MOA SKELETONS FOUND

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3439, 5 March 1932, Page 5

MOA SKELETONS FOUND

IN MARAKOPA DISTRICT. SITE OF MAORI BATTLE! While casually exploring a cave at the back of his station, in the Marakopa Valley, Mr. E. Phillips found seven moa skeletons. The formation of the rock is of sandy limestone. The Marakopa Valley runs up from the sea board about due west from Waitomo Caves, the distance by road being roughly twenty-four miles.

The skeletons have riot been interfered with in the meantime, and Mr. Phillips has written to the curator of the Auckland Museum for expert advice regarding the find. Each of the skeletons are almost intact, but the bones are very brittle owing to the action of the limestone. The find is one of the most interesting of its kind for many years. The cave in which the bones were found is a very deep one, and inside there is a large tomo which indicates further caves at the bottom. Some of the settlers in the district are making an exploring party to further investigate the tomo, which is likely to contain further interesting relics.

Scattered around the cave are parts of skeletons of Maoris, a battle apparently having taken place there at some early period. These bones are lying around the face of the cave, but two complete skeletons of human beings on a ledge of the cave are in a perfect state of preservation.