Monck's Cave

Monck's Cave
	Moncks Cave 2012
Location:	Christchurch , Canterbury , South Island , New Zealand
Geographic ; location:	43 ° 33 '52 " S , 172 ° 44' 21" E Coordinates: 43 ° 33 '52 " S , 172 ° 44' 21" O
Discovery:	1889
Particularities:	Archaeological site

The Moncks Cave is a cave on the corner of Main Road / Cave Terrace in the district Redcliffs in Christchurch in the region Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand . It is known for its wooden artifacts from the early days of human settlement in New Zealand.

The cave was registered as Historic Place Category 1 on June 26, 2009 by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust under number 9067 .

history

The cave was discovered in 1889 by workers who had been mining gravel for road construction on the site for several years. When removing the rubble at the foot of the hill in which the cave is located, the buried cave entrance was discovered. Large quantities of cockle shells were found in the cave. The cave ceiling also showed soot from fires that had been kindled in the cave. The cave entrance was probably closed by a landslide before the first Europeans arrived in New Zealand.

Artifacts

Several wooden artifacts were found in the cave and an adjoining further cave, including an outrigger canoe (ama), a carved paddle, a scoop, the carving of a dog, parts of a fishing net, plus several axes made from Pounamu , black hair and bones from Fish and Moas . These items were important for research into the Māori culture . The cave is considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in New Zealand.

Subfossil bones of the extinct New Zealand swan were also found.

Web links

Commons : Moncks Cave - collection of images, videos and audio files

Monck's Cave . In: Heritage New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 26, 2009,accessed September 22, 2018.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Maori Relics - Discovery at Sumner . In: Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil , The Argus, October 3, 1889, p. 154. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
↑ Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr : Ancient outrigger, Moncks Cave . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , September 5, 2013, accessed on September 22, 2018 .
↑ Monck's Cave . In: Heritage New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 26, 2009, accessed September 22, 2018 .

[sketcher-relics-1] Maori Relics - Discovery at Sumner . In: Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil , The Argus, October 3, 1889, p. 154. Retrieved February 16, 2015.

[ancient-out-2] Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr : Ancient outrigger, Moncks Cave . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , September 5, 2013, accessed on September 22, 2018 .

[heritage-3] Monck's Cave . In: Heritage New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 26, 2009, accessed September 22, 2018 .