10.6 Part I: A Summary
175
We have argued that the early discoveries of Madagascar, New Zealand and
Hawaii were the predictable result of adopting an exploration strategy based on
following the diverging edge of a strong current towards land. We have suggested
that supporting evidence for a very early settlement of New Zealand can be found
in the migration history of the Pacific rat and in the persistence in New Zealand of a
matriarchal and matrilocal social structure of Lapita origin. We see the two combine
in consilience when Maui the Navigator meets the chieftainess at Orokoroko on the
site in New Zealand where a Lapita rat haplogroup was found.
In this chapter we have explored consilient evidence, suggesting methods for
studying the history of Spice Island migrations and migration sequence in situations
where material evidence for the early migrations recorded in traditional histories
is scant or even absent. A range of means for studying migration history through
the diffusion of both material and non-material culture has been proposed. We
have found evidence for a Spice Island origin for New Zealand, for example, from
material evidence (constructional details in New Zealand pa which link them to
fortifications in the Spice Island region) and from non-material evidence (the persistence in New Zealand of matrilineal and matrilocal social structures regarded
as being of Lapita origin, largely displaced in Eastern Polynesia before medieval
migrations from Eastern Polynesian to New Zealand took place).
Studies with a singular focus such as Collerson and Weisler’s scientific analysis of the trace elements and isotope chemistries of stone adzes enable to
confirm the widespread trading within Eastern Polynesia in the medieval warm
period that is recorded in tradition. Fornander’s compilation of Spice Island place
names preserved in Hawaii, as indicators of the origins of early migrations to
Hawaii, similarly provides robust confirmation for information recorded in oral
traditions.
In this chapter we have sketched a range of possibilities for studying early migration history and sequence in circumstances where the paucity of archaeological
evidence is constraining. Some of these approaches are explored in depth in Parts II
and III. In Part II we attempt to establish our claim for a Lapita-age first settlement
of New Zealand through both archaeological (material) and non-material means.
Indeed, our approach for supporting this claim is divided almost equally between
evidence from material and non-material sources: for example from mathematical
analysis of data from field archaeology, studying traditional histories with cultural
sensitivity and a scientific awareness and studying the historical implications of the
diffusion and evolution over time of Spice Island myths and rituals in the Pacific.
These approaches cumulatively enrich understanding and in complementary ways
endorse our claim for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand. In Part III we
sketch a chronology for Polynesian prehistory through exploiting interfaces between
Polynesian genealogies and western chronology provided by astronomical and climate proxy data which in some cases enable us to precisely date events recorded in
traditional histories.
Where in Part I we sought evidence for the fulfilment of what some would
see as the most extreme prediction implicit in our paradigm – that both first- and
second-wave explorers reached America by following the Kuro Shio Current to
175
We have argued that the early discoveries of Madagascar, New Zealand and
Hawaii were the predictable result of adopting an exploration strategy based on
following the diverging edge of a strong current towards land. We have suggested
that supporting evidence for a very early settlement of New Zealand can be found
in the migration history of the Pacific rat and in the persistence in New Zealand of a
matriarchal and matrilocal social structure of Lapita origin. We see the two combine
in consilience when Maui the Navigator meets the chieftainess at Orokoroko on the
site in New Zealand where a Lapita rat haplogroup was found.
In this chapter we have explored consilient evidence, suggesting methods for
studying the history of Spice Island migrations and migration sequence in situations
where material evidence for the early migrations recorded in traditional histories
is scant or even absent. A range of means for studying migration history through
the diffusion of both material and non-material culture has been proposed. We
have found evidence for a Spice Island origin for New Zealand, for example, from
material evidence (constructional details in New Zealand pa which link them to
fortifications in the Spice Island region) and from non-material evidence (the persistence in New Zealand of matrilineal and matrilocal social structures regarded
as being of Lapita origin, largely displaced in Eastern Polynesia before medieval
migrations from Eastern Polynesian to New Zealand took place).
Studies with a singular focus such as Collerson and Weisler’s scientific analysis of the trace elements and isotope chemistries of stone adzes enable to
confirm the widespread trading within Eastern Polynesia in the medieval warm
period that is recorded in tradition. Fornander’s compilation of Spice Island place
names preserved in Hawaii, as indicators of the origins of early migrations to
Hawaii, similarly provides robust confirmation for information recorded in oral
traditions.
In this chapter we have sketched a range of possibilities for studying early migration history and sequence in circumstances where the paucity of archaeological
evidence is constraining. Some of these approaches are explored in depth in Parts II
and III. In Part II we attempt to establish our claim for a Lapita-age first settlement
of New Zealand through both archaeological (material) and non-material means.
Indeed, our approach for supporting this claim is divided almost equally between
evidence from material and non-material sources: for example from mathematical
analysis of data from field archaeology, studying traditional histories with cultural
sensitivity and a scientific awareness and studying the historical implications of the
diffusion and evolution over time of Spice Island myths and rituals in the Pacific.
These approaches cumulatively enrich understanding and in complementary ways
endorse our claim for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand. In Part III we
sketch a chronology for Polynesian prehistory through exploiting interfaces between
Polynesian genealogies and western chronology provided by astronomical and climate proxy data which in some cases enable us to precisely date events recorded in
traditional histories.
Where in Part I we sought evidence for the fulfilment of what some would
see as the most extreme prediction implicit in our paradigm – that both first- and
second-wave explorers reached America by following the Kuro Shio Current to