MAORI FLINTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 21063, 15 June 1938, Page 5

MAORI FLINTS

DISCOVERIES AT GREYS HILLS | i AN INTERESTING OUTING Mr James R. Irvine, of Timaru. who has made a study of Maori relics and | the evidence of the presence of the | Maori in South Canterbury long years ago. furnishes the following account of i a journey of investigation he made : recently in this district:— “During the Easter holidays,” writes : Mr Irvine, “a trip was made into the Mackenzie Country accompanied by Mr H. S. McCully, cf Teel Forest, and Mr B. Beck of South’and. Our object was to inspect the Maori flint quarry, situated on the Grey s Hills sheep station. Rain fell heavily until Burke’s Pass was reached and once through the pass, the Mackenzie Country loomed ahead bright and clear, except for a cold, but yet dry wind which was blowing. A halt was made for the night at the drovers’ tin hut by the wayside, and next morning we proceeded on to Grey’s Hills estate without much difficulty, excepting a few minor washouts on the road. “This quarry is of immense interest and must have been one of the main sources of supply, in the way of material in the shape of flints, for perhaps centuries. Flint was one of the main materials used by the Maoris in the manufacture of his everyday tools, and was greatly sought after and was used almost as extensively as flax. The first thing which strikes the eye on reaching this flint quarry was three great pits, in the bottom of which are growing to-day, large willow trees. At a r./ugh estimate there must have been 100 tons of material thrown out of these pits in the search for good flint. As we prospected around nearby, Mr Beck was fortunate in picking up a well polished slate knife with ornamentation lines on the sides of same. Further investigation revealed the remains of some of the old cooking fires and also a hut site in circular form, on the bottom of which were found chips of flint and stacked round the wall area or what had been the basement, were bundles of worked flints all ready for carrying away in tool form.

“Our investigations led us to suppose that the tools had been manufactured on this spot and contrary to the general idea that the Maori proceeded down country with blocks of flint in the rough. Evidently they could carry more flints away in the shape of tools than in the rough blocks. Mr McCully found in the bottom of this hut site, Quantities of Grey’s Hills flint tools made of a stone foreign to the locality. Qupantities of Grey’s Hills flint tools arc found in all the South Canterbury coastal camps practically, and it goes to show that Grey’s Hills quarry in its day must have been a veritable Sheffield to the Maoris. When one considers the distance that Grey’s Hills is siturted away back in the Mackenzie, surely the Maori must have been a persevering and industrious fellow. Methinks he was as hard as the flint which he went forth to seek.”