264
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
The probably insurmountable problem of finding archaeological evidence for
early settlements in New Zealand can be illustrated from the erosion history of
Palliser Bay, a shallow bay on the southern coast of the North Island. This bay is
especially subject to damage from erosion. Walters and Goff record that at Palliser
Bay the AD 1450 tsunami penetrated 3.5 km inland with “erosion of coasts for
about 1.5 km. landward” [1]. The preceding nationwide tsunamis of AD 200, 500,
950 and 1220 may have eroded the bay as savagely. It is highly unlikely that artefactual evidence for the early settlement that is described in the traditional accounts
that we consider in this chapter will ever be found. A continuing cumulative destruction or deep-burying of archaeological evidence is inevitable in a country as subject
to climate-induced and tectonically caused erosion as New Zealand. With artefacts
from such sites unlikely to be discovered, traditional histories may provide the only
window on their history. Accounts of Maui’s encounter with the chieftainess of
Orokoroko provide unexpected historical detail and insights. These challenge the
limiting assumptions that only archaeological evidence is valid and that the absence
of archaeological evidence is proof that no early indigenous history exists.
16.2 Oral Traditions
Oral traditions offer fleeting glimpses of a past that is often hard to snare in any
material or defensible way. Many academics sheer away from uncertainties lest
they blight their reputation for “soundness”. This academic response to traditional
histories is reflected in Margaret Orbell s Hawaiki, A New Approach to Maori
Tradition [2]. Orbell expresses the deep discomfort many prehistorians now feel
with oral traditions. She notes that some recent events recorded in Maori tradition
may have a historical component but believes older events are purely mythological. And that earlier prehistorians like S. Percy Smith and Abraham Fornander
have missed the point of purely mythical oral traditions and have headed down the
slippery slope of seeking prehistory where none exists. In this chapter we contest
Orbell’s conclusion that it is a pointless task to seek history in myth.
Writing systems are said to be only 5,000 or so years old, that is, they have been
a chosen means of remembering for a literate few for only 5% of the last 100,000
years. Oral traditions have preserved and passed on vital knowledge from one generation to another throughout human history. Because the transmission of knowledge
is so important for physical and cultural survival, the human brain appears to have
evolved to ensure its success. Modern studies of the brain through MRI imaging
show it developing in response to the demands placed on it. They show successive phases of proliferation and pruning of neural connections based on a “use it or
lose it” basis. If navigational memorization is a priority, the posterior hippocampus
(a part of the brain involved in spatial memory) will enlarge to meet the need. MRI
scans of the brains of London cab-drivers, who are required to memorize all the
streets of London, for example, reveal an unusually enlarged posterior hippocampus compared with controls. The authors of an MRI imaging study of London cab
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
The probably insurmountable problem of finding archaeological evidence for
early settlements in New Zealand can be illustrated from the erosion history of
Palliser Bay, a shallow bay on the southern coast of the North Island. This bay is
especially subject to damage from erosion. Walters and Goff record that at Palliser
Bay the AD 1450 tsunami penetrated 3.5 km inland with “erosion of coasts for
about 1.5 km. landward” [1]. The preceding nationwide tsunamis of AD 200, 500,
950 and 1220 may have eroded the bay as savagely. It is highly unlikely that artefactual evidence for the early settlement that is described in the traditional accounts
that we consider in this chapter will ever be found. A continuing cumulative destruction or deep-burying of archaeological evidence is inevitable in a country as subject
to climate-induced and tectonically caused erosion as New Zealand. With artefacts
from such sites unlikely to be discovered, traditional histories may provide the only
window on their history. Accounts of Maui’s encounter with the chieftainess of
Orokoroko provide unexpected historical detail and insights. These challenge the
limiting assumptions that only archaeological evidence is valid and that the absence
of archaeological evidence is proof that no early indigenous history exists.
16.2 Oral Traditions
Oral traditions offer fleeting glimpses of a past that is often hard to snare in any
material or defensible way. Many academics sheer away from uncertainties lest
they blight their reputation for “soundness”. This academic response to traditional
histories is reflected in Margaret Orbell s Hawaiki, A New Approach to Maori
Tradition [2]. Orbell expresses the deep discomfort many prehistorians now feel
with oral traditions. She notes that some recent events recorded in Maori tradition
may have a historical component but believes older events are purely mythological. And that earlier prehistorians like S. Percy Smith and Abraham Fornander
have missed the point of purely mythical oral traditions and have headed down the
slippery slope of seeking prehistory where none exists. In this chapter we contest
Orbell’s conclusion that it is a pointless task to seek history in myth.
Writing systems are said to be only 5,000 or so years old, that is, they have been
a chosen means of remembering for a literate few for only 5% of the last 100,000
years. Oral traditions have preserved and passed on vital knowledge from one generation to another throughout human history. Because the transmission of knowledge
is so important for physical and cultural survival, the human brain appears to have
evolved to ensure its success. Modern studies of the brain through MRI imaging
show it developing in response to the demands placed on it. They show successive phases of proliferation and pruning of neural connections based on a “use it or
lose it” basis. If navigational memorization is a priority, the posterior hippocampus
(a part of the brain involved in spatial memory) will enlarge to meet the need. MRI
scans of the brains of London cab-drivers, who are required to memorize all the
streets of London, for example, reveal an unusually enlarged posterior hippocampus compared with controls. The authors of an MRI imaging study of London cab