Question about Ewing's fall down a hole

[Ralph]

In the first chapter, Ewing finds an underground passage with a still beating heart. Do any of the other stories explain what it is Ewing encountered? No one other story appears to be set in New Zealand, so what did Ewing see?

[Mathew]

Was it still beating? I must have glossed over that part! I took the section to establish the theme of strong vs weak, of human cannibalism and our timeless urge to make a brutal show of power, but I'm not too sure in a literal sense.

[Drew]

I was really confused by this part as well. I waited the entire book for this to be connected to something else, but it never happened. Maybe I missed it?

[Wilf]

While reading the book, I forgot all about this part until the point where Zachary went into their native crypt area and it seemed to be the same thing - icons of dead friends, family, local folk etc. Similar to Mathew(2), I thought it was more of a thematic link (our need to remember past generations) than a physical / plot one.