Trenches on a slope near Marsden Cross, Bay of Islands

A particularly fine example of a complex of trenches. The lines of the trenches run about 25 m up the slope; the trenches are about 1 m across and lie at 5 m spacing across the slope. The trenches may be a type of crude irrigation, i.e., irrigation without elaborate water reticulation to the garden plot. Intercepting groundwater towards the foot of the slope, they may form artificial springs which would assist the growth of taro in summer and late summer dry spells. The taro would be planted actually in the trench, hence the close spacing. This particular example has a perimeter ditch running around the top of the trenches showing clearly at right.