Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

The paper concentrates on the radiocarbon dating of the recovery of carbonised kūmara remains in a 1985 excavation. The hypothesis was that the tubers did not record a single event (the torching of the pa of Haratua in 1845 by Colonel Despard) but indicated continuous use of the pit facility for crop storage.

The burning of kūmara pits was a periodic phytosanitary measure for storage in Māori agronomy (perhaps just of stores for propagating material rather than food storage p.61).

Fragments found appear to confirm with the 2 major kūmara varietal groups that survived into the 1950s, "Rekamāroa" and "Hutihuti/ Taputini" forms. Pit O appeared to be the seed kūmara pit for the pa. Sequence of dates from AD 860-1160 to 1670-1810 indicate a continuity of kūmara cultivation throughout the prehistory of the Pouerua site. Demonstrates, however, that hypothesis for Spanish introduction of kūmara into the Pacific as the source of the New Zealand Māori kūmara is wrong.