Dumped moa bones a puzzle

Press, 25 July 1984, Page 8

Dumped moa bones a puzzle

PA Dunedin A man who dumped moa bones, some more than 500 .years old, at a rubbish tip on Saturday, has created a mystery the Otago Museum is anxious to solve. A Mornington man, Mr Peter Hall, and his son, Matthew, found the bones at the Green Island tip when they were dropping rubbish. The museum’s assistant director, Mr John Darby, has confirmed that the bones are those of moas. Mr Hall said yesterday

that a man in a car beside his at the tip asked if they wanted to see some genuine mao bones. “He had heaps and heaps,” Mr Hall said. “He said, ‘l’ve got far too many — I’m chucking them away.’ “I thought he was having us on.” The man appeared to know what he was talking about. “He held them up and said, ‘This is a foot bone, this is a thigh bone, and this is an ankle bone’,” said Mr

Hall. Matthew Hall grabbed about 12 bones. On Sunday the Halls took three to the museum. They estimated the man dumped three or four times more bones than they recovered, but they have now been covered. “The Halls were as incredulous as I was,” Mr Darby said. “I did not believe this chap would be throwing away moa bones.” Now the museum wants to find the original source of the bones.

Mr Darby asked that the man who dumped the bones call him to help with the research. All that is known about him is that he spoke with a Dutch or German accent and drove a metallic green Commodore station waggon. Mr Darby said he was fairly sure the bones came from Otago, probably Central Otago or possibly the Catlins area. The find is particularly important because of the good condition and the number of the bones. They are dry and appear to have been out of the ground for some time. Big finds were important to help plot the spread of different species of moa, Mr Darby said. -