Sister Project’s Prehistoric Finds

Just like the City Rail Link, the other big project tunnelling below Auckland, Watercare’s Central Interceptor, is also making some dramatic finds while digging deep beneath the city.

“You never know what you’ll find when you start digging 30 to 35 metres underground, particularly when the area you’re excavating used to be seabed,” Watercare said in a Facebook post.

Recently, the team dug up a 3 to 4-million-year-old cockle shell – Maoricardium spatiosum. If that’s not impressive enough, a prehistoric whale vertebrae believed to be from a Baleen Whale was also unearthed. So far, 82 fossil species have been found and identified.

The organisation thanked the Auckland Geology Club, specifically Geologist and Marine Ecologist Dr Bruce Hayward, and Molluscan Palaeontologist Dr Alan Beu for their work identifying the rare finds.

The Central Interceptor team and contractor Ghella Abergeldie Joint Venture are excavating along the route where tunnel boring for New Zealand’s longest wastewater tunnel will kick off in April/May.

Central Interceptor tunnel facts:

• It’s underground - between 15 and 110 metres below the surface.

• It’s 4.5-metre in diameter.

• It slopes downhill from Grey Lynn – this means wastewater can flow to the Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant.

It will have permanent shafts for operational use and future access – these will collect and transfer wastewater from the existing network into the tunnel providing a more direct route to the Māngere Wastewater.

To find out more about the archaeology and artifacts uncovered by the City Rail Link, please click here.