Archaeologist surveys islands

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 4

Archaeologist surveys islands

A Dunedin archaeologist, Mr R. Fyfe, has visited Mangere and South-East Islands, of the Chatham Islands group, to do a survev as part of the Historic Places Trust’s programme to build up the register of archaeological sites. Mr Fyfe went to the islands with the Wildlife Service.

He said that Mangere Island had almost no heavy forest cover. Two middens, previously reported by the Wildlife Service, were the only cultural deposits found.

The Douglas Basin midden had large quantities of sea mammal and bird bone and shellfish in it, dating back to the prehistory of the Chathams.

The North Shore midden was a rock shelter 25m long by 10m wide on the north-eastern shore.

On South-East Island Mr Fyfe did not survey much of the interior becasue of the probable de« struction of large numbers of nesting burrows occupied by incubating adults or the young of different sea birds.

Two sites were found, the first a heavily eroded area of scattered flakes, oven stones, and midden, and the second, an extensive area of dense stone flake material and light scattered midden on the surface of badly eroding peat soil. This was next to a large fur seal breeding colony.