Excavations at Otakanini Pa, South Kaipara Harbour

In 1968, excavations were carried out along one of the main defensive lines of the earthwork pa at Otakanini in the South Kaipara Harbour. Otakanini was a major stronghold of the Ngati Whatua tribe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before which it belonged to either the Wai-o-hua or Kawerau tribe, with a period of Ngati Awa domination in the seventeenth century. The excavations revealed three periods of earthwork construction which may correlate with the traditional history of the site, together with well-preserved evidence for palisades, fighting stages, storage pits, and a possible shelter. Midden dumps, associated with a latrine, were also excavated. The Otakanini sequence shows interesting parallels with excavated sequences from other North Island pa, and these parallels are discussed. A number of artefaets were discovered, of Classic Maori type where diagnostic.