Sidestep: The Anaweka Waka
The discovery by picnickers in early January 2012 of a 6.08m-long hull section from an obviously ancient and complex composite canoe on the Kahurangi coast was a significant find which got reported nationally. Partially exposed after a major storm event, it got dug out of an eroded sand dune adjacent to a natural log jam of driftwood at the mouth of a small freshwater stream some 200 metres north of Anaweka estuary. Not surprisingly it soon got requisitioned from its finders by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage as a potentially important artefact. There is no mistaking its uniqueness. Skilfully adzed and shaped from a single timber, the fully intact hull component features lashing holes around its edges, four transverse raised ribs and a straight longitudinal stringer along its inside length.
The hull component was firmly tied into the overall canoe through its lashing holes. At some stage forces at the inside stringer caused it to break away from its lashing holes between the first and second ribs, and repairs are evident where new holes had to be drilled deeper into the timber (below the stringer) to replace the broken ones .
Of particular note is a sea turtle carved in raised relief on the smooth outside surface. This carving has a ridge following out behind, suggesting its wake through the water, or maybe it's just a stylised tail.
Tests were comprehensive and thorough, it taking around two and a half years for three internationally recognised canoe and conservation experts (Dilys Johns, Geoffrey Irwin and Yun K. Sung) to publish a paper on the find in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), entitled 'An early sophisticated East Polynesian voyaging canoe discovered on New Zealand's coast'.
The very first tests conducted on the waka established it was carved from 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. The PNAS authors concluded from the last caulking and repair dates that the last likely voyage of this waka was around 1400 AD. Almost certainly they say it had been active at least around the exposed open sea coast off the South Island where it could hardly have operated without a sail. But the age, location, size and sophistication of the find also strongly suggest it was part of a large ocean-going sailing canoe, with the obvious question being exactly what type of canoe was it?
(Although this is a wonderful example of Polynesian immigrant craft, the most important factor to note is that this canoe did not come from Polynesia. It was carved, constructed and used in NZ only. So why the turtle?)
The earlier forms of composite canoe such as this component is from were the only ones known to reach New Zealand from East Polynesia, with Maori traditions referring to both double and single outrigger canoes coming out.
A huge historic and distributional literature exists on Oceanic canoe designs, and the Anaweka hull piece shows the same design technology as that of another large canoe excavated in the late 1970s from a swamp on Huahine in the Society Islands, which dates to around the same time. Before the Anaweka waka was found, the Huahine canoe was the oldest surviving East Polynesian-style voyaging canoe left in the world. The Anaweka find now makes two, quite a distinction!.
Sea turtle motifs are rare in Maoridom but not completely unknown, thought to be associated with the early age of the canoe and in particular tropical East Polynesia. As the PNAS report points out, 'a sea turtle carved into a 600-year old Polynesian canoe was is a powerful symbol'. Presumably that turtle was carved to swim in the same direction as the boat, making that shaped end to the back, but was the carving visible underneath the boat or just above the waterline on the side? This is all being debated. Most likely the experts think is that this component now dubbed the 'Anaweka waka' fitted into a big double canoe which was lashed across with a deck and a shelter, had a low bow and raised stern, and an inverted triangular sail set forward just like historic canoes of the Society and Southern Cook Islands.
In Tahiti, these canoes were called tipaerua and impressively often made 20m in length. Interestingly,the PNAS paper likens the find to a single piece of a jig saw puzzle, or like attempting to reconstruct a new animal from a single major bone. This find excitedly not only provides us with evidence about early canoe technology, but also insights into an already well established seafaring people. As the report points out; 'Those that sailed her 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 very sea faring 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 Maori became firmly established.'
So who were the historical owners of this canoe? Traditions put the arrival of the original Ngati Ara people to this area around 1400AD, but obviously this canoe find pushes that date back much further now. These original people of the area were followed by the Ngati Tumatakokiri who were in occupation from around 1600AD until being decimated by Ngati Tama and Ngati Rarua at Paturau in 1830.
Local archaeologist Jack Walls says there is more evidence of continuous and significant occupation around Whanganui Inlet than any other place around Golden Bay. In 1846, explorer Charles Heaphy wrote of passing 'old potato and taro cultivation grounds' around both Anaweka River and Raukawa Stream, indicating Maori kainga or settlements had existed along that coast not long before. Claims of ownership for the waka have now been lodged by Manawhenua ki Mōhua, an umbrella organisation representing the interests of Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Tama and Te Atiawa, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia Chartitable Trust representing Ngāti Kuia. The ministry has now lodged an application with the Maori Land Court for the waka case to be heard, with no hearing date yet been set. In the meantime, the ministry acts as interim custodian, a role which involves appropriate conservation treatment. In this case the waka is still submersed in a chemical tank in a secure lockup at Tarakohe, a treatment process which is expected to take up to three more years to complete. Exactly where this remarkable artefact ends up is anyone's guess of course. Any facility to house outside of Te Papa would have to be purpose built, but I agree with many locals who think it should be displayed locally, exactly where it belongs.
The colonization of the islands of East Polynesia was a remarkable episode in the history of human migration and seafaring. Early Polynesians were a seafaring people with highly developed navigation skills. They colonized previously unsettled islands by making long canoe voyages. There is evidence that by about 1280 CE, they had settled the vast Polynesian triangle with its eastern corner at Easter Island, the northern corner at Hawai’i, and the southern corner in New Zealand. Until now, reconstructions of the canoes used by Polynesians have been based mainly on much later observations from European explorers.
