For hundreds of years Māori gathered food from estuaries and deposited the shells and bones in heaps around the coast. These piles of leftovers, or middens, provide a glimpse of life in pre-European days. This midden at the Waiōtahe estuary on the east coast of the North Island consists mainly of pipi (Paphies australis) shells.
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Heritage New Zealand – Pouhere Taonga
Photograph by Rick McGovern-Wilson
Permission of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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