Sidestep: Stumped for answers

From the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of NZ - Vol7 1874

An exceedingly interesting relic of the very remote past is now to be seen in the office of the Improvement Commissioners. It is the root of a tree found in one of the cuttings being made under the direction of that Commission. The root has evidently been chopped through by a stone adze which was found beside it. There were also several small branches and roots of the same tree on which the edge of the stone adze had been tried, and the whole crown of the stump had the marks of having been laboriously and patiently cut through by the rude stone implement in the unknown past, and by one of an equally unknown race of human beings. The root was found when cutting the sewer up the middle of Coburg Street, near the lower end, a little above its junction with the continuation of Wellesley Street, and at a depth of about 25 feet below the original surface of the Barrack Hill at that place. From the surface downwards for about 14 feet, at the place where the root was found, the hill is composed of volcanic matter. Below that depth, for about 8 or 9 feet, there is a series of layers of a mixture of sand and clay, which appears to have been at one time deposited under water. Below that is a large bed of fine blue washdirt resembling blue clay. These strata and the blue clay do not seem to have been at all disturbed by volcanic action, and the several strata are lying with the utmost regularity possible. It was in the upper portion of the bed of blue clay that the root was found embedded, standing upright as if it had grown there, and the several small branches which were found at the same place were of the same kind of timber, and bore plain and distinct marks of the stone implement upon them. The inference to be drawn is not only that the islands of New Zealand had been inhabited long anterior to the migration of the Maoris to them, but that they had been peopled before the extinct volcano in the neighbourhood of the present Mechanics' Institute had begun to belch its mud torrents and streams of melted lava. This conclusion seems to be inevitable, whether it be assumed that the tree grew where the root and the implement of its destruction were, or whether, as some incline to think, a river had run where the blue stratum is found, and that the root had been carried from a distance to its resting place. In either case the root must have been where it was found the other day, not only before the volcanic matter was deposited on the Barrack Hill, but for a sufficiently long period before that to permit a stratum of 8 to 10 feet in thickness to be deposited. The conclusion that the volcano was in a state of activity long after the tree was felled seems beyond contradiction, but that the hand that used the stone adze, with which it was laboriously cut down, was not that of a Maori is by no means a sequitur (logical conclusion).

From the above article we can see the stump was inside an office, was seen by many people and able to be sketched clearly. It was a stump, with roost still attached, clearly (to their eye) cut and hacked by a stone adze implement. John Goodall gave the following report on the evening of 29th June 1874 before the Auckland Institute.

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I have to record this evening a discovery giving a trace of human life on this island, and in this locality, reaching back beyond history, and supporting the Maori tradition that this island was inhabited before their arrival here, and that the Maeroes (1) of the North Island and others of the South Island, may yet be found to be real aborigines, and not degenerate or wild Maoris, as has been supposed by many. This latter belief has doubtless arisen from want of evidence beyond the faint tradition of the Maoris. Such evidence I have been fortunate enough to obtain, and now submit to this Institute, trusting that the link thus supplied may be the means, in hands more versed than mine in the early history of New Zealand, of deciphering a page of its history, and throw light on a subject that has puzzled many.

Heavy excavations have been carried on at and about the Albert Barracks by the Auckland Improvement Commissioners for the purpose of making new streets for the benefit of the city. During last March, while works were being carried on in Coburg Street, near the junction of Wellesley Street East, the workmen came upon the tree stump, now before you lying in the centre of a narrow channel below the road level, this channel having been cut for the purpose of laying sewer pipes. Through the intelligence of Mr. James Williamson, the contractors overseer, who at once recognised its value, it was saved. Shortly after I was on the spot, and my attention was drawn to it.

It being important that the discovery should be verified by undoubted authority, I immediately went for, and returned accompanied by Theophilus Heale, Esq., Inspector of Surveys, who satisfied himself as to the genuineness of the discovery, and the undisturbed stratification of the volcanic débris of about 25 feet lying above. The place where the stump was found is shown on plan and section (Pl. VI.). In the section I have shown the stump as when found resting on the clay. It was in its natural position, upright, with its roots penetrating the clay, of which fact I satisfied myself by digging deeply below to a depth of over two feet, and found the traces of roots going down. The surface of the clay has loam in it. The top of the stump was embedded in volcanic mud, and above it there were 25 feet of débris in perfect stratification, as shown in section. These stratified beds of ooze and débris can be traced till they reach the beds of cinders, and thence to the conglomerated mass of scoria and basaltic lava, which occurs adjacent to the volcanic centre. The clay in which the stump once grew occurs immediately above the tertiary rocks, and and is from 10 to 15 feet thick. This stump is asserted by those who have a knowledge of New Zealand woods to be of tea-tree (manuka) the wood that has been chiefly used by Maoris for making paddles. It has an undoubted appearance of having been cut by some tool, and being so must have been by the hand of man. I leave it to any one to satisfy themselves by a personal examination whether it be so or not. The cut seems to be too fresh to refer back to so remote a period as the volcanic era, but with the evidence we have of the finest markings of ferns, shells, & c., being preserved from ages vastly more remote, surely we may expect it from this, which in comparison is but recent.

Undoubted as these facts may appear it may yet be well to consider by what other means they may have been produced. The stump may have been lodged where found by a landslip, it may have been burnt off, or it may have belonged to a rotten tree and been broken down by the wind, or by the flow of the volcanic ooze in which it is embedded. That the stump was not lodged there by a landslip may be seen by the section which shows the overlying strata perfectly undisturbed, and it is further evident that it must have grown on the spot where found as its roots were penetrating the lower clay; every where above the clay abundant remains of trees occur and roots in the clay, showing that the place was wooded at the time prior to its being covered by the volcanic débris. That it was not burnt off is certain, from the sharpness of the edges of the surface, the absence of charcoal, or even of a charred appearance, and the presence of a projecting piece of wood in the centre of the stump, which must have held the tree upright to the last, and which would not have existed had it been fired.

That it did not result from a rotten tree is equally evident, for it could not now be in so good preservation, the bark would not have remained on it, the sharpness of the edges would not have existed, and the wood would not now be fibrous; decayed wood would have lost its fibrous structure. It is therefore beyond any doubt that we have evidence of the existence of man long before the period indicated by the traditions of the Maoris of their advent to this island, and at a period before what is probably the oldest volcano in Auckland became extinct. In the Maori traditions there is no mention of any of the volcanoes near Auckland having been active.

1 - In Māori tradition, the Maero (or Mohau) are wild, violent men with long, bony fingers and long, dirty hair. They killed their prey with long, sharp fingernails and then ate them. The Maero were arboreal, hiding in the forests since the Māori arrived from Hawaiki and ruined the tapu (sacredness) of their homes.

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The evidence seems to be there in these old records, as the stump was viewed by many in full public view. You draw your own conclusions as to why the stump is missing and the story disappeared from any modern archaeological record and rejected as invalid. We can neither support it nor debunk it as there is not enough evidence either way, but keep in mind the inspector of surveys viewed it insitu at one time and regarded it both genuine and unusual. This story cannot be dismissed as whimsy when there are so many details attached to it but neither can it be proved without the object oitself. Thi is why physical proof is needed in cases such as the one we are persuing.