Patterns of Faunal Resource Use at an Early Prehistoric Settlement at Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Faunal analyses of midden excavated in 2007 from the 14th century Cabana Lodge site (T12/3) at Whangamata, New Zealand are presented here, along with interpretations from collections excavated and surface-collected previously. Analyses of the 2007 assemblage indicate fish (Pagrus auratus) and sea mammal (Arctocephalus forsteri) were of primary importance in the diet; other collections also indicate that dogs were significant. Comparatively few seals from the nearby rocks of the harbour mouth or fish from the harbour and nearby beach were taken relative to shellfish from the adjacent mudflats. But, whilst shellfish are abundant in the midden, they provided comparatively low overall energy and nutritional yields. The site was an extensive, multi-function permanent settlement.