Maungawhau and Maungakiekie: Reinterpreting the Cultural Landscape

The "mountain of the whau tree" (Entelea arborescens) now called Mount Eden, and the "mountain of the kiekie" (Freycinetia banksii), now known as One Tree Hill, are ancient Maori pas or fortresses preserved by rare foresight in the heart of Auckland, New Zealand. The vicinity, described by one authority as perhaps the most populous of any region occupied by Neolithic man, reveals much of Maori ecology. Shellfish middens, rectangular cultivation plots, sweet-potato storage pits, and groves of fruiting karaka trees stipple the volcanic slopes, and the crater-complexes are carved into suites of house-terraces. Archaeology has uncovered the stumps of defensive stockades, but uncertainties remain: the extent of the occupied area, the numbers involved, and relationships to nearby pas and economic resources still pose difficult questions of interpretation.