A skull was located on Te Puru Beach on Sunday. Photo / NZME
A skull was located on Te Puru Beach on Sunday. Photo / NZME
A human skull discovered on a Thames beach is likely a "tīpuna" (ancestor) and must be treated with "respect" and "appropriate tikanga" (customs and traditional values), a bioarchaeologist says.
This comes after police received a report of a skull located on Te Puru Beach at about 9.30am on Sunday.
Bioarchaeologist and associate professor at the University of Otago Sian Halcrow said the remains were likely "kōiwi tangata (human remains of Māori origin)".
"Findings such as this case are tīpuna, so it is very important that they are treated with respect and with appropriate tikanga," she said.
"This is likely to be an individual of Polynesian descent, so this is likely kōiwi tangata. However, this needs further investigation."
Heritage New Zealand would be working with local iwi to establish the origin of the skull, she said.
Halcrow said if the public found human skeletal remains, it was important to notify the police, who would establish if they were "forensic or archaeological".
If they were archaeological, Heritage New Zealand would work closely with iwi from the area, Halcrow said.
Bioarchaeologist and associate professor at the University of Otago Sian Halcrow. Photo / supplied
She believed the skull was an adult "as shown by the maturity of the skull bones present".
Halcrow said she had heard of instances of human bones washing out into Te Puru Creek but she had "not confirmed this".
When asked if it was unusual for bones or skulls to wash up in Thames, Halcrow said "there are some areas of coastal erosion and also riverbank erosion around the area".
"This riverbank erosion can become worse with flooding that Thames is prone to."
Halcrow said there were other instances of prehistoric human skeletal remains being uncovered in riverbeds and eroding from coastal sites.
"In 2004 there was a skull found in Ruamahanga River in the Wairarapa. This has since been dated to be about 300 years old."
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) mid-northern area manager Bev Parslow said it had not been contacted by police and had not started working with local iwi to determine the origin of the skull.
In most cases, it was only involved with kōiwi tangata in an archaeological context, or if they were identified as being likely to relate to historic kōiwi tangata, she said.
"Because this is a beach find situation outside of any known archaeological context, HNZPT's advice would be to first establish if the remains are historic, which is an HNZPT and police process, and to then work with appropriate iwi where the find originated.
"We are assuming that other police processes are being followed. Heritage New Zealand will be happy to assist if necessary."
Te Puru is located on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Photo / NZME
Parslow said it was "extremely important" for kōiwi tangata to be "treated with respect".
"If the kōiwi tangata are found to be historic, it will be important that the appropriate iwi are closely involved in the process to enable their specific tikanga to be followed."
Parslow was unable to confirm any details relating to the origins of the skull.
A police spokesperson said police went to the scene and the skull was taken to a forensic pathologist in Hamilton.
The origin of the skull would depend on the results of the pathologist's examination, the spokesperson said.
Thames-Coromandel District Council's communications group manager Laurna White said the council had not been contacted by anyone in relation to the finding.
