Map showing location of Wairau River
The Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi,[1] is a 19-hectare (47-acre) gravel bar formed where the Wairau River meets the sea in Cloudy Bay, Marlborough, north-eastern South Island, New Zealand. It is an important archaeological site, settled by explorers from East Polynesia who arrived in New Zealand about 1280. It is one of the earliest known human settlements in New Zealand.[citation needed] At the time of the occupation it is believed to have been a low scrub-covered island 2 to 3 metres (7 to 10 ft) high, 1.1 kilometres (0.68 mi) long and 0.4 kilometres (0.25 mi) wide.