198 Mahia Road, Manurewa, Auckland: Archaeological Assessment
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198 MAHIA ROAD, MANUREWA, AUCKLAND: ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Report prepared for Mt Hobson Group Ltd By Kim Tatton (MA Hons) Rod Clough (PhD) November 2015 Clough & Associates Ltd. [email protected] 321 Forest Hill Rd, Waiatarua AUCKLAND 0612 Telephone: (09) 8141946 Mobile 0274 850 059 www.clough.co.nz TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Project Background ........................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 1 Results ................................................................................................................................... 6 Historical Background ...................................................................................................... 6 Archaeological Background.............................................................................................. 7 Physical Environment ..................................................................................................... 11 Information from Early Plans/Aerials ............................................................................. 11 Field Survey .................................................................................................................... 13 Discussion and Conclusions ............................................................................................... 20 Summary of Results ........................................................................................................ 20 Maori Cultural Values..................................................................................................... 20 Survey Limitations .......................................................................................................... 20 Archaeological Value and Significance .......................................................................... 21 Effects of Proposal .......................................................................................................... 23 Resource Management Act 1991 Requirements ............................................................. 24 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 Requirements .................................. 26 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 27 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 28 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 29 Appendix 1: Site Record Form R11/1048 .......................................................................... 31 Clough & Associates Ltd. Page ii 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment INTRODUCTION Project A 69 lot integrated intensive housing subdivision is planned on a property at 198 Background Mahia Road, Manurewa in Auckland (Lot 1 DP105238). This property is situated in the upper reaches of the Waimahia Creek on the Manukau Harbour, east of the Weymouth Peninsula (Figure 1–Figure 4). An archaeological assessment was commissioned by Mt Hobson Group to establish whether the proposed work is likely to impact on any archaeological or other historic heritage values. A recorded archaeological site R11/1048 Midden (Shell) was identified by Auckland Council as located on or in the near vicinity of the proposed development site and an archaeological assessment was requested as part of a section 92 request for further information. The archaeological site R11/1048 is also identified as a Site or Place of Value to Mana Whenua (SPV MW) (No. 141) in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP). A cultural impact assessment (CIA) is required for all applications requiring a resource consent affecting land within the SPV MW overlay. The information requirements for a CIA includes the need for an archaeological assessment if the site has archaeological value. This report has been prepared as part of the required assessment of effects accompanying a resource consent application under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and to identify any requirements under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 (HNZPTA). Recommendations are made in accordance with statutory requirements. Methodology The New Zealand Archaeological Association’s (NZAA) site record database (ArchSite), Auckland Council’s Cultural Heritage Inventory (CHI), District Plan schedules and the Heritage New Zealand (Heritage NZ) New Zealand Heritage List were searched for information on archaeological and other historic heritage sites recorded in the vicinity. Literature and archaeological reports relevant to the area were consulted (see Bibliography). Early plans held at Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and aerial photographs were checked for information relating to past use of the property. Continued on next page Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 1 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment INTRODUCTION, CONTINUED Methodology, A visual inspection of the subject property was conducted on 5 November 2015. continued The ground surface was examined for evidence of former occupation (in the form of shell midden, depressions, terracing or other unusual formations within the landscape, or indications of 19th century European settlement remains). Exposed and disturbed soils were examined where encountered for evidence of earlier modification, and an understanding of the local stratigraphy. Subsurface testing with a probe was carried out across the property with test pits in selected areas to determine whether buried archaeological deposits could be identified. Particular attention was paid to the spur lines/creek banks/coastal edge (topographical features where archaeological sites are often found to be located). Sites were photographed and GPS readings taken. Field sketches were made as required and site record forms written or updated. Figure 1. The location of 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa (Google Maps 2015) Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 2 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment Figure 2. 198 Mahia Road development scheme plan Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 3 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment Figure 3. 198 Mahia Road proposed site clearing plan and enabling works Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 4 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment Figure 4. 198 Mahia Road proposed earthworks plan Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 5 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment RESULTS Historical As in the Auckland region generally, pre-European Maori settlement within the Background Manukau – Manurewa area was focused along the coastlines, navigable waterways and their alluvial river valleys, on the good agricultural soils and the major inland route ways. An important feature of the wider Manukau area is the Maori occupation on and around the volcanic cones and surrounding lava fields or stonefields. The volcanic cones were centres of strategic importance, later becoming defended pa. The surrounding volcanic lava fields were cleared of stone and used for gardening intensively in the 16th and 17th centuries, up to (and in some areas after) the time of European contact. The volcanic ash soils were friable, easily cultivated and highly productive for kumara gardening, warmed earlier in the spring and kept their temperature through the growing season (Lawlor Sep 1996). Structures associated with gardening activities on the lava fields included stone walls and boundary systems, stone heaps, stone mounds and stone enclosures. This occupation focus on the volcanic cones meant that other less fertile areas were relatively sparsely occupied by Maori, such as parts of Manurewa, Wiri, Otara and Mangere (Davidson Jan 1975:10). However, the importance of the Manukau Harbour and this coastal area to Maori is attested by the density of recorded archaeological sites in the general vicinity (Clough and Prince Nov 2002). The archaeological record and traditional history indicates that it has a long history of settlement for Maori prior to European settlement with adjacent rich volcanic soils, easy access to resources of the Manukau Harbour and to traditional transportation routes (Clough and Baquié Feb 2000). By the 1830s early European settlement was focused mainly around coastal landing points and key transportation routes such as the Tamaki River, Manukau and Waitemata Harbours. Much of the area we knew as Manukau city was part of the largest pre-Treaty land purchase in Hauraki validated by the Land Claims Commission, known as the 1836 Fairburn Purchase or Tamaki Purchase (Old Land Claim File OLC 589-90). This land purchase came into being as a result of a peacemaking attempt by missionaries, who mistakenly believed that the instability in the Tamaki region was the competition between Waikato and Thames tribes for the large area of this relatively unpopulated borderland. In reality the instability was a result of almost two decades of musket wars and a fear, held by Hauraki Maori, of conflict with Waikato tribes from the Manukau Harbour (Stone 2001:165). Continued on next page Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 6 198 Mahia Road, Manurewa Assessment RESULTS, CONTINUED Historical In the 1840s Fairburn’s Purchase was examined by the Land Claims Background, Commission and Fairburn received slightly less than one-seventh of his original continued