Prof White, the university deputy vice-chancellor, research and enterprise, said he hoped that when the research involving early inhabitants of Blenheim's Wairau Bar area was published, in about five years, it would be major news overseas.
The university this week signed a memorandum of understanding involving Te Runanga a Rangitane o Wairau (the Rangitane iwi council, of Wairau) and the Canterbury Museum, paving the way for future collaborative research links.
Prof White said the eventual publication of the research, involving the museum and the Rangitane iwi, would mark "an important scientific achievement" which would also bring wider benefits to New Zealand.
Archaeological research into aspects of the 14th-century settlement at the bar area in Marlborough, just east of Blenheim, is being led by Associate Prof Richard Walter, of the Otago University anthropology department.
Dr Hallie Buckley, of the Otago department of anatomy and structural biology, is also leading research involving tupuna (ancestral remains) which were removed from the site more than 50 years ago and which have since been held at the Canterbury Museum.
Advanced research methods, including ancient DNA and isotope analysis, have been used by Otago researchers.
Otago University archaeologists, who started working at the sitelast week, have this week identified what they believe to be the site of a 700-year-old dwelling at the bar site.
Rangitane development manager Richard Bradley said the research agreement would bring many benefits, including further understanding of iwi ancestors.
The research is focused on an about 8km-long boulder bank at the mouth of the Wairau River, which is considered one of the most significant archaeological sites in the country.
This site provided the first conclusive evidence that New Zealand was originally colonised from East Polynesia.
A small group of Polynesians lived in a settlement at the north end of the bar and settled for many years - long enough to bury their dead.
Between 1938 and 1959, at least 44 graves were excavated at the bar and their contents taken to the Canterbury Museum for study, yielding invaluable information about the earliest New Zealanders.
But for Rangitane iwi, the removal of their ancestors' remains from their final resting place has been a source of anguish and controversy.
Canterbury Museum has agreed to return the ancestral remains and they are expected to be repatriated at the bar in April.
Last week, a team of archaeologists and iwi embarked on a month-long survey and excavation to select an appropriate site for reburial of the remains that will not disturb any other graves, and to undertake some further research.
Researchers are using advanced techniques, including a fluxgate gradiometer, which uses small changes in the Earth's magnetic field to identify areas where the ground has previously been dug up or where fires have been lit.
Prof Walter said advanced technology was helping scientists to undertake a "low impact, high return" form of archaeology.
"The main purpose of our work here is to find a safe place to lay those people back to rest, but we are also hoping to gain an understanding of how ancient New Zealanders went about their day-to-day lives."
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