The Moeraki Boulders are located on Koekohe Beach, in the South Island of New Zealand. They are large stone spheres nearly perfectly round, some with a diameter of over 2 meters (6.6 feet).
Maori Legends and Symbolic Meaning
According to Maori legends, the spheres are the remains of the wreck of a large ancestral canoe, Araiteuru, which sank in ancient times. The objects it carried, such as gourds and sweet potatoes, are said to have turned into stone once they reached the shore. The name Moeraki means “a place to sleep by day” and is linked to the mythological navigator Kupe, who supposedly left his people to rest in that area.
Modern Explanation
The formation is believed to have occurred through a natural process called concretion, involving the sedimentation of mud, silt, and clay around a central core, which could be a fossil or a shell. The accumulation gradually cemented the materials, forming solid spheres, which were later exposed due to erosion of the surrounding cliffs.
They are estimated to date back to about 60 million years ago, during the Paleocene epoch.