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New Zealand Mysterious Forest

A 75-year embargo on an archaeological site in New Zealand could be hiding evidence of pre-Maori settlers.

A social media video with more than 1.5 million views is resurrecting myths about a New Zealand archaeological site, claiming a 75-year embargo may hide evidence of pre-Maori settlement.

This is false. The embargoed Waipoua Forest research was lifted almost three decades ago and all documents are publicly available.

The archaeologist who conducted the work told said there was no evidence of a pre-Maori community.

The claim was made in a Facebook video in October.

At the start of the video, the presenter refers to mysterious structures which "the government have redacted the information about" for 75 years.

"In the Waipoua Forest of New Zealand ... they found these amazing stone structures, man-made, in the middle of the forest," she says.

"Obviously everything's overgrown around it ... it is super old ... however, the information about the site and the dating, it's all been redacted, it's not disclosed to the public. And the file has been sealed until 2063."

Waipoua Forest, on NZ's North Island, has a long history of Maori occupation with the local Te Roroa people.

Archaeological work on some 40 sites in the Waipoua region dates back to the 1970s.

In 1988, NZ archaeologist Michael Taylor signed an archive transfer agreement for 14 pages of records related to the site to be entered in the National Archives, with the request they be restricted until 2063.

The video's presenter shows the document in her video.

"Some people speculate the site could be Maori, but weirdly this forest is on public land and the government have done nothing to protect it, which is weird considering they do a lot of protection for their Indigenous culture in New Zealand - so if it's not Maori, who is it?" she says.

This comment plays into an old myth there were inhabitants of New Zealand before Maori.

The claim there's evidence in Waipoua Forest pointing to pre-Maori inhabitants is not new. It was the subject of a Facebook post in 2014.

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