Family spots wood sticking out of sand dune — and finds historic item in New Zealand
On a remote island of New Zealand, a family noticed some wood fragments sticking out of a sand dune — and found a historic artifact. Officials plan to conduct follow-up searches of the area.
A family living on Chatham Island, a remote archipelago off the eastern coast of New Zealand’s main islands, noticed several wood pieces sticking out of a sand dune, the country’s Ministry for Culture and Heritage said in a Jan. 13 news release. They contacted officials who identified the find as the “partial remains of a waka.”
“Waka is the Māori word for canoe,” according to the ministry’s Encyclopedia of New Zealand. The term can refer to a wide range of boats made by “ancestors of Māori” over the span of millennia and includes rafts, dugout canoes, double-hulled canoes and others.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga shared a photo on Facebook showing the roughly 20 canoe fragments “already recovered from the site.” The pieces vary in size and shape; a few have small holes cut in them.
Officials did not specify the age of the canoe or its specific type.
A photo shared by the ministry on Facebook shows the “remote” site where the canoe was discovered. Several pieces of wood, including “driftwood and debris,” are visible on the grass-covered sand dunes.
“We are very grateful to the local family for informing us of the find and caring for the exposed waka and recovered pieces,” Glenis Philip-Barbara, the deputy secretary of Māori Crown Partnerships and Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage, said in the release. “They have been instrumental in securing the site and in the ongoing monitoring of the waka.”
The ministry said it was working “closely” with the site’s owners and several other departments to conduct follow-up searches for other canoe fragments and preserve the pieces already found.
“With the vulnerability of the waka to the elements, time is of the essence, and we are committed to facilitating its careful investigation and recovery,” Dean Whiting, a Kaihautū and spokesperson for Heritage New Zealand, said in the release.
The Chatham Islands are about 500 miles southeast of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.
This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Family spots wood sticking out of sand dune — and finds historic item in New Zealand."
