Abstract
Earnscleugh Cave, near Alexandra in Central Otago, was excavated in order to recover and date faunal and floral remains and to provide a palaeoenvironmental analysis. The pollen analysis showed that a complex vegetation community, comprising a dense scrub with local stands of podcarps, grew around the cave during the late Holocene and before Polynesian deforestation. The results from Earnscleugh Cave suggest that at this time permanent water‐courses on the flanks of Central Otago ranges supported diverse and rich plant communities of forest and shrubland. The cave fauna included moas Euiyapteryx geranoides. Emeus crassus and Dinornis giganteus, goose Cnemiornis calcitrans, Finsch's duck Euryanas finschi, kea Nestor notabilis, rifleman Acanthisitta chloris, robin Petroica austrailis, tuatara Sphenodon sp. and greater short‐tailed bat Mystacina cf. robusta.
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