84
4 Transoceanic Trade and Migration (1)
kilometre inland among ancient sand dunes that once marked the shoreline. In 1930,
over 60 years earlier and 50 km closer to Perth, about 100 m from the sea another
schoolboy, Vic Roberts, had found a smaller egg from the elephant bird at Scott
River, Augusta. Like the smaller extinct New Zealand moa, the elephant bird was a
ratite, a giant flightless bird 3 m tall. The elephant bird, which like the boab tree was
indigenous to Madagascar, became extinct about 300 years ago. The circumference
of the egg found in 1993 is 800 mm, its volume 7 litres.
In 1968 a Western Australian newspaper reported Robert’s claim that at the time
he found the egg he had seen at least part of a skeleton with a very large skull with
a beak on it. Though he has often searched for it since, Roberts has been unable to
locate the skeleton in the shifting sands of the dune where he found the egg. Both
eggs are now held in the Western Australian Museum in Perth.
The second egg was radiocarbon dated to 2000 ± 75 years [26]. This dating,
appropriate for second-wave exploration, at least suggests the possibility that it was
brought from Madagascar for food or trade by mariners sailing the Cinnamon Route.
Indeed, considering the southerly locations where both eggs were found, the dating
would suggest that second-wave mariners, following the West Australian Current
flowing south from the West Pacific Warm Pool, explored most of the length of the
Western Australian coast.
But if, as Vic Roberts claims, a skeleton of the elephant bird existed alongside
the egg, interpretation of his discovery becomes more complex. It might imply
an attempt not by explorers but by colonists to breed elephant birds in Western
Australia, to provide meat for consumption and bone for the manufacture of artefacts. In other words, the existence of a skeleton might imply a colonization rather
than simply exploration of the Western Australian coast.
A third piece of evidence supports this possibility. Though again the evidence
is unusual, human dispersal in this case is certain. In Chapter 5 we discuss the
diffusion of the Moon/Lake myth which has a Spice Island origin and a Lapita
distribution. The myth is found in the recognized Lapita colonies but it is also
found in what we claim also to be early Spice Island colonies, New Zealand, Japan
and Hawaii. The myth is not found in Eastern Polynesia. Apparently, anomalously,
it is also found in an area inland from the Western Australian coast south of the
Hammersley Ranges [27]. Ocean currents could account for the dispersal of boab
trees to the northwestern coast of Australia, if it is established that boab seeds
can survive long periods in salt water and if a very long time scale is allowed to
explain species differentiation. Ocean currents might, with the same caveats, have
brought elephant bird eggs and even a ratite skeleton to Western Australia. But the
Moon/Lake myth, which has its origin in the Spice Island region, can only have
reached Western Australia by human agency.
In terms of our paradigm the myth clearly has a first-wave (Lapita-age) diffusion
in the Pacific: Japan, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii and New Zealand (supporting
the prediction inherent in our paradigm for a Lapita-age first settlement of New
Zealand). Its presence in Western Australia suggests that first-wave explorers or
settlers brought the myth to Western Australia. If so, there is some evidence for
both first-wave explorers and migrants following the West Australian Current south
4 Transoceanic Trade and Migration (1)
kilometre inland among ancient sand dunes that once marked the shoreline. In 1930,
over 60 years earlier and 50 km closer to Perth, about 100 m from the sea another
schoolboy, Vic Roberts, had found a smaller egg from the elephant bird at Scott
River, Augusta. Like the smaller extinct New Zealand moa, the elephant bird was a
ratite, a giant flightless bird 3 m tall. The elephant bird, which like the boab tree was
indigenous to Madagascar, became extinct about 300 years ago. The circumference
of the egg found in 1993 is 800 mm, its volume 7 litres.
In 1968 a Western Australian newspaper reported Robert’s claim that at the time
he found the egg he had seen at least part of a skeleton with a very large skull with
a beak on it. Though he has often searched for it since, Roberts has been unable to
locate the skeleton in the shifting sands of the dune where he found the egg. Both
eggs are now held in the Western Australian Museum in Perth.
The second egg was radiocarbon dated to 2000 ± 75 years [26]. This dating,
appropriate for second-wave exploration, at least suggests the possibility that it was
brought from Madagascar for food or trade by mariners sailing the Cinnamon Route.
Indeed, considering the southerly locations where both eggs were found, the dating
would suggest that second-wave mariners, following the West Australian Current
flowing south from the West Pacific Warm Pool, explored most of the length of the
Western Australian coast.
But if, as Vic Roberts claims, a skeleton of the elephant bird existed alongside
the egg, interpretation of his discovery becomes more complex. It might imply
an attempt not by explorers but by colonists to breed elephant birds in Western
Australia, to provide meat for consumption and bone for the manufacture of artefacts. In other words, the existence of a skeleton might imply a colonization rather
than simply exploration of the Western Australian coast.
A third piece of evidence supports this possibility. Though again the evidence
is unusual, human dispersal in this case is certain. In Chapter 5 we discuss the
diffusion of the Moon/Lake myth which has a Spice Island origin and a Lapita
distribution. The myth is found in the recognized Lapita colonies but it is also
found in what we claim also to be early Spice Island colonies, New Zealand, Japan
and Hawaii. The myth is not found in Eastern Polynesia. Apparently, anomalously,
it is also found in an area inland from the Western Australian coast south of the
Hammersley Ranges [27]. Ocean currents could account for the dispersal of boab
trees to the northwestern coast of Australia, if it is established that boab seeds
can survive long periods in salt water and if a very long time scale is allowed to
explain species differentiation. Ocean currents might, with the same caveats, have
brought elephant bird eggs and even a ratite skeleton to Western Australia. But the
Moon/Lake myth, which has its origin in the Spice Island region, can only have
reached Western Australia by human agency.
In terms of our paradigm the myth clearly has a first-wave (Lapita-age) diffusion
in the Pacific: Japan, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii and New Zealand (supporting
the prediction inherent in our paradigm for a Lapita-age first settlement of New
Zealand). Its presence in Western Australia suggests that first-wave explorers or
settlers brought the myth to Western Australia. If so, there is some evidence for
both first-wave explorers and migrants following the West Australian Current south