FOSSILISED MOA BONES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 245, 15 October 1937, Page 3

FOSSILISED MOA BONES

SCIENTIFIC ASPECT WORK AT MAKIRIKIRI PAPER BY MR. E. P. V. SEALY A paper dealing with the scientilic aspect ot the large number ot fossilised moa bones found on Mr. J. Todd's property at Makirikiri was read at the meeting of the Wanganui Museum Board ot Trustees on Tuesday oy Mr. E. 1. V. Scaly, who has been actively connected with the work since the o >nes were lirst discovered. Mr. Sealy has made a study of the scientific section of the deposit and quotes an extract from a brochure ol the Los Angeles Museum, which 4cSviir.es large deposits of bones wnicfl na.-e been found in pits in California. The paper states:—

“The public will doubtless recall the splenaicl success which attended the excavation operations of the summer Cv-lore last wnen over 2uoo moa bones were recovered from the wondertul deposit on Mr. James Todd's farm at Makirikiri. These operations, which occupied four months, were financed and carried out by the trustees of the Wanganui Public Museum, and the several magnilicent skeletons of various species of this great family of extinct avifauna which have been set up and are now exhibited in the museum have created wide public interest. Having lull regard to the world-wide scientilic value of this interesting research work the New Zealand Government recently approved of a grant being made to carry on this work of excavation and the operations, which will be recommenced shortly, will be carried out under the expert direction of oflicers of the Public Works Department. The principal deposit of bones at Mr. Todd's is contained in a pit of 42 feet in diameter, but of unknown depth. From this small area the museum authorities have already had evidence, based upon leg bones recovered, that the remains of more than 200 moa were embedded there, and at lirst glance it may seem almost incredible that so many birds should have died in such a small area.

“It therefore suggests itself to me that the following information in respect to the amazing Rancho La Brea pits may be of great interest. These pits are situated in Southern California and the enormous mass of bones of prehistoric animals which have been recovered therefrom are believed to have been entrapped there in the pleistocene age, or well over 25,000 years ago. These deposits were discovered by asphalt workers nearly half a century ago but it was not until 1913 that the locality was properly investigated by scientists. In that year the Los Angeles County was granted, lor a period of two years, the exclusive privilege of excavating the deposits and the bones so recovered were to become the property of the Los Angeles Museum of Historv Science and Art. In 1916, Mr. lianacock, the owner of the property in question presented the whole area of 32 acres to the museum named and the recoveries therefrom have included the bones o£ the great imperial elephant, which stood up to 15 feet high, the mastadon, woolly mammoth, sabretoothed tiger, lion and numbers ot other prehistoric animals. In formation and type the La Brea pits show a curious resemblance in some respects to the Todd pits and the explanations given for the presence oi such enormous numbers of mammal remains being found in such restricted areas at La Brea could le equally applied to the vast quantity of‘avian remains located in the Todd mtr

"The following extracts' from a brochure published by the Los Angeles Museum authorities give us some indication of the wealth of mammalia that trod the American continent in the prehistoric past: “ ‘While various fossil deposits ot greater age are known, none have been discovered equalling in richness and importance those oi Rancho La Brea, which contain not merely the remains of mammals of a certain type but those of presumably all land types that inhabited this section ot the country at that time. The completeness of the. individual remains and of the entire representation of the fauna of that period, its relation to the present fauna, and the method of accumulation, make the fossil beds of unusual interest to the scientist.

“ 'The theory generally accepted, before the Held had been fully explored, was that the pools constantly increased in depth and were confined with the building in of the surrounding earth; that the oil was constant!} thickening and becoming more sticky through evaporation ot the lighter components and addition of wind and water-borne earth and sand; that the true nature of the traps was concealed possibly by a thin incrustation covered with dust, or that water may have persisted longer on the oil soaked surface than on the surrounding earth and lured the victim into the stick mass. Once caught, the victim's struggles and cries would doubtless attract carnivorous beasts and birds, and these in feeding would also be caught. Decay of the flesh would permit the bones to settle beneath the surface, and so the trap was set for succeeding victims. During the . two years' work of the museum, however, many phenomena were encounterea which seem explainable only on the theory that the pits were formed by heavy “blow-outs ‘ of gas from the ou deposit below, forming surface craters, most of which were roughly fun-nei-shaped, and followed by an inflow of oil which with sand tilled the craters to the surrounding level. The gas pro-sure relieved, the craters would become quiescent, possibly crusting over, but deadly to any form ot beast that stepped into them. The craters may have remained, however, as actual depressions, only partly tilled with the sticky mass, and during the rainy season would become completely filled with water, the bubbling gas carrying to the suriaee globuits oi liquid asphaltum which floated until sufficient volatile' matter evaporated, when they sank to the bottom of the pits, saturating with this best of all known preservatives the sand and bones accumulated below. Large animals approaching these craters to drink would press unduly on the brittle and overhanging edges, when a plunging fall would seal the victim's fate, their bones being gradually deposited beneath, as the bodies distintegrated or were devoured by carnivores. This taller theory is supported by present-day events in the excavated pits.

“‘Perhaps the most incredible feature of the deposits is the great num-' ber of victims represented. Every i productive pit contained solid masses' of bones, representing in some in-1 stances hundreds of individuals. Pit I 3 contained 185 skulls of wolf and 268 . of sabre-tooth, besides a great number representing other species. In the "Elephant Pit" were five femurs, along with other limb bones of tins animal, were heaped together in one mass. Decay of the ligaments would allow disassociation of a skeleton, which would be scattered perhaps by the struggles of a later victim or by the “working” oi the pit, that is, by the churning action resulting from occasional expulsion ot gas and oil through the mass; consequently, the bones of an individual would generally be scattered throughout the depth and breadth of the pit. “ ‘lt is remarkable that practically all the elephant remains found in the asphalt beds were taken from a single deposit, known as Pit No. 9, or the “Elephant Pit.” Here, in an area 15 by 25 feet, with an etxreme depth oi nearly 35 feet, -were found bones representing many elephants, together with a number of mastodons and a great quantity of bones of tile ancient ox, giant sloth, camel, horse, lion, sabre-tooth, wolf and eave bear. It would be interesting to know what condition brought about the burial of so many elephants in this particular spot, which is less than 100 feet from several other pits that held no elephant remains whatever. The animals must have been trapped singly, or in small groups, as the pit was not large enough to hold the huge bodies of all at one time.’

"These extracts indicate how, over a period of countless centuries the remains of an incredible number of animals can become embedded in tiny areas and, whilst we do not hope to find evidence of mammal remains in the Todd pits, we can optimistically hope that the continuance of operations there will throw further light upon the distribution and classification of the moa.

“The actual geological origin of the Todd pits has yet to be solved but the possibility of their having, at some remote age, been gas active or 'blowouts’ along a fault line cannot yet be dismissed, seeing that only two miles away at Upokongaro Township, in the same valley, there is a deep depression, of 20 feet in width and 8 feet in depth, which our Maori friends tell us was thermally active less than 100 years ago. The Maori name for this geological enigma is ‘Korokorohaumea’ and a lengthy and interesting legend is attached to one period of its activity.”