The project, led by Te Rūnaka o Awarua, will examine 11 tonnes of stone lithics — artefacts such as tools, flakes or cores — which have sat in storage since they were salvaged from Tiwai Point in the 1960s.
Research lead Dr Chris Jennings, based at the University of Otago, said the project was the "opportunity of a lifetime".
"When I did my PhD research on it, I thought I had a handle on what this site was, but it was really only the tip of the iceberg," he said.
"It’s staggering how significant this site is."
Previous research on the site indicated about 600 years ago, the Tiwai Point settlement was focused on production of toki, or adze, a stone tool used for cutting or carving.
"It is essentially a factory from the earliest period of human colonisation in New Zealand — we’re talking the first few hundred years, maybe even the first few generations of settlement," Dr Jennings said.
"The Polynesian ancestors of the Māori, who were exploring the country, setting up resource bases and continuing that Polynesian way of life, but [before] their culture became what we would ultimately identify as the Māori people."
The site was excavated "guerrilla-style" by students and anthropologists in 1968, determined to salvage whatever they could before the smelter was built.
"By modern standards, any developer would be on the hook for funding that project in its entirety, but they had to scrape together whatever donations they [could]," Dr Jennings said.
There were no funds set aside to examine the material, and the collection had sat in museums for close to 60 years.
Dr Jennings hoped the project could help Māori communities strengthen connections with tūpuna [ancestors].
"This is from a period in their history that is not well understood. And anything that we can contribute as archaeologists, I think it’s very fulfilling to be able to help with that."
Te Rūnaka o Awarua kaiwhakahaere [manager] Dean Whaanga said extracting new information from the lithics was extremely important for iwi.
"This will reinforce our whakapapa connection to our tūpuna, to Tiwai and how we used our resources," Mr Whaanga said.
The project was being funded by Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter owner Rio Tinto.
Spokesman Dion Williams said it was fascinating to think Tiwai Point had significant industrial history.
"Our business is part of Southland’s past, present and future, and we want to play our part in acknowledging and raising awareness of a history here that can be dated back many centuries before us."
