Evidence of a massive burial site which could contain the remains of hundreds of people has been discovered in Tauranga.
Surveyors made the discovery as they began the search for a place to build a museum.
A high-tech radar machine has found proof that what is now Tauranga's rose garden was once a major Māori fortress.
"There are likely to be significant remains found under the ground here," Deputy Mayor Kevin Clout told Newshub.
A rival iwi war party from Hauraki got hold of muskets in 1828, and killed hundreds who lived there.
But what has already been found is evidence of a major pā site.
"There are disturbances at about 2.5 metres down," Tauranga City Council chief digital officer Alan Lightbourne said.
"We can use that to predict the age and say because of the depth of those diggings or disturbances, it's likely to be pre-European."
By measuring the soil density, the $135,000 machine has found evidence of whare and gardens, as well as a major defensive trench.
"They dug a two-metre deep trench, about three metres wide, and they dumped the soil on this side and created a bank," archaeologist Ken Phillips says.
There's a dent in the bank where the softer soil has been eroding.
The next step is to start digging.
If human remains are found, each would need to be painstakingly removed before any museum could be built.
Newshub.
