Chapter 18
Dating the Last Migration to New Zealand
Abstract David Simmons’ deconstructionist rejection of the Heke as an historical
event is challenged. Statistical analysis is used to disprove his claim that the canoes
of the Heke, the last migration to reach New Zealand, were not contemporaneous. To
counter Simmons’ further claim that the Heke was not an external migration from
Tahiti via Rarotonga to New Zealand but represented internal migrations within
New Zealand, Rarotongan traditions which highlight the conflict in Tahiti that led
to the migration are cited and discussed. Establishing the historicity of the Heke is
important because it represents a migrational watershed, marking the end of longdistance migration to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia. Coinciding with the
beginning of the Little Ice Age, the Heke also marks a demographic watershed for,
after the Heke, even the richer areas of New Zealand were threatened with starvation
and experienced drastic population decline. And the Heke marks an archaeological
turning point in New Zealand as tribes working horticultural land were driven to
building pa to protect their lands and the stored harvests that provided some insurance against famine. Establishing a secure date for the Heke, further, provides a
pillar for the chronology we sketch for Eastern Polynesian prehistory in Chapter 19.
Keywords Historicity of the Heke · Canoe genealogies · Statistical analysis ·
Rarotongan Heke traditions · Dating the Heke · Historical evidence
18.1 Introduction
In Part I we present evidence that Spice Island explorers, traders and colonizers,
following two major currents flowing out of the West Pacific Warm Pool, reached
Madagascar and east Africa to the west, Japan to the north and Hawaii and America
to the east. In Part II we argue that explorers and migrants, following a third major
current from the West Pacific Warm Pool, reached New Zealand to the south. A
consilience of oceanographic, genetic, horticultural, demographic, archaeological
and cultural evidence, evidence from Island Southeast Asian history and evidence
from Polynesian traditional histories supports the claim for two predicted waves of
303
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_18, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Dating the Last Migration to New Zealand
Abstract David Simmons’ deconstructionist rejection of the Heke as an historical
event is challenged. Statistical analysis is used to disprove his claim that the canoes
of the Heke, the last migration to reach New Zealand, were not contemporaneous. To
counter Simmons’ further claim that the Heke was not an external migration from
Tahiti via Rarotonga to New Zealand but represented internal migrations within
New Zealand, Rarotongan traditions which highlight the conflict in Tahiti that led
to the migration are cited and discussed. Establishing the historicity of the Heke is
important because it represents a migrational watershed, marking the end of longdistance migration to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia. Coinciding with the
beginning of the Little Ice Age, the Heke also marks a demographic watershed for,
after the Heke, even the richer areas of New Zealand were threatened with starvation
and experienced drastic population decline. And the Heke marks an archaeological
turning point in New Zealand as tribes working horticultural land were driven to
building pa to protect their lands and the stored harvests that provided some insurance against famine. Establishing a secure date for the Heke, further, provides a
pillar for the chronology we sketch for Eastern Polynesian prehistory in Chapter 19.
Keywords Historicity of the Heke · Canoe genealogies · Statistical analysis ·
Rarotongan Heke traditions · Dating the Heke · Historical evidence
18.1 Introduction
In Part I we present evidence that Spice Island explorers, traders and colonizers,
following two major currents flowing out of the West Pacific Warm Pool, reached
Madagascar and east Africa to the west, Japan to the north and Hawaii and America
to the east. In Part II we argue that explorers and migrants, following a third major
current from the West Pacific Warm Pool, reached New Zealand to the south. A
consilience of oceanographic, genetic, horticultural, demographic, archaeological
and cultural evidence, evidence from Island Southeast Asian history and evidence
from Polynesian traditional histories supports the claim for two predicted waves of
303
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_18, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010