21 A Consilience of Evidence
379
be dated from the record of low Nile floods to within a year. The scientists responsible for the Lake Huguang Marr data claim it has a resolution almost as sharp.
The juxtaposition of long, carefully preserved Polynesian lineages with records
of major climate and volcanic events from independent proxy sources, provides a
chronological clarity for Polynesian prehistory not previously possible.
It is clear that a persistent pattern links early and late long-distance Spice
Island and Polynesian oceanic migrations to rare extreme climate events. Sometimes
migrations for the defeated and starving were triggered by El Niño-driven drought
with associated famine and conflict or triggered by southward shifts in the intertropical convergence zone, which can be measured through titanium concentrations in
the sediment of Lake Huguang Maar. Perhaps at times reversals in trade winds and
currents, higher SSTs and in some cases specific wind support may have been recognized as creating optimal oceanographic and climatic conditions for long-distance
exploration, trading or migration. The combination of climate-driven motivation,
and sometimes of El Niño voyaging support, may explain the persistent links we see
from the study of climate proxies between major oceanic migrations and extreme El
Niño events.
Proxy climate data made accessible in recent years has made it possible to recognize this pattern. The high resolution of the climate proxies we have chosen makes
it feasible to approach the problem of creating a sharp chronology for Pacific prehistory based on ancient genealogies and associated traditions. The Pacific has a
limited artefact array, which in many cases is not readily datable. Climate data and
awareness of the oceanographic factors governing migration, in combination with
genealogical analysis, enrich the study of traditional histories and make sketching a
chronology a realizable goal.
In Chapter 20 we consider the phenomenon of low Maori genetic diversity, the
lowest of almost any people on the planet. This leads us to a new interpretation
of Maori genetic history which offers support for our arguments for a Lapita-age
first-wave Spice Island settlement of New Zealand and for a long early isolation. It
also supports the likelihood of very early events in Maori prehistory suggested by
Moriori tradition and especially of a near-extinction event 17 generations after first
settlement. The genetic predominance of an ancient Lapita-age Spice Island genetic
inheritance for Maori can be demonstrated mathematically. It strengthens our interpretation of New Zealand’s singular place in our wider history of the peopling of
the Pacific.
The chronology we sketch for Polynesian and Maori prehistory casts light on
the general history of the exploration and colonization of the Pacific. It supports
a history that ranges from the colonization of Micronesia from the Spice Islands
nearly 6,000 years ago to the Lapita colonization of the Bismarcks and Solomons
1,500 years later; from the very early settlements of New Zealand and the Chatham
Islands to the first and later colonizations of Hawaii and of Japan; from the southern
migrations to Hawaii in AD 1096 to the multiple migrations from Eastern Polynesia
to New Zealand in the same global climate period.
The sequence of events is clarified, the role of climate in driving demography and
migration illustrated. The prehistory of New Zealand is taken from a limited, late,
379
be dated from the record of low Nile floods to within a year. The scientists responsible for the Lake Huguang Marr data claim it has a resolution almost as sharp.
The juxtaposition of long, carefully preserved Polynesian lineages with records
of major climate and volcanic events from independent proxy sources, provides a
chronological clarity for Polynesian prehistory not previously possible.
It is clear that a persistent pattern links early and late long-distance Spice
Island and Polynesian oceanic migrations to rare extreme climate events. Sometimes
migrations for the defeated and starving were triggered by El Niño-driven drought
with associated famine and conflict or triggered by southward shifts in the intertropical convergence zone, which can be measured through titanium concentrations in
the sediment of Lake Huguang Maar. Perhaps at times reversals in trade winds and
currents, higher SSTs and in some cases specific wind support may have been recognized as creating optimal oceanographic and climatic conditions for long-distance
exploration, trading or migration. The combination of climate-driven motivation,
and sometimes of El Niño voyaging support, may explain the persistent links we see
from the study of climate proxies between major oceanic migrations and extreme El
Niño events.
Proxy climate data made accessible in recent years has made it possible to recognize this pattern. The high resolution of the climate proxies we have chosen makes
it feasible to approach the problem of creating a sharp chronology for Pacific prehistory based on ancient genealogies and associated traditions. The Pacific has a
limited artefact array, which in many cases is not readily datable. Climate data and
awareness of the oceanographic factors governing migration, in combination with
genealogical analysis, enrich the study of traditional histories and make sketching a
chronology a realizable goal.
In Chapter 20 we consider the phenomenon of low Maori genetic diversity, the
lowest of almost any people on the planet. This leads us to a new interpretation
of Maori genetic history which offers support for our arguments for a Lapita-age
first-wave Spice Island settlement of New Zealand and for a long early isolation. It
also supports the likelihood of very early events in Maori prehistory suggested by
Moriori tradition and especially of a near-extinction event 17 generations after first
settlement. The genetic predominance of an ancient Lapita-age Spice Island genetic
inheritance for Maori can be demonstrated mathematically. It strengthens our interpretation of New Zealand’s singular place in our wider history of the peopling of
the Pacific.
The chronology we sketch for Polynesian and Maori prehistory casts light on
the general history of the exploration and colonization of the Pacific. It supports
a history that ranges from the colonization of Micronesia from the Spice Islands
nearly 6,000 years ago to the Lapita colonization of the Bismarcks and Solomons
1,500 years later; from the very early settlements of New Zealand and the Chatham
Islands to the first and later colonizations of Hawaii and of Japan; from the southern
migrations to Hawaii in AD 1096 to the multiple migrations from Eastern Polynesia
to New Zealand in the same global climate period.
The sequence of events is clarified, the role of climate in driving demography and
migration illustrated. The prehistory of New Zealand is taken from a limited, late,