<< Other Photo Pages >> Kaimanawa Wall - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in New Zealand
Submitted by AKFisher on Monday, 06 May 2024 Page Views: 39
Natural PlacesSite Name: Kaimanawa WallCountry: New Zealand
NOTE: This site is 1695.165 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Taupo
Latitude: 38.94863S Longitude: 176.187320E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
Within the Kaimanawa State Forest area is the Kaimanawa Wall.[1][2]
The Tuwharetoa Tangata Whenua indigenous people claim an “oral tradition” of the place as a kōhatu (rock).[1] A popular theory is that the wall is a human construction. From that popular theory, a pseudoscience theory explains the wall as a pre-Māori civilization artifact.
The wall formation was inspected by an anthropologist and a geologist; neither saw evidence of a human origin. In a preliminary investigation, anthropologist Neville Ritchie of the New Zealand Department of Conservation, observed "matching micro-irregularities along the joints." This indicated that the blocks in the wall were too perfectly matched. He also observed the joints were neither straight nor truly horizontal nor perpendicular, indicating the joint alignments were too poorly constructed.
Ritchie concluded the blocks are a natural formation based on the presence of matching micro-irregularities in blocks and imperfect joint alignment.
Peter Wood, of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences at Wairakei, inspected the blocks for an afternoon and concluded they are natural fractures in what Wood termed "Jointed-Rangitaiki-Ignimbrite," and described as "330,000 year old volcanic rock that is common in the Taupō Volcanic Zone." Both vertical and horizontal joints are common. Fractures in the Rangitaiki ignimbrite formed when it cooled and contracted after flowing into place during an eruption. From Wikipedia.
The site remains controversial to this day. Natural or man-made? The official position of both the New Zealand government and the local Maori indigenous people is that Kaimanawa is a completely natural formation. Popular culture, however, attributes the formation to a possible Lemurian or Champa Kingdom southeastern Asian civilization in distant history that may have constructed the Kaimanawa Wall.
References:
1. "A New Age Myth: the Kaimanawa Wall". NZ Skeptics. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
2. Howe, K.R. "Ideas of Māori origins - 1920s–2000: new understanding". Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
Further information and links:
1. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaimanawa_Range
2. New Zealand Skeptics: skeptics.nz/journal/issues/41/a-new-age-myth-the-kaimanawa-wall
3. Teara NZ Encyclopedia: teara.govt.nz/en/document/1603/the-kaimanawa-wall
4. Ancient-Origins: http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-oceania/kaimanawa-wall-new-zealand-00153
Directions:
From Taupo via State Hwy 5 ~ 43.4 km south. Take Clements Hill Rd. to the park.
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