THE SUMNER CAVES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11505, 29 September 1915, Page 3

THE SUMNER CAVES.

MORE MAY BE FOUND. DISCOVERIES IN FORMER YEARS. Tho Tramway Hoard's excavations ab tho eastern end of tho causeway across tho Estuary are cutting into tho great cliffs "close to tho Sumner Caves. As tho rock is removed, fresh caves may bo disclosed. As a matter of fact tho work already done has demonstrated tho presence of caves in tho hills. How tar these extend is not known at present. What they may contain in their dark interiors, also, is a tantalising mystery. Probably they were closed in before tho arrival of" man in New Zealand. It is unlikely that evidence of the Stone Age man's handiwork will be found insiue, but it is poss.ble that remains of tho strange, gigantic bird, tho moa, will be dug out qf tho soil. Tho work is only a few yards from Moa-bono Point Cave, in which Sir Julius von Haast, forty-three years ago, made a. fairly rich find of bones These cavities are loosely willed the Sumner Caves, but are really in Redcliffs, a place which did not exist even in name until quite recently. Tho principal one, Moa-bone Point Cave, on the right side of the cutting, going towards Sumner,' has an opening about 30 feet wide and eight feot high, with a floor that slopes slightly downwards. At present it is used as a sort of storehouse of reels, tanks and tools, and, in the day time, a bicycle or two. In the early days of settlement it sheltered lime-burners, fishermen and road parties. Earlier still, it was inhabited by some of the first settlers, who stopped there on their journeys from the coast to inland places, before motor-cars and electric tramways wero dreamt of. Before the arrival of the first four ships in 1850, goats and cattle, introduced to this province in 1839, were herded in the cave for shelter. Sometimes a horse was stabled there. Previous to that the cavo resounded to tho voices of Maoris, who collected pi-? on the Estuary, and doubtless gathered around fires ot driftwood under the mighty roof, to listen to the myths and lore that seemed to be so real. Still further back, the cavo was used by moahunters; and in tho very dim and distant past, perhaps, it was owned and occupied by moas and by the gigantic weka, the New Zealand goose, and, perhaps, other birds that have been dismissed from the universe. Sir Julius von Haast excavated im the cavo for eeven weeks. He employ ed two labourers, who dug trenches, crossing each other at right) angles, in the centre of the cave, till they reached what they considered tho lowest part of the deposits duo to* human agency. They dug up some moa bones, the leg bones usually broken 1 as if for the extraction of the marrow, bones belonging to the fur-seal and the sea-leopard, parts of the Maori dog—another extinct animal—and the bones of fish and small birds. Pieces of wood, evidently planed by stone implements, were found, a wooden spear for killing birds, part of a wooden: dish, paua shells used for preserving oil and other liquids, a fish-hook used for catching hapuku, a parrot-perch, pieces of a canoe, a spear used in warfare, and wooden implements. Further down, below a bed , of agglomerate, there were moa bones, fire-sticks,, and stone.s, blackened and split by. the action of fire, evidence that the moa hunters had used tho cave occasionally as a cooking-place. One evening the excavators, a few feet from the south-western wall, came upon disturbed ground. Carefully taking off tho material, they found tho skeleton of & Maori, who bad been buried a considerable time previously. The body had been placed in a sitting position in its last resting-place. It had been tied together with flax, the knees being just below tho chin, and it was placed with its face towards the wall of rock. The accumulations on top of the grave showed that tho burial took place long before Europeans went to the oave, and that Maoris continued to frequent the cave and to' take their meals there for many years after the burial. The antiseptic properties of the sand had led to the preservation of some ligaments and skin on the bones, and some hair on the skull. The body belonged to a man nearly six feet high, past middle life. Evidently, as an exception to the rule amongst tho ancient Maoris, he suffered severely from bad and distorted teeth.