Ancient tree found to be faux whau
Our little tunnel boring machine, Jeffie, is at the centre of a wee scientific mystery 28,000 years old.
Jeffie “bumped” into some very old tree fragments while excavating a new stormwater drain at Mt Eden last year as part of the CRL project.
Scientists confirm carbon dating puts the age of the tree fragments at 28,000 years – long before Rangitoto came into existence and humans made their home in Tāmaki Makaurau.
The mystery, however, involves the wood itself.
Originally, it was thought the fragments were probably from a whau, a tree common in the area. Māori call Mt Eden, Maungawhau or ‘mountain of whau’.
Further research, however, rules that out. The fragments belong not to one tree, but two, and neither is a whau. Whau is very light wood and Jeffie’s fragments are dense.
Scientists says one is definitely tōtara – an ancient tōtara was uncovered nearby a few years back – but the other has them puzzled. It may be a flowering angiosperm – something like a beech – but it may not be possible to know for sure because of the age and condition of the fragments.
While identity remains a mystery, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei spokesman Ngarimu Blair observes, “these signs of nature from our ancient past certainly strengthen our resolve to preserve and restore the biodiversity left to us.”