176
10 Studying the History of Spice Island Migration Through Cultural Diffusion
its limit in the northern Pacific – in Part II we set out to establish evidence for
what we feel is another test case for our paradigm: a Lapita-age first settlement of
New Zealand.
Clear archaeological evidence for early Spice Island contact with southern
California, following the Kuro Shio Current, and for transoceanic trading with east
Africa via the Cinnamon Route creates oceanographic, geographic and chronological contexts in which a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand can be seen as
likely. The distances traversed and the fact that these oceanic feats were performed
before 1000 BC reduce our perception of the scale of the maritime feat involved
in the early Spice Island discovery and settlement of New Zealand, which was significantly closer to the Spice Islands than either America or Africa. Of course, it is
not just a matter of the distances involved that determines the degree of difficulty.
How quickly and easily a distance can be traversed is relevant. History suggests that
it was simpler for Spice Island mariners to follow a powerful warm current over
more than 11,000 km to reach southern California than it was to sail against the
contrary winds and currents of the southern Pacific over the 1,200 km needed to
reach Eastern Polynesia from Western Polynesia. The difficulty with establishing a
sound case for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand – our task in Parts II
and III – is not a matter of maritime difficulty. It arises from the fact that a case for
a very early settlement has to be made in the face of the now entrenched belief that
first settlement took place no more than 800 years ago. Neglected oral histories have
to be resurrected and the palaeodemography and prehistory of New Zealand have to
be effectively rewritten before our case can be clearly established.
References
1. Burrows E (1938) Western Polynesia: A study in cultural differentiation. Ethnological Studies
7, Ethnographical Museum, Gothenburg
2. Haddon A, Hornell J (1936–1938) Canoes of Oceania. Bernice P. Bishop Museum
Special Publications 27–29, reprinted by Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii,
pp. 339–40
3. Hage P (1998) Was Proto-Oceanic society matrilineal? J Polyn Soc 107(4): 365–379, 372
4. Kirch P, Green R (2001), Hawaiki, ancestral Polynesia, an essay in historical anthropology.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 280
5. Dickinson W, Shutler R Jr (1974) Probable Fijian origin of quartzose temper sands in prehistoric pottery from Tonga and the Marquesas. Sci 185: 4554–457; Dickinson W, Rolet B, Y.H.
Sinoto Y et al. (1988) Temper sands in exotic Marquesan pottery and the significance of their
Fijian origin. J Soc Ocean 107: 119–133
6. Athens J, Tuggle H, Ward J, Welch D (2002) Avifaunal extinctions, vegetation change, and
Polynesian impacts in prehistoric Hawaii. Archaeol. Ocean 37: 57–78, 57
7. Hunt T, Holsen R (1991) An early radiocarbon chronology for the Hawaiian Islands: a
preliminary analysis. Asian Perspect 30(1): 147–161, 158
8. Fornander A (1877), An account of the Polynesian race, its origins and migrations. Published
with three volumes in one by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo 1969,
Vol I, p. 161
9. Masse W (1995) The celestial basis of civilization. Vistas in Astron 39: 463–477, p. 466
10 Studying the History of Spice Island Migration Through Cultural Diffusion
its limit in the northern Pacific – in Part II we set out to establish evidence for
what we feel is another test case for our paradigm: a Lapita-age first settlement of
New Zealand.
Clear archaeological evidence for early Spice Island contact with southern
California, following the Kuro Shio Current, and for transoceanic trading with east
Africa via the Cinnamon Route creates oceanographic, geographic and chronological contexts in which a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand can be seen as
likely. The distances traversed and the fact that these oceanic feats were performed
before 1000 BC reduce our perception of the scale of the maritime feat involved
in the early Spice Island discovery and settlement of New Zealand, which was significantly closer to the Spice Islands than either America or Africa. Of course, it is
not just a matter of the distances involved that determines the degree of difficulty.
How quickly and easily a distance can be traversed is relevant. History suggests that
it was simpler for Spice Island mariners to follow a powerful warm current over
more than 11,000 km to reach southern California than it was to sail against the
contrary winds and currents of the southern Pacific over the 1,200 km needed to
reach Eastern Polynesia from Western Polynesia. The difficulty with establishing a
sound case for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand – our task in Parts II
and III – is not a matter of maritime difficulty. It arises from the fact that a case for
a very early settlement has to be made in the face of the now entrenched belief that
first settlement took place no more than 800 years ago. Neglected oral histories have
to be resurrected and the palaeodemography and prehistory of New Zealand have to
be effectively rewritten before our case can be clearly established.
References
1. Burrows E (1938) Western Polynesia: A study in cultural differentiation. Ethnological Studies
7, Ethnographical Museum, Gothenburg
2. Haddon A, Hornell J (1936–1938) Canoes of Oceania. Bernice P. Bishop Museum
Special Publications 27–29, reprinted by Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii,
pp. 339–40
3. Hage P (1998) Was Proto-Oceanic society matrilineal? J Polyn Soc 107(4): 365–379, 372
4. Kirch P, Green R (2001), Hawaiki, ancestral Polynesia, an essay in historical anthropology.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 280
5. Dickinson W, Shutler R Jr (1974) Probable Fijian origin of quartzose temper sands in prehistoric pottery from Tonga and the Marquesas. Sci 185: 4554–457; Dickinson W, Rolet B, Y.H.
Sinoto Y et al. (1988) Temper sands in exotic Marquesan pottery and the significance of their
Fijian origin. J Soc Ocean 107: 119–133
6. Athens J, Tuggle H, Ward J, Welch D (2002) Avifaunal extinctions, vegetation change, and
Polynesian impacts in prehistoric Hawaii. Archaeol. Ocean 37: 57–78, 57
7. Hunt T, Holsen R (1991) An early radiocarbon chronology for the Hawaiian Islands: a
preliminary analysis. Asian Perspect 30(1): 147–161, 158
8. Fornander A (1877), An account of the Polynesian race, its origins and migrations. Published
with three volumes in one by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo 1969,
Vol I, p. 161
9. Masse W (1995) The celestial basis of civilization. Vistas in Astron 39: 463–477, p. 466