Golf resort owner alters lodge plan
The American billionaire owner of Cape Kidnappers Station in Hawke's Bay has revised plans to build a luxury accommodation lodge to avoid damaging a pair of archaeological sites.
Julian Robertson, whose plans to build a 24-unit lodge at Black Reef Point are subject of an Environment Court hearing which began today, modified the plans after a pair of middens (refuse pits) were discovered on the site, according to his counsel Derek Nolan.
He told Judge Craig Thompson and commissioners there could be no doubt the site had been subject to a comprehensive archaeological, historic and heritage assessment.
'There are, in fact, only two recorded sites in the vicinity of the lodge, both small, simple, midden. They are a common type of site, found throughout New Zealand particularly in coastal areas, and are of only moderate significance,' he said.
The lodge was moved slightly in order to further avoid them.

 

New light shed on Pacific migration
The discovery of 13 skeletons in a burial ground in Vanuatu has scientists rethinking the timing of early Pacific migration.
The skeletons, which have been brought to New Zealand for study, date back more than 3000 years. Adding to the mystery of who these people were, is the fact that none of them have heads.
Vanuatu is a country made up of 83 tropical islands and with the recent discovery is now home to the South Pacific's oldest cemetery.
The recently-discovered skeletal remains represent the first colonisers of Vanuatu, the Lapita people. They were people who used their sophisticated sailing technology to travel from South East Asia.
Scientists say the fact that the skeletons are headless points to spiritual beliefs. "It probably indicates that this was something to do with ancestor worship, that these people kept their ancestors close to them," said Dr Hallie Buckley of Otago University.

 

Historic huts survived May storm
Four months after Scott Base was blasted by a 250kmh blizzard, winter- over staff have finally been able to confirm that Scott's and Shackleton's historic huts have survived.
The ferocious storm in late May caused significant damage to Scott Base and the neighbouring American base at McMurdo Station, raising fears that the fragile huts at Cape Evans and Cape Royds could have been damaged or destroyed. But months of winter darkness and bad weather prevented the Antarctica New Zealand winter-over team from making the journey to the two huts until a few days ago. Antarctic Heritage Trust executive director Nigel Watson said initial inspections of the two huts showed they had survived better than some of the modern buildings at Scott Base and McMurdo. ``The sites of the huts at Cape Royds and Cape Evans huts meant they didn't get the brunt of the southerly storms like Scott Base and McMurdo,'' he said. ``Scott Base winter manager Dan Mathers confirmed that there has been very little snow accumulation inside Scott's or Shackleton's huts"

Monday, October 04, 2004