June 17, 2021
Museum doorstep no place for koiwi
The chair of Kororāreka Marae says is a box of bones left on the doorstep of Russell Museum turn out to be human, they will be reinterred as soon as possible.
Deb Rewiri says the bones were either dropped off in ignorance or because the finder wanted to avoid stopping work on a development site.
When kōiwi are found, people should notify the police, Heritage New Zealand or their local marae.
She says because of the long history of human settlement in Taitokerau, bones often come to the surface through earthworks or coastal erosion.
A recent find of bones on Oneroa Beach was identified as being from a young pre-contact male after mana whenua were called in to give the go-ahead for archaeologists to examine them.
"We reinterred him straight away, We do not want our kōiwi kept in museums anymore," Ms Rewiri says.
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