304
18 Dating the Last Migration to New Zealand
exploration and migration from the Spice Island region separated by the
600-year-long global cold period that began in about 1000 BC.
In Part III, to complement the history of Spice Island-based exploration and
migration, we sketch a chronology for the history of later, Eastern Polynesian-based,
exploration and migration in the Pacific. Voyaging from a base in Eastern Polynesia
depended on exploiting the variable winds and currents of the southern Pacific
rather than strong currents flowing out of the West Pacific Warm Pool. Different
canoes were used. Exploration techniques and sailing technologies were evolved
independently.
Sketching a chronology for Eastern Polynesian migration history requires an
understanding of global climate history as it impacted on tropical Polynesia. It also
depends in some cases on understanding the circumstances, personalities and events
within Eastern Polynesia that triggered specific medieval oceanic migrations.
We have chosen as our focus for this chapter the task of dating the Heke (the last
migration to reach New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia before the Little Ice Age
put an end to long-distance oceanic migration). Relevant events are clearly recorded
in Tahitian and Rarotongan tradition. Analysis of these traditions provides us with
unique means for dating the last migration.
We have a threefold motivation for choosing the Heke as our focus. First the Heke
represents a migrational watershed, marking the end of prehistoric migration to New
Zealand and probably the end of long-distance migration within 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 suffered drastic population decline. And the Heke
marks an archaeological turning point. With the advent of the Little Ice Age, tribes
working horticultural land in New Zealand were driven to building and defending pa
to protect their lands and the stored harvests that provided some insurance against
famine. Being able to date the last migration to New Zealand provides a chronological marker for these three turning points in New Zealand prehistory. It also provides
a chronological marker for Eastern Polynesian prehistory.
There is an academic motivation too for attempting to date the last medieval
migration to New Zealand. In New Zealand repudiation of the historicity of the
Heke has led to the dominance of deconstructionist histories in the past 30 years.
We feel that this has restricted and impoverished understanding. Our aim throughout
this book has been to assert the power of tradition to provide historical insights
and historical detail inaccessible by other means and in a few cases to capture the
personalities of the important ancestors who helped to shape history. It is partly in
defence of neglected traditional histories that we argue a case in this chapter for the
historicity of the Heke. Through a combination of statistical analysis and evidence
implicit in both Maori and Eastern Polynesian Heke traditions, we show that the
arrival of the last migration fleet to reach New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia can
be firmly established as a historical event.
Establishing a secure date for the Heke provides a pillar for the chronology we
sketch for Polynesian and Eastern Polynesian prehistory in Chapter 19. Establishing
this chronology in turn helps us to date the first migration to New Zealand – our
focus in Chapter 20.
18 Dating the Last Migration to New Zealand
exploration and migration from the Spice Island region separated by the
600-year-long global cold period that began in about 1000 BC.
In Part III, to complement the history of Spice Island-based exploration and
migration, we sketch a chronology for the history of later, Eastern Polynesian-based,
exploration and migration in the Pacific. Voyaging from a base in Eastern Polynesia
depended on exploiting the variable winds and currents of the southern Pacific
rather than strong currents flowing out of the West Pacific Warm Pool. Different
canoes were used. Exploration techniques and sailing technologies were evolved
independently.
Sketching a chronology for Eastern Polynesian migration history requires an
understanding of global climate history as it impacted on tropical Polynesia. It also
depends in some cases on understanding the circumstances, personalities and events
within Eastern Polynesia that triggered specific medieval oceanic migrations.
We have chosen as our focus for this chapter the task of dating the Heke (the last
migration to reach New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia before the Little Ice Age
put an end to long-distance oceanic migration). Relevant events are clearly recorded
in Tahitian and Rarotongan tradition. Analysis of these traditions provides us with
unique means for dating the last migration.
We have a threefold motivation for choosing the Heke as our focus. First the Heke
represents a migrational watershed, marking the end of prehistoric migration to New
Zealand and probably the end of long-distance migration within 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 suffered drastic population decline. And the Heke
marks an archaeological turning point. With the advent of the Little Ice Age, tribes
working horticultural land in New Zealand were driven to building and defending pa
to protect their lands and the stored harvests that provided some insurance against
famine. Being able to date the last migration to New Zealand provides a chronological marker for these three turning points in New Zealand prehistory. It also provides
a chronological marker for Eastern Polynesian prehistory.
There is an academic motivation too for attempting to date the last medieval
migration to New Zealand. In New Zealand repudiation of the historicity of the
Heke has led to the dominance of deconstructionist histories in the past 30 years.
We feel that this has restricted and impoverished understanding. Our aim throughout
this book has been to assert the power of tradition to provide historical insights
and historical detail inaccessible by other means and in a few cases to capture the
personalities of the important ancestors who helped to shape history. It is partly in
defence of neglected traditional histories that we argue a case in this chapter for the
historicity of the Heke. Through a combination of statistical analysis and evidence
implicit in both Maori and Eastern Polynesian Heke traditions, we show that the
arrival of the last migration fleet to reach New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia can
be firmly established as a historical event.
Establishing a secure date for the Heke provides a pillar for the chronology we
sketch for Polynesian and Eastern Polynesian prehistory in Chapter 19. Establishing
this chronology in turn helps us to date the first migration to New Zealand – our
focus in Chapter 20.