John Hardcastle 1908 Notes on the Geology of South Canterbury. Timaru Herald 64p. "There is some rather curious evidence of the early occupation of South Canterbury by man. A popular picnic resort, a few miles above Pleasant Point, is known as Noah's Ark from the number of aboriginal drawings that are seen there, on an overhanging cornice in a limestone rock. These drawings are well preserved, being protected from the weather by the overhanging of the cliff, and they are also protected from destruction by mischievous hands, by being out of reach. When these drawings were made the riverbed must have been at least six feet higher than it is today along the foot of the 'Ark', and this is some feet above the present river...
Relics of a moa-hunters camp existed at the northern end of Dashing Rocks, but they have been nearly all washed away by the sea. There are still some remains of ovens left, with fragments of charred moa bones and flakes of grey siliceous stone in them. The later Maoris must have also camped on the same sopt, as some articles of greenstone have also been found there."
Relics of a moa-hunters camp existed at the northern end of Dashing Rocks, but they have been nearly all washed away by the sea. There are still some remains of ovens left, with fragments of charred moa bones and flakes of grey siliceous stone in them. The later Maoris must have also camped on the same sopt, as some articles of greenstone have also been found there."
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| Moa hunters near Timaru. Cave art- wall of Blacklers Cave, Pleasant Point, in the vicinity of Timaru, South Canterbury |
Read more in Hardcastle 1908 (soon to be republished in Loess Letter)
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