References
247
occupied and defended in the early 1400s, not in the period leading up to Cook’s
arrival.
Of importance for the central thrust of the book, the range of severe population decline rates derived from skeletal evidence and presented in Table 14.2
makes it very clear that the steadily rising population growth rates proposed
by late settlement theorists are inconceivable for Little Ice Age New Zealand
and, given the latitude of New Zealand, inconceivable in a Little Ice Age global
context.
Extreme population losses in New Zealand in the Little Ice Age imply a long
demographic history for Maori in New Zealand generating high populations outstripping resources and engaged in intense conflict over land and resources in the
Little Ice Age. Late settlement of New Zealand requires evidence for continuous
high population growth rates. High population growth rates are incompatible both
with the skeletal evidence we have considered in this chapter and with the evidence
for severe environmental deterioration in Little Ice Age New Zealand considered in
this chapter and in Chapter 12. The most obvious interpretation of the high population decline rates implicit in the skeletal data is that they reflect severe population
losses resulting when high populations at the beginning of the Little Ice Age confronted drastically lowered ceilings of sustainability. The population capacity of
large and very large pa, established from Walton’s research, supports the inescapable
conclusion that there were large populations in New Zealand at the beginning of the
Little Ice Age and that these populations were the result, not of medieval migrations
only 120 years before, but of a long demographic history and of a very early first
settlement.
References
1. Brewis A (1989) Reconstructions of prehistoric fertility: The Maori case. Man Cult Ocean 5:
21–36
2. Hoppa R, Vaupel J (eds.). (2002) Paleodemography: Age distributions from skeletal samples.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
3. Houghton P (1975) The first New Zealanders. Hodder and Stoughton, Auckland
4. Phillipps M (1980) An estimation of fertility in prehistoric New Zealanders. N Z J Archaeol
2: 149–167
5. Sutton D (1986) Maori demographic change, 1769–1840: The inner workings of “A
Picturesque but Illogical Simile.” J Polyn Soc 95: 291–339
6. Visser E (1986) Fertility among prehistoric New Zealanders: an analysis of general and
regional patterns. MA thesis, University of Auckland
7. Houghton P (1975) The bony imprint of pregnancy. Bull NY Acad. Med 51: 655–661.
8. Simpson A (1979) An assessment of health in the prehistoric inhabitants of New Zealand and
the Chatham Islands. B Med Sci Thesis, Otago Medical School
9. Sutton D (1979) The prehistoric people of Palliser Bay. Bull NZ Natl Mus. NZ 21: 185–203
10. Brewis A, Molloy M and Sutton D (1990) Modelling the prehistoric Maori population. Am J
Phys Anthropol 81: 343–356
11. Anderson A (1991) The chronology of colonization in New Zealand. Antiq 65: 767–791
12. See Pool I (1991) Te iwi Maori, a New Zealand population past present and projected.
Auckland University Press, p. 43
247
occupied and defended in the early 1400s, not in the period leading up to Cook’s
arrival.
Of importance for the central thrust of the book, the range of severe population decline rates derived from skeletal evidence and presented in Table 14.2
makes it very clear that the steadily rising population growth rates proposed
by late settlement theorists are inconceivable for Little Ice Age New Zealand
and, given the latitude of New Zealand, inconceivable in a Little Ice Age global
context.
Extreme population losses in New Zealand in the Little Ice Age imply a long
demographic history for Maori in New Zealand generating high populations outstripping resources and engaged in intense conflict over land and resources in the
Little Ice Age. Late settlement of New Zealand requires evidence for continuous
high population growth rates. High population growth rates are incompatible both
with the skeletal evidence we have considered in this chapter and with the evidence
for severe environmental deterioration in Little Ice Age New Zealand considered in
this chapter and in Chapter 12. The most obvious interpretation of the high population decline rates implicit in the skeletal data is that they reflect severe population
losses resulting when high populations at the beginning of the Little Ice Age confronted drastically lowered ceilings of sustainability. The population capacity of
large and very large pa, established from Walton’s research, supports the inescapable
conclusion that there were large populations in New Zealand at the beginning of the
Little Ice Age and that these populations were the result, not of medieval migrations
only 120 years before, but of a long demographic history and of a very early first
settlement.
References
1. Brewis A (1989) Reconstructions of prehistoric fertility: The Maori case. Man Cult Ocean 5:
21–36
2. Hoppa R, Vaupel J (eds.). (2002) Paleodemography: Age distributions from skeletal samples.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
3. Houghton P (1975) The first New Zealanders. Hodder and Stoughton, Auckland
4. Phillipps M (1980) An estimation of fertility in prehistoric New Zealanders. N Z J Archaeol
2: 149–167
5. Sutton D (1986) Maori demographic change, 1769–1840: The inner workings of “A
Picturesque but Illogical Simile.” J Polyn Soc 95: 291–339
6. Visser E (1986) Fertility among prehistoric New Zealanders: an analysis of general and
regional patterns. MA thesis, University of Auckland
7. Houghton P (1975) The bony imprint of pregnancy. Bull NY Acad. Med 51: 655–661.
8. Simpson A (1979) An assessment of health in the prehistoric inhabitants of New Zealand and
the Chatham Islands. B Med Sci Thesis, Otago Medical School
9. Sutton D (1979) The prehistoric people of Palliser Bay. Bull NZ Natl Mus. NZ 21: 185–203
10. Brewis A, Molloy M and Sutton D (1990) Modelling the prehistoric Maori population. Am J
Phys Anthropol 81: 343–356
11. Anderson A (1991) The chronology of colonization in New Zealand. Antiq 65: 767–791
12. See Pool I (1991) Te iwi Maori, a New Zealand population past present and projected.
Auckland University Press, p. 43