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16 The Context of Oral Traditions
But Polynesian myth and legend are not simply history heavily disguised: history
is not the pearl in the mythical oyster. Rather history is seen as the re-enactment
of myth, a recreation of mythical patterns. Traditional modes of thinking about
exploration, for example, are represented in terms of the central metaphors which
belong to the mythology of creation. Explorers discovering new lands are seen as
successive Mauis fishing up lands from a primal ocean, engaged like Maui the demigod in the process of creation itself. The mythical hero and the historical hero are
handfast because myth and legend are seen as a living force. When metaphorically he fishes up new lands, an historical explorer draws on or partakes of the
mana (spiritual power) inherent in primal creation: he helps to ensure the continuation of that creation and he draws some of that mana to himself and to his
descendants.
16.4 Exploration and Settlement in the Context
of Global Climate Patterns
While oral histories telling of Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand need to be
read in this mythological framework, they can also be viewed historically in the light
of global climate history. That is, they can be seen in a context where fluctuations
in global climate generate a recurring pattern of conditions favouring or limiting
possibilities for exploration and migration. Viewed in this way, Maui’s explorations
of the Pacific belong to a worldwide pattern of exploration and colonization confined
to warm climate periods. Global climatic conditions constrain the dating of Maui’s
visit to New Zealand.
H.H. Lamb [4] sees not just the history of maritime exploration but more generally of all human exploration and migration as being firmly tied to global warm
periods. He presents the Indo-European migrations that led to the peopling of
Europe, for example, in this context. He also illustrates this theme by describing
two sets of parallel and extraordinary feats of oceanic exploration and colonization
belonging to the Medieval Climatic Optimum. In the Pacific Polynesian explorers discovered or rediscovered, colonized or recolonized the major archipelagoes
in the Pacific. In the northern Atlantic, Norse Vikings, in wonderfully constructed
and decorated ocean-going ships, not only traded as far as Byzantium, plundered
coastal areas and supplied Europe and their own colonies with Irish slaves, but
“discovered” and colonized Vinland (in North America). One Viking ship, Lamb
tells us, is reported to have sailed along the west coast of North America as far as
the Californian Gulf. Oral traditions amongst the native Americans there recall the
event because of the fair skin and red hair of the Norsemen [5]. Reduced reach of ice
in the North Atlantic, reduced storminess and clearer skies (making navigating by
the stars easier) facilitated both exploration and colonization in the medieval warm
period. A greater range of crops could be grown at the time of the colonization of
Iceland, Greenland and Vinland than today; grass was lusher, cod swarmed in the
northern seas.
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
But Polynesian myth and legend are not simply history heavily disguised: history
is not the pearl in the mythical oyster. Rather history is seen as the re-enactment
of myth, a recreation of mythical patterns. Traditional modes of thinking about
exploration, for example, are represented in terms of the central metaphors which
belong to the mythology of creation. Explorers discovering new lands are seen as
successive Mauis fishing up lands from a primal ocean, engaged like Maui the demigod in the process of creation itself. The mythical hero and the historical hero are
handfast because myth and legend are seen as a living force. When metaphorically he fishes up new lands, an historical explorer draws on or partakes of the
mana (spiritual power) inherent in primal creation: he helps to ensure the continuation of that creation and he draws some of that mana to himself and to his
descendants.
16.4 Exploration and Settlement in the Context
of Global Climate Patterns
While oral histories telling of Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand need to be
read in this mythological framework, they can also be viewed historically in the light
of global climate history. That is, they can be seen in a context where fluctuations
in global climate generate a recurring pattern of conditions favouring or limiting
possibilities for exploration and migration. Viewed in this way, Maui’s explorations
of the Pacific belong to a worldwide pattern of exploration and colonization confined
to warm climate periods. Global climatic conditions constrain the dating of Maui’s
visit to New Zealand.
H.H. Lamb [4] sees not just the history of maritime exploration but more generally of all human exploration and migration as being firmly tied to global warm
periods. He presents the Indo-European migrations that led to the peopling of
Europe, for example, in this context. He also illustrates this theme by describing
two sets of parallel and extraordinary feats of oceanic exploration and colonization
belonging to the Medieval Climatic Optimum. In the Pacific Polynesian explorers discovered or rediscovered, colonized or recolonized the major archipelagoes
in the Pacific. In the northern Atlantic, Norse Vikings, in wonderfully constructed
and decorated ocean-going ships, not only traded as far as Byzantium, plundered
coastal areas and supplied Europe and their own colonies with Irish slaves, but
“discovered” and colonized Vinland (in North America). One Viking ship, Lamb
tells us, is reported to have sailed along the west coast of North America as far as
the Californian Gulf. Oral traditions amongst the native Americans there recall the
event because of the fair skin and red hair of the Norsemen [5]. Reduced reach of ice
in the North Atlantic, reduced storminess and clearer skies (making navigating by
the stars easier) facilitated both exploration and colonization in the medieval warm
period. A greater range of crops could be grown at the time of the colonization of
Iceland, Greenland and Vinland than today; grass was lusher, cod swarmed in the
northern seas.