12.9 Cannibalism in New Zealand
207
with the desperate demand – even the living were butchered. In the words of one Catholic
priest, there were no limits, ‘Fathers eat sons and daughters, husbands eat wives and children
eat their parents’.
In this global context, the appearance of cannibalism in New Zealand in the Little
Ice Age can be read as evidence of extreme and probably widespread starvation and
high population loss.
In the coldest phases of the Little Ice Age in New Zealand when starvation and
related conflict over land and resources were driving forces and the declining population still exceeded resources, it is indeed likely that cannibalism appeared as a
response to starvation, though, as tradition claims, it was probably restricted even
then to eating only enemies killed in battle. As populations fell and subsistence
levels improved, it seems possible, however, that there could have been a transition from cannibalism in response to starvation (“subsistence” cannibalism Barber
calls it) [18] to cannibalism driven by need for revenge against those who continually threatened tribal security and also, of course, driven by the anger and fear that
fuelled that revenge. Barber argues that cannibalism in New Zealand was a ritual
expression of revenge rather than evidence of a desperate need for protein and that
because of this probably little human flesh was consumed. Certainly revenge as a
motivation is psychologically likely. Warfare seems to have become endemic and
fear of attack constant. Even Cook, as late as 1777, believed that the Maori lived in
“perpetual apprehinsions” [sic] of attack and that cannibalism was to be understood
in the context of revenge [19].
Fear for the survival of the tribe, whether because of starvation or attack, was
almost certainly a driving force behind pa-building, warfare and associated cannibalism. Barber notes Anne Salmond’s claim that “after about A.D.1500 in the
context of population pressure and resource competition (following significant bird
extinctions and the decline of seal populations), warfare apparently intensified and
evidence of cannibalism began to appear”. The bird extinctions and decline of seal
populations are evidence not only of the impact of the Little Ice Age on ecosystems but probably also of the abandonment of traditional protocols for limiting the
hunting of various species to prescribed periods. Indigenous tribes, for example,
had imposed protocols on the hunting of moa and other birds, such as the potakitaki(paradise duck), parera (grey duck), weka (woodhen), pukaki(swamp turkey),
keruru (pigeon), kaka (brown parrot) and koko (parson bird), and probably maintained them for centuries [20]. Eastern Polynesian migrants and their descendants,
and possibly even the tangata whenua themselves, may have chosen to ignore these
protocols in the face of starvation. Certainly there is clear evidence of increasing
scarcity and extinctions in some species which had been an important part of the
Maori diet. Anne Salmond [21] tells us:
By the fourteenth century the larger species of moa and elephant and leopard seals were
scarce in the South Island and almost non-existent in the North. The native swan, the flightless goose, Finsch’s duck, the New Zealand eagle and the native species of goshawk, coot
and crow had all become extinct. By the fifteenth century fewer birds of fewer species were
being caught in most North Island communities, while all species of moa were virtually
extinct in the North Island and had become rare in the South.
207
with the desperate demand – even the living were butchered. In the words of one Catholic
priest, there were no limits, ‘Fathers eat sons and daughters, husbands eat wives and children
eat their parents’.
In this global context, the appearance of cannibalism in New Zealand in the Little
Ice Age can be read as evidence of extreme and probably widespread starvation and
high population loss.
In the coldest phases of the Little Ice Age in New Zealand when starvation and
related conflict over land and resources were driving forces and the declining population still exceeded resources, it is indeed likely that cannibalism appeared as a
response to starvation, though, as tradition claims, it was probably restricted even
then to eating only enemies killed in battle. As populations fell and subsistence
levels improved, it seems possible, however, that there could have been a transition from cannibalism in response to starvation (“subsistence” cannibalism Barber
calls it) [18] to cannibalism driven by need for revenge against those who continually threatened tribal security and also, of course, driven by the anger and fear that
fuelled that revenge. Barber argues that cannibalism in New Zealand was a ritual
expression of revenge rather than evidence of a desperate need for protein and that
because of this probably little human flesh was consumed. Certainly revenge as a
motivation is psychologically likely. Warfare seems to have become endemic and
fear of attack constant. Even Cook, as late as 1777, believed that the Maori lived in
“perpetual apprehinsions” [sic] of attack and that cannibalism was to be understood
in the context of revenge [19].
Fear for the survival of the tribe, whether because of starvation or attack, was
almost certainly a driving force behind pa-building, warfare and associated cannibalism. Barber notes Anne Salmond’s claim that “after about A.D.1500 in the
context of population pressure and resource competition (following significant bird
extinctions and the decline of seal populations), warfare apparently intensified and
evidence of cannibalism began to appear”. The bird extinctions and decline of seal
populations are evidence not only of the impact of the Little Ice Age on ecosystems but probably also of the abandonment of traditional protocols for limiting the
hunting of various species to prescribed periods. Indigenous tribes, for example,
had imposed protocols on the hunting of moa and other birds, such as the potakitaki(paradise duck), parera (grey duck), weka (woodhen), pukaki(swamp turkey),
keruru (pigeon), kaka (brown parrot) and koko (parson bird), and probably maintained them for centuries [20]. Eastern Polynesian migrants and their descendants,
and possibly even the tangata whenua themselves, may have chosen to ignore these
protocols in the face of starvation. Certainly there is clear evidence of increasing
scarcity and extinctions in some species which had been an important part of the
Maori diet. Anne Salmond [21] tells us:
By the fourteenth century the larger species of moa and elephant and leopard seals were
scarce in the South Island and almost non-existent in the North. The native swan, the flightless goose, Finsch’s duck, the New Zealand eagle and the native species of goshawk, coot
and crow had all become extinct. By the fifteenth century fewer birds of fewer species were
being caught in most North Island communities, while all species of moa were virtually
extinct in the North Island and had become rare in the South.