Motutapu Island - Landscape

Landscape

Geologically Motutapu comprises Waipapa series greywackes, cherts and argillites, overlaid with Waitemata tertiary sediments, and blanketed in Rangitoto ash. The cultural landscape of archaeological sites includes pre-Rangitoto eruption archaic campsites and adse making sites, 13 pa, numerous open settlements, midden deposits, storage pits, and agricultural areas. 372 recorded sites and it is likely that many more subsurface deposits remain unrecorded. Some of the sites will have been damaged or destroyed by farming and military activity.

Sizes of recorded sites vary as might be expected over time with fluctuations in demographics and blurring boundaries of a mobile population. Settlement sites are spread across the whole island, with some apparent clustering on the western leeward side of the island around the mountain and causeway stream catchments, and early archaic settlements at open stream mouths and adjacent spurs. Davidson notes that a clustering around stream mouths and high number of distinct sites might be suggestive of a rotation garden system. Pa sites are present on most of the easily defendable coastal headlands, although the relatively small amount of habitable land enclosed within defensive earthworks compared to area of occupied open settlements leads Davidson to conclude some of the open settlements may have been pallisaded without earthwork defences, and that settlement on Motutapu was most likely a “peace-time horticultural based occupation, with periodic episodes of stress leading to fort construction and use”.

Stone sources exploited for tool manufacture were largely the local greywacke found on Motutapu and nearby Motuihe, but included obsidians from Great Barrier and Northland, as well as Nelson argillites and basalts from Tahanga. Other locally sourced rock used in tool production included jaspers for hammerstones and sandstone grinders.

There are three main areas associated with the 19th century farming, and these include associated remnant plantings. Home Bay retains homestead, plantings, seawall, and graves. Emu Bay has the foundations of four separate groups of buildings, remnant plantings and isolated Norfolk pines on high points of the island. No archaeological remains have yet been located at Station Bay where the remaining farm settlement is known to have been located.

The military structures on Motutapu comprise a largely intact World War II landscape including: the main 6” gun emplacement with 3 gun pits, underground magazines, shelters and stores; the battery observation post, engine and radar rooms; the Emu observation post and engine room for the anti-submarine defences; the ground level plotting complex with miniature range, plotting and generator rooms; the underground plotting complex with command exchange, radio, plotting generator, battery and fuel rooms, as well as access tunnels and corridors; the search light emplacements and directing station; personnel camps at Administration Bay and the battery; the US Navy magazines north of the causeway and store at Home Bay; and numerous pillboxes to protect the battery from a commando assault. The landscape also includes a number of roads, wharves and quarries.