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Nearly 10 years have now elapsed since Les Groube, in a paper on prehistoric settlement patterns in New Zealand, dealt the death blow to the underground house or pit dwelling and established in its place the kumara storage pit as an essential component of Maori settlement and economy.(1) There is no reason to re-open this controversy: it is now accepted that the pits supply the necessary insulated frost-free storage and controlled humidity for kumara, and the darkness needed in the case of white potatoes to prevent their turning green or sprouting. This article will examine the evidence that has accumulated from the many excavations of pits in different parts of the North Island since 1955, pick out some distinctive types, and interpret them as three-dimensional structures: in so doing, some outstanding problems may become apparent which only further excavations can resolve. First, there are numerous small bin pits that were no more than a hole in the ground, sometimes covered with a lid, such as those at Sarah's Gully, Coromandel, and at Otakanini, South Kaipara,(2) as well as the carefully excavated beehive or domed pit known as a rua - with these, this paper is not concerned. The subject of the enquiry is the large rec tangular pit, usually of the playing-card shape, with an approximate 2:1 ratio of length to breadth, but exceptionally near-square. Typical measure ments are from 10 to 20 ft long, from 6 to 12 ft wide, and from 3 to 6 ft deep, though there are some smaller and some larger examples. Many have drains round the bottom, often with an external exit or connecting to a sump or soakaway; there is also a series of postholes in the floor, the posts of which, as is generally recognised, supported a roof. We are not then dealing with a species of clamp?an earth structure with a flat top as used for storing root vegetables in Britain?but with cellars which had a pitched roof, in order that people could enter to store or remove the contents.
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