References
299
the Lapita cultural complex. Comparison of Moriori myths with Te Arawa forms,
which can be sourced to late Eastern Polynesia, suggests that, in the isolation of
the Chatham Islands, a Lapita-age version of the myth of the Cosmogonic Tree and
of associated myths and rituals may have been preserved in their original totemic
form – a form which may be 4,000 years old and have its source in the Spice Islands.
The evidence for a very early settlement of New Zealand presented in Part II
is various: it involves demographic computations based on skeletal evidence and on
evidence from field archaeology, evidence from a power law analysis of the rank size
distribution of New Zealand pa, evidence from global climate history and the history
of morphology in New Zealand and evidence gleaned from traditional histories. We
believe that the survival of ancient myths and rituals in the Chatham Islands adds
to the consilience of evidence from these many contexts for a direct Lapita-age first
settlement of New Zealand from the Spice Islands.
The relative isolation of New Zealand before AD 1200 and the extreme isolation of the Chatham Islands through most of their history contrast starkly with the
opportunities for genetic, technological and cultural exchange possible in tropical
Polynesia. The Chatham Islands were arguably the most isolated settlement in the
Pacific. The preservation there of the ancient totemic Creation myths and associated
Tiki and baptism rituals is hardly surprising. Significantly their preservation might
be seen as supporting evidence for the antiquity and authenticity of two genealogies found there. In Part III these Moriori genealogies, amongst the oldest surviving
genealogies in the Pacific, become the means for computing dates for some of the
earliest events in the peopling of the Pacific. Combined with genealogical evidence
preserved in Rarotonga, they help us to sketch a robust chronology for prehistoric
migration in tropical Polynesia stretching back to about 400 BC. More remarkably, they enable us to determine approximate dates for the first settlement of New
Zealand nearly a thousand years before this and for the settlement of the Chatham
Islands about 600 years later. We see these as key events in the history of the early
exploration and colonization of the Pacific.
References
1. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, p. 433
2. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, pp. 211–212
3. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, pp. 336ff
4. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, p. 434
5. Luomala K (1940) Oceanic, American Indian, and African myths of snaring the sun. Bernice
P Bishop Museum Bulletin 168, Honolulu, Hawaii. Kaus Reprint Co, New York 1971
6. Robinson S (2005) Tohunga, the revival ancient knowledge for the modern era. Reed
Publishing , Auckland, New Zealand
7. Mahdi W (1999) Linguistic and philological data towards a chronology of Austronesian
activity in India and Sri Lanka. In: Blench R, Spriggs M (eds) Archaeology and Language
299
the Lapita cultural complex. Comparison of Moriori myths with Te Arawa forms,
which can be sourced to late Eastern Polynesia, suggests that, in the isolation of
the Chatham Islands, a Lapita-age version of the myth of the Cosmogonic Tree and
of associated myths and rituals may have been preserved in their original totemic
form – a form which may be 4,000 years old and have its source in the Spice Islands.
The evidence for a very early settlement of New Zealand presented in Part II
is various: it involves demographic computations based on skeletal evidence and on
evidence from field archaeology, evidence from a power law analysis of the rank size
distribution of New Zealand pa, evidence from global climate history and the history
of morphology in New Zealand and evidence gleaned from traditional histories. We
believe that the survival of ancient myths and rituals in the Chatham Islands adds
to the consilience of evidence from these many contexts for a direct Lapita-age first
settlement of New Zealand from the Spice Islands.
The relative isolation of New Zealand before AD 1200 and the extreme isolation of the Chatham Islands through most of their history contrast starkly with the
opportunities for genetic, technological and cultural exchange possible in tropical
Polynesia. The Chatham Islands were arguably the most isolated settlement in the
Pacific. The preservation there of the ancient totemic Creation myths and associated
Tiki and baptism rituals is hardly surprising. Significantly their preservation might
be seen as supporting evidence for the antiquity and authenticity of two genealogies found there. In Part III these Moriori genealogies, amongst the oldest surviving
genealogies in the Pacific, become the means for computing dates for some of the
earliest events in the peopling of the Pacific. Combined with genealogical evidence
preserved in Rarotonga, they help us to sketch a robust chronology for prehistoric
migration in tropical Polynesia stretching back to about 400 BC. More remarkably, they enable us to determine approximate dates for the first settlement of New
Zealand nearly a thousand years before this and for the settlement of the Chatham
Islands about 600 years later. We see these as key events in the history of the early
exploration and colonization of the Pacific.
References
1. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, p. 433
2. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, pp. 211–212
3. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, pp. 336ff
4. Oppenheimer S (1998) Eden in the east, the drowned continent of Southeast Asia. Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, London, p. 434
5. Luomala K (1940) Oceanic, American Indian, and African myths of snaring the sun. Bernice
P Bishop Museum Bulletin 168, Honolulu, Hawaii. Kaus Reprint Co, New York 1971
6. Robinson S (2005) Tohunga, the revival ancient knowledge for the modern era. Reed
Publishing , Auckland, New Zealand
7. Mahdi W (1999) Linguistic and philological data towards a chronology of Austronesian
activity in India and Sri Lanka. In: Blench R, Spriggs M (eds) Archaeology and Language