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anoramphus spp.), Chatham Island Tui {Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae
chathamensis), and Chatham Island Bellbird {Anthornis
melanura melanocephala) most often represented.
Radiocarbon dates from this complex physiographic zone cover
a broad range, from ca. 700 to ca. 6500 CAL BP, the oldest
dates coming from the eroded older inland dunes, and the
youngest dates from younger foredune sites, typically only a
short distance inland of the present, unconsolidated, active
dune/beach zone (see Appendix: locality 2, NZA 1930, NZA
1931; locality 8, NZA 3285, NZA 3426; locality 9, NZA 3608;
locality 12, NZA 2587; locality 14, NZA 2588).
On the higher slopes and ridge crests, and especially in blowouts
in pasture land up to several hundred meters inland, bones
of many of these same forest birds occur, but they are outnumbered
by bones of seabirds, especially Taikos {Pterodroma magentae),
Sooty Shearwaters {Puffinus griseus), Common Diving-petrels
{Pelecanoides urinatrix), and various prions
{Pachyptila spp.) and storm-petrels {Oceanites, Pelagodroma,
Fregetta). The presence of eggshell fragments and the bones of
nestlings of all these seabirds (Bourne, 1967) indicates that
these widespread fossil sites, dated at between ca. 700 and ca.
3300 CAL BP, mark the locations of former breeding colonies
(see Appendix: locality 4, NZA 794; locality 5, NZA 1932,
NZA 1933; locality 6, NZA 795; locality 17, NZA 2777).
MIDDEN SITES
The prehistoric Moriori left extensive faunal remains at numerous,
widely spread sites in the dunes and as surface scatters
on them (Simmons, 1964; see also Figures 3-5). These
kitchen middens are generally dominated by marine shells,
but bones of sea lions, seals, fish, and birds also occur, particularly
in the oldest sites (those dating between ca. 400 and ca.
450 CAL BP). Some earlier archeological workers, who collected
much of their material from lag deposits in deflation
hollows and who did not have access to radiocarbon dating,
failed to distinguish between natural and midden deposits and
tended to ascribe a midden origin to virtually all the bird remains
they found (e.g., Coutts, 1969). Recent stratigraphic
studies, supported by a large number of radiocarbon dates on
bird bones, demonstrate that much of this so-called midden
material has been eroded from naturally accumulated deposits
that considerably predate human occupation by hundreds to
thousands of years. An example is the abundant material from
Sutton's main Waihora site (see Sutton, 1976, 1979, 1981,
1982; Marshall et al., 1987), which, apparently, was obtained
by excavation of intact strata and was assumed to be entirely
of midden origin, but which has yielded dates of ca. 5750 and
ca. 5950 CAL BP (for Dieffenbach's Rail bones from Sutton's
Layers I (NZA 3193) and III (NZA 3194), respectively;
see Appendix, locality 1). In a few sites, notably Sutton's
CHA and CHB sites at Waihora, and at Tupuangi and
Waipaua on Pitt Island, bird remains of genuine midden prov­
enance certainly do occur, often in great abundance. No dates
of greater than ca. 450 CAL BP have yet been obtained for in
situ midden material at these and other sites. My data corroborate
McFadgen's (1994) suggestion that first Polynesian settlement
of the Chathams group did not occur until about 450
years ago. The assemblages at these sites indicate that the Moriori
hunted a wide range of species but that certain species
(e.g., Taiko, Chatham Island Pigeon, Common Diving-petrel,
Dieffenbach's Rail) were sought more intensively than the
rest. There can be little doubt that prehistoric hunting had a
profoundly deleterious effect on the Chatham Islands bird
fauna. It appears, however, that the Moriori neither constructed
permanent dwellings nor lived in long-term encampments,
and perhaps it is because they led a rather more itinerant life
style that they have left less evidence of their hunting (in the
form of extensive bird bone middens) than did, for example,
the Maori hunters of mainland New Zealand (see Trotter and
McCulloch, 1984).
CAVE SITES
In several places on Chatham and Pitt islands are limestone
crevices and cavities that contain bone deposits because they
were used as shelters and nest sites by terrestrial and marine
birds. There also are larger caves that acted as pit-fall traps,
and these have yielded far more abundant fossil remains. The
most significant of these is a small, single-chambered cave on
the western edge of the Te Whanga Lagoon, Chatham Island.
This cave, Te Ana a Moe (see Simmons, 1964), is developed
near the base of a 15 m high cliff of Eocene Te One Limestone
(typically creamy yellow in color, relatively soft, and
rich in bryozoan fragments), immediately above its contact
with the underlying Te Whanga Limestone (typically grey
white, hard, crystalline and, here, where it forms the raised
shore-platform, strongly karstic; see Hay et al., 1970; Campbell,
1996). The cave has a single walk-in entrance about 3 m
above present lagoon level and is filled in with stratified sediment
to a depth of at least 2 m (see Figure 6). Above the almost
unfossiliferous basal layers (sands overlain by angular
limestone slabs), a distinctive layer of water-rounded limestone
cobbles is overlain by more than a meter of stratified
sediment containing shells of at least 17 species of land snails
(Table 2) and an extraordinary abundance of avian bones of
some nine marine and 21 terrestrial or freshwater species (Table
3). Radiocarbon dates range from ca. 1150 CAL BP (NZA
1948, locality 16, at only 15 cm below the base of the disturbed
surface soil) to ca. 3900 CAL BP (NZA 1989, locality
16, at a depth of 1.3 m). Bird remains were found to be particularly
concentrated within several short (~2 m), narrow (-0.5
m diameter), blind tunnels leading off the main chamber, at
depths of 0.9-1.5 m. Faunal material in these tunnels has
yielded radiocarbon ages within the range of 2300-3900 CAL
BP (NZA 801, NZA 1989, locality 16). Although a wide