Omaha Beach: Final Archaeological Report Prepared for Omaha Beach Ltd 11 July 2003 Clough & Associates Ltd Simon Bickler (PhD) Heritage Consultants Matthew Campbell (PhD) www.clough.co.nz Rod Clough (PhD)
[email protected] Don Prince (MA Hons) 209 Carter Rd, Oratia Mica Plowman (MA Hons) Tel. (09) 818-1316 Vanessa Tanner (MA) Mobile (0274) 850-059 Sally Burgess (MA Hons) Fax (09) 813-0112 Kim Tatton (MA Hons) Tania Mace (MA Hons) Marianne Turner (PhD) With contributions from Rod Wallace (PhD) Report Summary Archaeology The archaeology reported here is mitigation associated with earthworks on Omaha Sandspit, in two phases between July 2000 and September 2002. The spit encloses the Whangateau Harbour, which is fed by the Omaha River and the Waikokopu Creek, with alluvial and estuarine sediments forming tidal mudflats to the west, and dune sands to the east comprising old beach ridges and eroding dunes. The area was intensely used throughout the last few hundred years as a staging point for fishing and shellfish gathering, leaving behind major archaeological remains. Omaha beach is a complex and changing environment. Although the emphasis of the excavations was necessarily focussed on individual midden, the broader use of the landscape was also addressed in these investigations. The radiocarbon dates obtained from the first season were earlier than expected as it was thought that that most sites would represent the historic and proto-historic periods. However, these earlier than expected dates were repeated in the second season results and confirm that the beach had been used from about 1450 to 1750 AD.