The official narrative goes that New Zealand was empty prior to the arrival of Maori 600 years ago. These buried items provide mute evidence otherwise as the land reveals its secrets.
Auckland: Tree and Axe found from before the Auckland volcanic era
An ancient tree stump and axe were unearthed proving the tree was felled before Auckland’s volcanos erupted. Who chopped it down?
Tree and Axe found from before the Auckland Volcanic Era
Northland: Buried items dug up at Maunganui Bluff
Source: From the Sea we came, page 106, RIPIRO WEST COAST BETWEEN KAIPARA AND HOKIANGA
1894; RipiroCoast, North of Maunganui Bluff, about half way to Kawerua: Gum diggers find old relics at a depth of 7 to 9 feet deep. These included adzes and spears. For these to have been buried so deep they must have been owned by some ancient people. Who did they belong to?

Source: National Library: Gang of Dalmatian gum diggers draining the Aranga swamp, Maunganui Bluff, Northland. Creator of collection unknown: Photographs relating to Dalmatian gum diggers, life on the gumfields, and social events. Ref: PAColl-2144-2-03. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23109398
The Kaitaia (Orongotea) Carving
This unusual carving was discovered in 1921 deep in a swamp between Kaitaia and Ahipara. It appeared at first sight so different from Maori work that ethnologists began to search far and wide over the Pacific and beyond to discover where the idea of it might have come from. Source: The KAITAIA CARVING — is it Maori? – (Te Ao Hou – No. 14 April 1956)


Kaitaia was originally named Ōrongotea. Orongo is an Easter Island name, it was a stone village and ceremonial center at the southwestern tip of Rapanui (Easter Island).
See Artifacts and canals from the Far North for more details.
Tauranga, Bay of Plenty

This bowl was found 1.5m underground in Tauranga in the 1890’s on a slope of Maungatawa. Yes, 1.5m underground in fern country. Discovered when someone was digging a post hole. Why that far down? It wasn’t buried under a tree like Maori often did with something they feared or didn’t know… ie the Korotangi. Many odd and non-Maori items have been found buried way down below any 800-100 year old Maori occupation layer.
Source: Tangata Whenua – Raivavae