Search on to identify 'pre-European' human remains found in Hamilton

The human remains found at a Hillcrest property in Hamilton will be exhumed.

"A forensic examination of the human remains found at a Hilcrest property on Tuesday 18 June have determined they are pre-European," detective senior sergeant Scott Neilson said.

They were discovered by contractors digging for a pool in the backyard.

Police had ceased any further investigations and would work with local iwi on next steps, he said.

Determining if the remains belong to Māori tīpuna

Māori historian Wiremu Puke, a member of Ngāti Wairere who whakapapa to the area, said extracting DNA samples from the jawbone would determine if the remains were Māori.

Usually, the jawbone can help determine tīpuna, "because the jawbones of our tīpuna are quite distinctive".

"Depending on the condition of the skeleton, if there is enough enamel on the jawbone to go through a DNA process of identification, there could be a living uri (descendant) still in the area."

Puke said the area where the remains were found was key to its identification.

"We know of the land's history and the name of the hill where that kōiwi (remains) was found. We may not know who the actual person was, but we know that land falls within the domain of Ngāti Wairere. Their uri are still here."

He said over time a lot of burial sites had been forgotten.

"With the land confiscation, it wasn't a guarantee my tīpuna were able to recover kōiwi as much as they could."

Puke said work should immediately come to a stop.

"Preferably, an archaeologist [should be] there because we need to understand the context of how the skeleton was buried. With old-time, pre-Christian burials, most of them are in fetal position, three feet in the ground.

"Most of the kōiwi I've seen are buried in a sitting, fetal position, facing the east or the north. Sometimes, taonga are buried with them."

Puke said the kōiwi should be taken to a local marae for a proper burial.