THE WAITARA SWAMP SEARCH by H. D. B. DANSEY This is a story of a search for buried treasure, not the traditional hoard of gold and silver but for articles of stone-age craftsmanship hidden a century and more in the cool mud of a Waitara swamp by wood-carving artists of long ago. It is a story of how Maori and Pakeha this summer made important contributions to our knowledge of the old-time Maori and created also a precedent for combined archaeological research which should prove of incalculable value in the years to come. Here then is the story of the planning, the hopes, the disappointments, the successes, the excitement and the fun of an absorbing project which gripped all who were privileged to take part. Let's go back to the beginning, the very begining. Let us look at Waitara in the days before the white man came. Here where the land slopes gently north on the sunny side of Taranaki which the pakeha calls Mount Egmont, the Ati-awa people made their home. To their north lived the descendants of the Tokomaru and Tainui canoes, to their south those of Aotea and Kurahaupo. While they themselves had elements of all these in their ancestry, yet in the main it seems they went back in time to the great ancestor Awanui-a-rangi who was of the pre-Fleet people. In this they were associated with other branches of the far-flung Awa tribes in many parts of the country. Aside from the mountain itself whose northern slopes lay within their territory, and the unique islands now called the Sugar Loaves near the present city of New Plymouth, the main geographical feature of the area is probably the Waitara River around whose mouth was a considerable settlement for hundreds of years. Beyond doubt it was a centre for the people who preceded the Fleet of 1350. At the time we are considering, the principal pa of Ati-awa at Waitara was Manukorihi. Its inhabitants were Ngati Manukorihi sub-tribe. Manukorihi is situated about three-quarters of a mile from the mouth of the river and on its north bank. High bluffs facing the river formed two sides of the pa while the inland area was protected by a series of great trenches and ramparts flung across flat land. Beyond this again was rolling country intersected by shallow, swamp-filled hollows whose waters found their way slowly through flax and raupo to the river or to the sea. In these swamps Ati-awa concealed their treasures. The pa was a large one. Elsdon Best, for instance, said that “… unquestionably the place would accommodate several thousands of natives in times of stress.” It was a bastion to which the scattered sub-tribes could retreat when war threatened. And in the late 1700's and early 1800's such threats were all too numerous. Raids were made on many occasions by war parties from North Auckland and the Waikato, well armed swashbucklers who smashed through Ati-awa on their way to the territories of the Taranaki and Ngati Ruanui tribes or who lingered north of the mountain to try conclusions with Ati-awa itself. In times such as this it was the known custom of the Maori to hide carved panels from his superior houses in nearby swamps, the preserving nature of which was well known in those days. This course was justified as the excellent state of preservation of the carvings recovered all over the country can bear witness. Because of the time taken to execute the carvings and their value as art treasures of the people there is little doubt that they were considered worth while taking particular care of. Then again, in the early 1800's Ngati Manukorihi twice migrated from their home to accompany Te Rauparaha in his expeditions. After the first, in the early 1820's, they returned for a time and then in about 1825 or 1826 left the district for many years. If the carvings were hidden at the time of the wars or the migrations there would be a number of reasons for not recovering them when elements of the tribes eventually returned. One would be that knowledge of the carvings was lost, another that because of the situation—the Puketapu feud or tension with European settlers, for instance—it was considered best to leave them where they were. Certainly no clear traditional account of their concealment has survived to the present time. A further reason for the presence of the carvings in the swamps, that they were placed there to sea