MAORI SKELETON.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20359, 17 July 1934, Page 7

MAORI SKELETON.

Dug Up on County Reserve at Harewood. NEAR OLD RIVER COURSE. An old skeleton, presumed to be that of a Maori, was found this morning in a sandhill at the Sawyer’s Arms Road reserve, Harewood. It was discovered ebout a foot beneath the surface when Waimairi County workmen were digging away a sandbank in connection with tree-planting operations. The police were advised and the skeleton has since been removed by Constable W. Warren, of Papanui. The remains were obviously of great age, although well preserved in the sand, and formed a complete skeleton. Even the teeth were complete. The skull showed no sign of a blow, and it is possible that the body was brought down by the Waimakariri River many years ago, as an old watercourse runs close to the spot where the skeleton was found. The river is now more than a mile away, but the whole of the reserve is terraced and rutted where, obviously, the river has previously run.

The scrub is now being cleared oil the reserve in readiness for tree planting on a fairly extensive scale. The sandbank where the skeleton was unearthed was being levelled off to provide sand for the holes dug to take the trees. The bones were at first thought by the workmen to be those of a moa, and it was not until the skull was dug up that they realised it was the skeleton of a Maori.

The bones are on the point of crumbling. except for the larger leg bones and the skull. The teeth are well worn, indicating that the remains are not those of a young person. The workmen stated that they had not found any other Maori relics while working in the reserve. Once a Maori Habitation.

Mr M’Saveney, an old resident of the district, stated that sixty years ago there was plenty of evidence of Maori occupation of the locality, particularly in the shape of Maori ovens. On one occasion, in fact, he had fallen into a deep Maori oven when running away from the irate owner of the land, who was not pleased at his trespass for the purpose of bird-nesting. Mr M’Saveney added that many times in earlier days the Waimakariri had banked up to the terrgee behif 1 his home on the Waimakariri Road, two hundred yards along from Harewood road. It was a ouarter of a mile from his home that the skeleton was discovered.