HUMAN BONES FOUND.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2713, 22 June 1925, Page 11

HUMAN BONES FOUND.

EXCAVATION’S AT ARAPUNI BURIED 100 FEET IN ROCK. MYSTERY AS TO ORIGIN. Human bones have been uncovered in the course of excavations on the power house site at Arapunl. They were discovered high up on the cliff face of the gorge, over a hundred odd feet beneath the upper level. The remains are chiefly long limb bones and their discovery is reported by Mr C. A. Moore, of Putaruru. In a letter to the "Herald” he speculates on their origin and how they came to be buried 100 ft. deep. “One wonders,” he writes, “if the bones are those of a race of people pre-Maori in origin—perhaps prehistoric cave dwellers who, at some early period, by earthquakes or volcanic disturbances, have been overwhelmed. ' “On examining the bones one finds them deeply grooved by the musclee and tendons with abnormally well-de-veloped traction epiphysis. (Markings made by the movement of the muscles over the bones). This proves that the people to whorrf they belonged were a well-built, muscular race, and as the bones show by their length, remarkably tall. “One thing, however, which is hard to explain is why no skull bones have as yet been discovered. That the bones are of a pre-historlc people is a reasonable, hypothesis, based on the locality of their discovery and the depth at which they lay. However, I Intend to send them ! to Dunedin, with a full account of j the location, etc., asking that a report be made. “At present we have the fact of the bones being there right in the heart of the rock, centuries old. Anybody with .any imagination at all must conjure up visions of the people to whom they belonged and wonder what grim tragedy of the past led to their burial in such an unusual tomb.

“Father investigations after the removal of more of the cliff face may bring forth more data to work on. and at present I am keeping a keen lookout for implements or shaped flint tools and weapons.”