Excavations at Kahukura (G47/128), Murihiku

Archaeological data from coastal village sites are critical to our understanding of culture change in southern New Zealand. Here we report on excavations from Kahukura (G47/128), a sedentary coastal village occupied around the time of the cessation of moa-hunting. There are few recorded sites in southern New Zealand dating between the mid-fifteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries. The results of the Kahukura work enable us to situate the site within current models of culture change in this part of the country. The data presented here documents an attempt to continue the sedentary village way of life in an environment of increasing isolation from long-distance exchange networks: imported stone resources are scarce, and there is a trend away from terrestrial hunting towards a specialisation in intensive local exploitation strategies.