- IJ
113: Dig Update
You may recall from the last post about the dig where we thought we saw the end of the drop off ahead by torchlight. Excitement had grown at that possibility... after all what would possess anyone to fill a tube more than 12 metres long (40 feet) top to bottom with specific layers of fill?
What indeed?
What is so important that the archeologists and Maori leaders who viewed the contents of this cave went to so much trouble to hide? What did those two young men see that those they told decided the world should never see?
What indeed?
What is in that cave that has been sealed by what we have already described as the most diabolical method of prevention (as verified by an old roading engineer who told us that if you wanted to prevent someone getting inside you would do just what has been done). Concrete would be too obvious, as would a grate or bars, or just rocks. No, if you wanted to ensure no one in their right mind would try and dig this tube out you would do exactly what has been done... a layer of large river rocks embedded in sticky clay and then compacted clay and smaller rocks, and finally a soft layer packed to the ceiling of the tube which only time has allowed to settle by about 20cm (8 inches). Why would you go to all this trouble? What is inside?
What indeed?
Well that fill goes on... to my disgust. What we saw last was an illusion of the way it had been chucked in from a distance and instead of being filled level as the front 14 metres is, it now seemed to be curved up the wall and in the light we used last time has us believe the curve was downward and that the tube wall was becoming open. High hopes were quickly dashed. That affected the emotions considerably as I lay with my back against a wall of clay at the end of a dugout 'way station', drenched in sweat from effort and the humidity, lots of humidity in confined space. At first, seeing the continuing fill made me frustrated, then angry, and then determined because this was hiding something fantastic and the more difficult the attempt to prevent anyone digging it all out - the more fantastic, by default, is that which is hidden inside. Think about that one!
Still, we had made considerable progress in knocking the top fill back another 4 meters (13 feet) which could only be moved along by being on your belly without a hard hat; as otherwise you couldn't lift your head. Occasionally I had to turn on one side or the other or even on my back, just to wriggle backwards where I could turn and drag the top fill with me to the lip of the last way station where I could the pull it into our dragline bucket where another could pull it back to the next way station etc. The end result of that constant three hour effort was that two days later every muscle in my back and sides still ached, so much I could only get out of a chair slowly.
Views from 2nd station to the RH corner, up the narrow passage to the LH corner and along the other passage.
This ongoing dig (seeing as the end was not in sight as suspected last time), means we now have to change the mental state to plan ahead and that meant enlarging yet another way station but making it huge... enough for two or three people and equipment as it was well out of sight of the entrance being 9 metres (30 feet) inside around the first major corner. So far this tube bent to the left slightly, did a sharp right angle turn to the left and then about 2 metres later another sharp ninety degree turn to the right before proceeding some 4 metres (13 feet) ahead before bending to the left again at about 120 degree angle. With much more fill to come out yet, it was decided we would have to empty out enough way stations back to the bare rock like the others. As we have said before, from an elliptical tube of about 1.2m3 per metre, it would be possible to use these as temporary dump locations for the soft fill until ready to take outside and dispose in the usual way. This entire phreatic tube preceding the cave where the skeletons lie is 100% hand filled and there are so many obvious signs in the layers let alone the odd small rock in the soft fill that doesn't belong, and the old vines and plant material still in the soft top fill, even at the 10 meter (33ft) mark.
The first crawl between way stations
So how far does it go from there? No one knows except those that ordered the infilling and carried out the work. I'd like to find out who they were and wring their damn necks! But it would be nice to know how far this tube went on, as much as to what is inside - what it is they are determined to hide forever. We know it's the rumored 8' tall beings that lived in this land before the Polynesian arrived - and the knowledge of that would affect Maori and the now legalized 'tangata whenua' status in a huge way. Forget being threatened by guns near Kawhia - what we will bring into the open will be more dangerous initially than surfing the hidden break or walking the beach at Taharoa. But that's just a matter of planning and being hidden as much as possible.
So for those not yet convinced we are going to find 8' skeletons... what the hell is this tube hiding...?
What indeed?
It's hiding something someone doesn't want others to see!
