ARCHAEOLOGY Darran sharing some kōrero about the repatriation of all tāonga tuturu during a special ceremony at Takahanga Marae.
Protecting Māori archaeology on the Kaikōura coast Lead cultural monitor, Darran Kerei-Keepa, and archaeology team director, Jeremy HabberfieldShort, reflect on the challenges and innovations from their time on the NCTIR Kaikōura rail and road project. WORDS: Rosemary Baird
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IMAGES: Waka Kotahi and DrJeremy Habberfield-Short
he 7.8 magnitude November 2016 Kaikōura earthquake twisted, cracked and eroded the rail and roading networks along the east coast of the South Island. Repairs were essential, but in this area rich with sites connected to 800 years of Māori and European occupation, care had to be taken. As recently as 2005, road and rail works have damaged Māori archaeological sites and the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance (NCTIR) needed to proceed in
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Heritage Quarterly
a genuine partnership with local iwi and archaeologists. Darran Kerei-Keepa has been a cultural monitor in Kaikōura for over 20 years. Before workling with the NCTIR he knew of urupa, cave burials and wāhi tapu along the coast. One such site was a urupa in Waipapa underneath the road and rail tracks. After discussion with whānau and cultural monitors, it was decided to uplift the kōiwi. “It was a big decision for us but since the
1930s we've had cars and trains driving over the urupa so we thought we'd move it into a much safer area,” says Darran. A complication was that the road needed to reopen over the summer holiday period. “We had just exposed the surface of the burial ground, and then we had to cover it up again,” says Jeremy. “The engineers came up with a way to fill the open ground with geogrid and crush dust to protect the site from the traffic vibrations.” With summer over, the NGAHURU • AUTUMN 2022
