and midden containing evidence of the types and sources of shellfish and fish eaten at the sites. There may also be evidence of tool manufacture. The adjacent stream gullies may include pollen from the area that indicate bush clearance, artefacts that have fallen from the sites above, and wooden items deliberately placed in wet areas for preservation.

5.0 IDENTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE AREAS

5.1 Phillips (2000) identified 9 sensitive areas, of which possibly 5 could be affected by the proposed quarrying. His comment that nearly all the slopes less than 20° contain features is a very useful measure, and my own experience at Kairua backs up his assertion that there are many features hidden beneath the ground surface¹⁸.

5.2 Other sensitive areas might be the stream valleys adjacent to Hikotawatawa pa.

6.0 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RECORDED SITES

18 Caroline Phillips 1999a.