The Moeraki Boulders
On a New Zealand beach, giant stone spheres lie scattered along the sand, as if dropped from the sky. Māori tradition says they are cargo from a wrecked canoe.
What was reported
On Koekohe Beach near Moeraki, on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, dozens of huge, nearly perfectly round boulders lie along the shore, some up to 2 metres across. Many are cracked open, revealing honeycomb-like patterns inside.
Māori tradition says they are gourds, food baskets and eel traps that washed ashore from the wreck of the great voyaging canoe Āraiteuru, and that the nearby reef is its hull.
Explanations offered
Geologists explain that they are concretions, which formed slowly in the mud of the sea floor about 60 million years ago, as minerals cemented the sediment around a centre. Over time, the softer cliffs eroded, releasing the hard boulders onto the beach.
- When
- Formed about 60 million years ago
- Where
- Koekohe Beach, Otago, New Zealand
- Witnesses
- Māori tradition and visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.