358
20 Dating the First Migration to New Zealand
clothing and food were clubbed to extinction perhaps in a generation by European
sealers. Moriori themselves were ruthlessly and systematically slaughtered by Te Ati
Awa who, on first learning of the existence of the Chatham Islands, commandeered
a whaling ship and seized the Chathams from them, securing their conquest by
slaughter and enslavement. The destruction of Moriori traditional culture and freedom brought despair and suffering as psychologically undermining as the physical
abuse and servitude to which they were subjected. Their achievement in creating and
maintaining a viable society for thousands of years in the isolation of the Chatham
Islands was forgotten, their supposed primitiveness used to justify their continuing
enslavement, even after British law governed the islands.
The story of Nunuku imposing a rule of non-violence on the medieval migrants is
significant. This moral victory by indigenous Moriori probably secured the survival
of the islanders down to the time of European contact. Though their uncompromising adherence of the Law of Nunuku in the face of Te Ati Awa invasion kept their
mana intact, as the Moriori saw it, their refusal to fight the invaders branded them
without mana in the eyes of their Maori conquerors. The Chatham Islanders’ long
cultural evolution, their sophisticated attunement to the ecology of the islands and
to the fine balance needed for survival were wiped out by invasions of European
sealers and whalers and by Maori with aggressive cultural prerogatives, both groups
lacking understanding or appreciation of the culture and ecology they destroyed in
passing.
20.7 Constructing a Chronology for Moriori Prehistory
The generation length for the Maikoua line can be estimated from the ancestor
Rongomaiwhenua, in common with the Tamahiwaki line, in combination with the
date of 1868 for the transmission of the genealogy to Shand: 2,672 years and 127
generations. This provides a mean generation length of 21.04 years for the Maikoua
line, compared with 21.21 years for the Tamahiwaki line. The use of the Tamahiwaki
generation length rather than the Maikoua for events prior to Rongomaiwhenua may
appear biased. However, the difference is more apparent than real. The use of the
Maikoua length generation puts Tangaroa-matahi at 1015 BC rather than 1018 BC
and Tokoroa at 1373 BC in place of 1378 BC. Climate proxy corrections do not
distinguish these very small differences.
Only two sets of colonists are recorded as arriving during the isolated prehistory of the Chatham Islands. The earlier of these was the migration led by Kahu.
In the Tamahiwaki genealogy Kahu arrives 100 generations before 1868, in the
Maikoua genealogy 102 generations before 1868. With a generation length for the
Tamahiwaki line of 21.21 this gives a date of 254 BC. The Maikoua genealogy with
a generation length of 21.04 gives a date of 279 BC, a variation of 25 years.
The second set of colonists arrived in the Rangimata and Rangihoua canoes
during the Medieval Climatic Optimum. The Tamahiwaki line shows these canoes
arriving 99 generations after the first settlement of the Chathams, giving a date of
20 Dating the First Migration to New Zealand
clothing and food were clubbed to extinction perhaps in a generation by European
sealers. Moriori themselves were ruthlessly and systematically slaughtered by Te Ati
Awa who, on first learning of the existence of the Chatham Islands, commandeered
a whaling ship and seized the Chathams from them, securing their conquest by
slaughter and enslavement. The destruction of Moriori traditional culture and freedom brought despair and suffering as psychologically undermining as the physical
abuse and servitude to which they were subjected. Their achievement in creating and
maintaining a viable society for thousands of years in the isolation of the Chatham
Islands was forgotten, their supposed primitiveness used to justify their continuing
enslavement, even after British law governed the islands.
The story of Nunuku imposing a rule of non-violence on the medieval migrants is
significant. This moral victory by indigenous Moriori probably secured the survival
of the islanders down to the time of European contact. Though their uncompromising adherence of the Law of Nunuku in the face of Te Ati Awa invasion kept their
mana intact, as the Moriori saw it, their refusal to fight the invaders branded them
without mana in the eyes of their Maori conquerors. The Chatham Islanders’ long
cultural evolution, their sophisticated attunement to the ecology of the islands and
to the fine balance needed for survival were wiped out by invasions of European
sealers and whalers and by Maori with aggressive cultural prerogatives, both groups
lacking understanding or appreciation of the culture and ecology they destroyed in
passing.
20.7 Constructing a Chronology for Moriori Prehistory
The generation length for the Maikoua line can be estimated from the ancestor
Rongomaiwhenua, in common with the Tamahiwaki line, in combination with the
date of 1868 for the transmission of the genealogy to Shand: 2,672 years and 127
generations. This provides a mean generation length of 21.04 years for the Maikoua
line, compared with 21.21 years for the Tamahiwaki line. The use of the Tamahiwaki
generation length rather than the Maikoua for events prior to Rongomaiwhenua may
appear biased. However, the difference is more apparent than real. The use of the
Maikoua length generation puts Tangaroa-matahi at 1015 BC rather than 1018 BC
and Tokoroa at 1373 BC in place of 1378 BC. Climate proxy corrections do not
distinguish these very small differences.
Only two sets of colonists are recorded as arriving during the isolated prehistory of the Chatham Islands. The earlier of these was the migration led by Kahu.
In the Tamahiwaki genealogy Kahu arrives 100 generations before 1868, in the
Maikoua genealogy 102 generations before 1868. With a generation length for the
Tamahiwaki line of 21.21 this gives a date of 254 BC. The Maikoua genealogy with
a generation length of 21.04 gives a date of 279 BC, a variation of 25 years.
The second set of colonists arrived in the Rangimata and Rangihoua canoes
during the Medieval Climatic Optimum. The Tamahiwaki line shows these canoes
arriving 99 generations after the first settlement of the Chathams, giving a date of