Marlborough's Wairau Bar - thought to be our earliest human settlement - has since been hit by numerous earthquakes and tsunamis, archaeologists say. Now, two Victoria University archaeologists have uncovered evidence of earthquakes and tsunamis at the site over past centuries - some which may have killed some of the people once living there. Roger Duff (left) and Jim Eyles dig at the Wairau Bar site in the 1940s. The Wairau Bar site proved to be perhaps the most important site for the study of early Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand. However, the combined threats of earthquakes and future sea level rise meant the site might not exist by the end of the century.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 25, 2018 04:30 UTC