164
10 Studying the History of Spice Island Migration Through Cultural Diffusion
from Eastern Polynesia, pa were not a part of Eastern Polynesian material culture.
(References to pa in the tradition of Uenuku’s battle with Tawheta in Chapter 18
appear to contradict this claim but may represent a Maori localizing of a Tahitian
tradition.) New Zealand indigenous traditions record pa in New Zealand hundreds
of years before the medieval Eastern Polynesian migrations took place (see, for
example, the pa attributed to the Eastern Polynesian navigator Toi in Chapter 16).
Another example of the preservation of material cultural elements in an early
colony originating in the Spice Islands is the strong link that Haddon and Hornell
[2] see between the canoes of Hawaii and “proto-Polynesian” canoes of Island
Southeast Asia. So strong do they consider this link that they endorse the traditional
claims that Hawaii was settled from Island Southeast Asia through Micronesia and
go so far as to suggest that Eastern Polynesia may have been settled via Hawaii.
But there is cultural as well as material evidence for a Spice Island Polynesian
homeland for New Zealand. The persistence in New Zealand, for example, of Lapita
matrilineal and matrilocal social structures, contrasts with their displacement in
Eastern Polynesia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum when increased conflict over land and resources led to the seizure of land by conquest rather than its
transmission through maternal lines.
It is far from unreasonable to argue that migration history in the Pacific is
reflected in the conservative retention of concepts, myths and beliefs, social customs and social structures in remote isolated early colonies such as those of New
Zealand, Hawaii and the Chatham Islands and their displacement or evolution in
Eastern Polynesian colonies which were settled far later and were more open to
influences from other cultures and regions. The traditions that record Rauru’s visit
to New Guinea to secure a special variety of yam and the defeated Tangiia’s visit
to Island Southeast Asia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum (see Chapter 19)
suggest a voyaging frequency and range that opened Eastern Polynesia to cultural
influences from other regions. Tradition records, for example, that Tangiia brought
back new musical instruments and new dances from Island Southeast Asia.
The evolution of complex hierarchical societies in horticulturally based tropical
Polynesia can be associated with evolutions in both material culture and nonmaterial culture that in many cases were not passed on to New Zealand tribes by
Eastern Polynesian medieval migrants. That New Zealand was resistant to Eastern
Polynesian influences in some areas can be explained by its having a social conservatism associated with a long anterior history in New Zealand – a prehistory that, as
we shall show in Part II, possibly predated the settlement of Eastern Polynesia by
1,500–1,900 years.
10.2 The Preservation of Spice Island Matrilineal and Matrilocal
Social Structures in New Zealand
Linguistic evidence for the persistence of a matriarchal and matrilocal social structure in New Zealand can be seen from Burrows’ list of kinship terms. New Zealand,
for example, has kinship terms for mother’s brother, father’s sister, brother’s child
10 Studying the History of Spice Island Migration Through Cultural Diffusion
from Eastern Polynesia, pa were not a part of Eastern Polynesian material culture.
(References to pa in the tradition of Uenuku’s battle with Tawheta in Chapter 18
appear to contradict this claim but may represent a Maori localizing of a Tahitian
tradition.) New Zealand indigenous traditions record pa in New Zealand hundreds
of years before the medieval Eastern Polynesian migrations took place (see, for
example, the pa attributed to the Eastern Polynesian navigator Toi in Chapter 16).
Another example of the preservation of material cultural elements in an early
colony originating in the Spice Islands is the strong link that Haddon and Hornell
[2] see between the canoes of Hawaii and “proto-Polynesian” canoes of Island
Southeast Asia. So strong do they consider this link that they endorse the traditional
claims that Hawaii was settled from Island Southeast Asia through Micronesia and
go so far as to suggest that Eastern Polynesia may have been settled via Hawaii.
But there is cultural as well as material evidence for a Spice Island Polynesian
homeland for New Zealand. The persistence in New Zealand, for example, of Lapita
matrilineal and matrilocal social structures, contrasts with their displacement in
Eastern Polynesia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum when increased conflict over land and resources led to the seizure of land by conquest rather than its
transmission through maternal lines.
It is far from unreasonable to argue that migration history in the Pacific is
reflected in the conservative retention of concepts, myths and beliefs, social customs and social structures in remote isolated early colonies such as those of New
Zealand, Hawaii and the Chatham Islands and their displacement or evolution in
Eastern Polynesian colonies which were settled far later and were more open to
influences from other cultures and regions. The traditions that record Rauru’s visit
to New Guinea to secure a special variety of yam and the defeated Tangiia’s visit
to Island Southeast Asia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum (see Chapter 19)
suggest a voyaging frequency and range that opened Eastern Polynesia to cultural
influences from other regions. Tradition records, for example, that Tangiia brought
back new musical instruments and new dances from Island Southeast Asia.
The evolution of complex hierarchical societies in horticulturally based tropical
Polynesia can be associated with evolutions in both material culture and nonmaterial culture that in many cases were not passed on to New Zealand tribes by
Eastern Polynesian medieval migrants. That New Zealand was resistant to Eastern
Polynesian influences in some areas can be explained by its having a social conservatism associated with a long anterior history in New Zealand – a prehistory that, as
we shall show in Part II, possibly predated the settlement of Eastern Polynesia by
1,500–1,900 years.
10.2 The Preservation of Spice Island Matrilineal and Matrilocal
Social Structures in New Zealand
Linguistic evidence for the persistence of a matriarchal and matrilocal social structure in New Zealand can be seen from Burrows’ list of kinship terms. New Zealand,
for example, has kinship terms for mother’s brother, father’s sister, brother’s child