360
20 Dating the First Migration to New Zealand
faster loss of genetic diversity and greater risk from genetic disease and inbreeding.
Possibilities for genetic adaptation are restricted by lack of diversity. The risk to
founding populations whose numbers cannot but remain low for many generations
is obvious. The possibility suggested in the Tamahiwaki traditions of threatened
extinction with loss of fire underlines the very real hazards of isolation. It seems
entirely probable that early descendants of the first New Zealand colonists and the
perhaps accidental colonists in the Chatham Islands were both subject early in their
prehistories to such risks. The Moriori genealogies provide a genealogically feasible date for a near extinction about 1018 BC. The Huguang Maar data, recording
the most extreme event in 4,500 years, provides support for the suggestion that
this event could correspond to a major eruption of Taupo which could indeed have
caused a near-extinction event for the young New Zealand colony. As noted, both
the genealogical estimate and the Huguang Maar proxy data estimate can be placed
at the mid-point of the geological dating range (1200–800 BC).
That the original Spice Island first-wave colonists did, in fact, survive in New
Zealand is recorded in the tradition of Maui the Navigator’s visit. Their loss of
technological skills – surely not as great as that of the Tasmanian Aborigines –
angered Maui. Linguistic divergence was apparent. The Lapita descendants in New
Zealand had presumably long since reinvented the art of fire-making, for Maui saw
the fires of the “wild men of the woods” when he landed at Mahitahi (Bruce Bay)
and noted cooking fires at the village of Orokoroko (Palliser Bay). Maui concluded
nonetheless that the Lapita descendants were “moho”, a backward or primitive
people.
The isolation of New Zealand for over 600 years after a near-extinction event
determined its genetic and technological history, as did the isolation of Tasmanians
for over 5,000 years following the near-extinction event Flannery describes. In
New Zealand isolation ensured that the strongest genetic elements in the makeup
in the descendants of the first-wave Lapita-age colonists were derived from their
Spice Island ancestors, not only for the first 1,500 years of their history but ever
afterwards. No further colonists could reach New Zealand during the extreme cold
period. The next visitors or colonists probably did not reach New Zealand until
Tu-te-rangi-marama landed there, 1,000 years after the original Spice Island
colonists. Our calculations suggest that even by AD 1180, at the beginning of
the Medieval Climatic Optimum which saw Eastern Polynesian migrations to New
Zealand, after another thousand years of sporadic migration, nearly all of the genetic
makeup of the Maori would still have been determined by the original Spice Island
migrants. Time, isolation, genetic bottlenecks and the laws of coalescence dictated
this outcome.
It is perhaps surprising to readers to discover that memory of the forgotten early
history of New Zealand is accessible through an approach as direct, simple and
pragmatic as that of studying the two Moriori genealogies in conjunction with new
climate proxy data. But the Moriori genealogies are not the only sources for the
early prehistory of New Zealand. Traditions preserved in New Zealand supply corroborative detail, as we saw in Chapter 16 with accounts of the meeting of Maui
the Navigator with the chieftainess at Orokoroko. In Herries Beattie’s recounting
20 Dating the First Migration to New Zealand
faster loss of genetic diversity and greater risk from genetic disease and inbreeding.
Possibilities for genetic adaptation are restricted by lack of diversity. The risk to
founding populations whose numbers cannot but remain low for many generations
is obvious. The possibility suggested in the Tamahiwaki traditions of threatened
extinction with loss of fire underlines the very real hazards of isolation. It seems
entirely probable that early descendants of the first New Zealand colonists and the
perhaps accidental colonists in the Chatham Islands were both subject early in their
prehistories to such risks. The Moriori genealogies provide a genealogically feasible date for a near extinction about 1018 BC. The Huguang Maar data, recording
the most extreme event in 4,500 years, provides support for the suggestion that
this event could correspond to a major eruption of Taupo which could indeed have
caused a near-extinction event for the young New Zealand colony. As noted, both
the genealogical estimate and the Huguang Maar proxy data estimate can be placed
at the mid-point of the geological dating range (1200–800 BC).
That the original Spice Island first-wave colonists did, in fact, survive in New
Zealand is recorded in the tradition of Maui the Navigator’s visit. Their loss of
technological skills – surely not as great as that of the Tasmanian Aborigines –
angered Maui. Linguistic divergence was apparent. The Lapita descendants in New
Zealand had presumably long since reinvented the art of fire-making, for Maui saw
the fires of the “wild men of the woods” when he landed at Mahitahi (Bruce Bay)
and noted cooking fires at the village of Orokoroko (Palliser Bay). Maui concluded
nonetheless that the Lapita descendants were “moho”, a backward or primitive
people.
The isolation of New Zealand for over 600 years after a near-extinction event
determined its genetic and technological history, as did the isolation of Tasmanians
for over 5,000 years following the near-extinction event Flannery describes. In
New Zealand isolation ensured that the strongest genetic elements in the makeup
in the descendants of the first-wave Lapita-age colonists were derived from their
Spice Island ancestors, not only for the first 1,500 years of their history but ever
afterwards. No further colonists could reach New Zealand during the extreme cold
period. The next visitors or colonists probably did not reach New Zealand until
Tu-te-rangi-marama landed there, 1,000 years after the original Spice Island
colonists. Our calculations suggest that even by AD 1180, at the beginning of
the Medieval Climatic Optimum which saw Eastern Polynesian migrations to New
Zealand, after another thousand years of sporadic migration, nearly all of the genetic
makeup of the Maori would still have been determined by the original Spice Island
migrants. Time, isolation, genetic bottlenecks and the laws of coalescence dictated
this outcome.
It is perhaps surprising to readers to discover that memory of the forgotten early
history of New Zealand is accessible through an approach as direct, simple and
pragmatic as that of studying the two Moriori genealogies in conjunction with new
climate proxy data. But the Moriori genealogies are not the only sources for the
early prehistory of New Zealand. Traditions preserved in New Zealand supply corroborative detail, as we saw in Chapter 16 with accounts of the meeting of Maui
the Navigator with the chieftainess at Orokoroko. In Herries Beattie’s recounting