Abstract
A large and varied collection of artifacts from Panau, a little-known prehistoric site on Banks Peninsula with the potential to provide new information towards the documentation of the late period material culture for this part of the country, is examined. An illustrated catalogue and a classification and description of the range of material found during many decades of collecting at the
site is presented. The available records of amateur excavation carried out over a nine-year period are
summarised, along with all available provenance details for the artifacts found during this period.
The results of a small excavation carried out to obtain radiocarbon dates and details of stratigraphy are included.
In an attempt to further place the collection in a relative chronological context, with respect to the
material culture of the northeast South Island, a process of seriation is carried out. To produce a statistically significant, geographically representative and typologically comprehensive result, this required analysis and classification of complete artifact assemblages from all Canterbury and Marlborough sites with both an apparently short time span and a sizeable and varied collection of artifacts.
The resulting sequence allows the material from Panau to be presented in an apparent chronological series in relation to the material culture of the study area as a whole. The Panau material, combined with typologically related material from other sites on the basis of the seriation results, allows a definition of the material culture of the post-moa-hunting period for the northeast South Island to be offered.
Analysis of the range and distribution of the artifacts and features within the site allows an interpretation of the place of Panau to be made in terms of chronology and function.