Historic Maori middens along the Otago Peninsula have been further uncovered by powerful waves this week and last, opening them up to possible damage, Heritage New Zealand says.
Heritage New Zealand archaeologist for Otago and Southland Dr Matthew Schmidt said it was ''very common'' for the midden sites, to be uncovered by erosion.
''Coastal erosion is causing significant loss to the story of New Zealand's settlement,'' he said.
When erosion uncovered the sites, he said, ''the loss often accelerates'', not only as a result of weather conditions themselves, but as a result of ''curiosity and fossicking'' of passers-by.
Middens could be over half a millennium old, and hold anything from shells to bones to discarded fish hooks.
Department of Conservation marine ranger Jim Fyfe said he was aware there had been ''pretty bad erosion on my fronts along the coastline''.
He was not aware of any midden sites being damaged or exposed, as such But ''as a general trend, a lot of our sites are coastal, and with coastal erosion happening, there's always the possibility that existing and known sites are being damaged, or new sites are being exposed,'' he said.
''There's been impressive erosion in many places.''
As a rule, Heritage New Zealand and other organisations did not identify exactly where midden sites were for ''a number of reasons'', area manager Jonathan Howard said.
The concern was that the site would be ''visited'' by the public.
''They include where a site has cultural sensitivities, where a site is exposed, fragile and vulnerable, and/or where it is on private land,'' he said.
Dr Schmidt said it was important to call Heritage New Zealand if people stumbled upon midden sites, and to ''leave items found where they are, [because] once removed, they lose their context, and could also potentially disturb other artefacts nearby''.
Heritage New Zealand had been working on a project to survey and catalogue heritage sites along the coast in Southland, and it was in the process of implementing a similar project in Otago, he said.
Such a ''coastal heritage inventory project'' could help to prevent loss of sites like those now being eroded and uncovered along the peninsula.
''The Southland project has shown that significant and important information can be gained and recovered through initial surveying and monitoring of very important heritage sites on the coast,'' Dr Schmidt said.
