The mystery of the Anaweka waka

Arguably one of Aotearoa’s greatest archaeological finds, the Anaweka Waka remains out of the public eye, drying out in a Fonterra factory in Golden Bay. Gerard Hindmarsh investigates.

Now 11 years and four months since its chance discovery near the mouth of Anaweka Estuary by 12-year-old Flynn Nicholls out on a family picnic, this country’s most significant archaeological find in years still lies largely hidden from public view in a storage shed at the Fonterra factory in Tā kaka.

Here, conservators have been doing their thing, keeping the Anaweka waka submerged in a custom-made tank of polyethylene glycol to remove all the chlorides from the wood before it can get dried out in a controlled environment.

The submersion period for the waka is now up, and the storage shed is being adapted for the next stage – the lengthy drying out process.

This standard way of preserving excavated or submerged wooden objects of significance can realistically be expected to take a few years, maybe five at most.

So not surprising the decade-plus it’s taken so far is starting to raise a few eyebrows.

However the conservators are just wisely using the lengthy bureaucratic process of establishing ownership and eventual curation of the waka to do the best job on the 6.08 metre-long hull section.

In New Zealand, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage/Manatū Taonga has interim responsibility to provide for the care and custody of found taonga tū turu under the Protected Objects Act 1975.

Taonga tū turu are defined as protected objects that whakapapa to Te Ao Mā ori and embody mana, tapu, and mauri. Taonga tū turu can take many forms, from the 800-year-old waka as in this case, to elaborate early 20th century weavings.

They remain under the jurisdiction of Manatū Taonga until a Māori Land Court order as to ownership is made, but the ministry can in certain circumstances attribute interim ownership if the conservation process or deciding of ownership goes on too long.

Deputy chief executive Glenis PhilipBarbara said: ‘‘The Anaweka Waka has been receiving conservation treatment in Tākaka, Golden Bay under the kaitiakitanga of Manawhenua ki Mohua who represent the interests of Ngā ti Tama, Ngā ti Rā rua and Te Ā tiawa in the area. We are working with Manawhenua ki Mohua and other technical specialists to bring this work to completion.

‘‘Manawhenua ki Mohua and Ngāti Kuia have both made claims for traditional ownership of the waka under the Protected Objects Act 1975. Ownership has not yet been determined by the Mā ori Land Court, however, Manatū Taonga understand there have been productive discussions between iwi regarding the ownership and care of found taonga tū turu more generally, across Te Tau Ihu [Top of the South Island].

‘‘It is not appropriate for Manatū Taonga to comment on or pre-empt any outcome.’’

So how significant is this Anaweka waka? In a nutshell, extremely.

The first of two PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) papers, put out on the Anaweka waka through Bishop University (Hawaii), defines the waka as one of only two examples of voyaging canoe still left in existence in the Pacific, the other being the Huahine Canoe excavated in 1972 on the island of Huahine in the Society Islands of Tahiti.

Although the near dead-ringer Huahine canoe section has been dated 150 years earlier, the raised carving of a long-tailed turtle on the rear of the Anaweka waka hull section makes it particularly special.

Canoe design is specific to island groups, and this design feature is particular to the Society Islands, the high-ranking motif thought to help guide the canoe on its long ocean voyage.

The very first tests conducted on the waka established it was carved from a single piece of New Zealand matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia), while caulking remains in four of the lashing holes turned out to be pounded bark from totara (Podocarpuis totara).

Radiocarbon dating, carried out by three separate laboratories, two in New Zealand and one in the United States, all came in at between 1226 – 1280 AD for age of the timber, and 40 or so years later for the caulking material.

Last caulking and repair dates put the last likely voyage of the Anaweka waka at around 1400 AD.

A second PNAS paper in 2017 was titled ‘A review of Archaeological Mā ori Canoes (waka) Reveal Changes in Sailing Technology and Maritime Communications in Aotearoa/New Zealand’.

Effectively, this paper can be interpreted as pushing back the timeline of human history in Aotearoa. But by how much?

As the first PNAS report points out; Whoever sailed the Anaweka waka were not that many human generations removed in time from the settlement of New Zealand by a considerable and diverse East Polynesian population that involved many voyages over some generations.

Some of these voyages, as told in tradition, clearly involved returns, quite feasibly using this seafaring canoe. The Kermadec and Norfolk Islands were being visited sporadically, even the sub– Antarctic Auckland Islands had been reached already. This return travel, presumably to bring back more immigrants, ceased happening as Mā ori became firmly established.

Interestingly, the Huahine canoe which dated back to around 1150AD was from what is thought to have been an early Polynesian shipyard where at least half a dozen big voyaging canoes were in simultaneous construction.

Evidence at this site indicates all the components and hull sections being worked on were disastrously hit by a huge wave which swept in around 1150, sweeping everything up before dumping it all down.

Oral histories tell how this event led to great food shortages and may well have instigated the eventual migration to Aotearoa.

Certainly, the Anaweka waka will be a nice bit of Tohanga Tuture to have ownership of.

Chris Hill, of Manuwhenua ki Mohua, confirmed that a new conservation team was formed end of last year, and the waka is now being readied to be dried, its storage shed needing fitting out as part of that process.

‘‘The holdup at the moment is that the ministry now want Ngati Kuia to see it again, before it becomes less accessible.’’

She admits it’s been a long wait for everything to get organised. ‘‘Frustrating, but I am confident it will stay in the bay.’’ So where might the waka end up? Karen Johnson of Golden Bay Museum said displaying it in the Golden Bay Museum was not an option that had been put on the table.

Anywhere outside of Te Papa would have to be a special purpose-built facility, preferably close to its place of origin.

There are precedents here, the strategy of local ownership and display adopted for the 6.17m x .59m -long Papanui waka, a waka ika or fishing canoe which was excavated in October 2014 from under 1.5m of sediment in Papaunui Inlet, on the Otago Peninsula.

It ended up doing its conservation treatment in a sealed glass top tank on the grounds of Otago Marae (Ngā i Tahu), where it was essentially available for all to come and admire.

It isn’t surprising that the Anaweka waka was found on the west coast of Golden Bay.

Local archaeologist Jack Walls, who died only last week aged 100, said all his finds out the west coast of Golden Bay (Te Tai Tapu) supported evidence of near continuous and significant occupations.

One adze (recorded as Type 3a) he found near Kahurangi River was specifically identified as a boatbuilding adze from around 1400AD. It has no matches from any adzes found in New Zealand, its design related straight to East Polynesia.

At a recent archaeological conference in Auckland, one of the speakers gave a talk how our official histories are becoming more and more dictated by the ‘participants’, in our case the Ministry of Culture and Heritage whose job it is to line up relevant iwi and experts to have their say.

There’s no doubt this is happening with the Anaweka waka, and sooner or later we will be delivered the ‘official’ history of this significant taonga.

Ex-pat archaeologist Mark Eddowes, who has resided in French Polynesia since 1985, now works for French Polynesia’s Ministry of Culture, advising it on archaeological issues.

‘‘A turtle motif on the hull indicates chiefly status,’’ Eddowes said. ‘‘You couldn’t just go carve one into the side of your boat and take off. I’m amazed they haven’t begun an excavation for the remaining sections which could well be there, buried under the sandhills near where this hull piece was found.

‘‘Who knows, this could be Kupe’s canoe!’’

And finding it could reveal a huge amount about how Aotearoa/New Zealand was settled.

‘‘The holdup at the moment is that the ministry now want Ngati Kuia to see it again, before it becomes less accessible.’’

Chris Hill Manuwhenua ki Mohua