Kingsize Wombat
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2016
- Messages
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There have been short discussions in other threads about an alternative history of New Zealand's indigenous population - but I think it deserves its own thread.
This is as good a starting point as any:
Of course - believers will believe and debunkers will debunk - and there is a debunk of the wall as a man made structure at the link below:
https://skeptics.nz/journal/issues/41/a-new-age-myth-the-kaimanawa-wall
But even if that wall is a natural formation, it doesn't rule out that there were people in NZ before the Maori. Indeed, Maori tradition states that there were other people already present when they arrived - the Waitaha, which were later assimilated by the Maori. And these people were red heads!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patupaiarehe.
It's a fascinating tidbit of human history, and there seems to be no consensus in sight.
This is as good a starting point as any:
https://www.historicmysteries.com/kaimanawa-wall/In 1996, the alternative historian Barry Brailsford drew the world’s attention to the Kaimanawa wall in New Zealand. The curious structure lies in the Kaimanawa State Forest, south of Lake Taupo on North Island. A tremendous amount of controversy erupted surrounding the wall after Brailsford and David Childress claimed that the wall is man-made and pre-dates Maori colonization of New Zealand by about 1200 years. Such information, if true, would have rewritten the history of New Zealand. Additionally, there would have been complex and far-reaching political and financial implications for the local Maori tribes.
The stones consist of ignimbrite, a type of rock that results when pyroclastic pumice solidifies after a volcanic blast. The structure seems to bear the hallmarks of a deliberate construction with neat rows of stacked blocks. Precision joints and surfaces appear carved or sculpted. The most heated area of contention about the wall is its age.
The theory of pre-Maori civilization in New Zealand conflicts with the current understanding of the first settlements of the islands. Based on archaeological evidence, the first wave of Maori arrived sometime between 1250 and 1300 from Eastern Polynesia. Subsequently, other waves of Maori followed. The oldest official archaeological site and perhaps the very first settlement in the islands is located at the Wairao Bar on South Island. Scientists recorded about 2000 artifacts and 44 human skeletons and found that many of them originated directly from Eastern Polynesia.
Another discovery alludes to a group that arrived much earlier than once thought. Richard Holdaway dated the bones of a Kiore rat at 2000 years old. Indigenous mammals did not exist in New Zealand. Therefore, the rat found its way to the remote lands only with the assistance of human mariners. Interestingly, the DNA of the rats show a close link to those of the Society and Cook Islands. Thus, experts generally believe that the Polynesians who came from that region of Eastern Polynesia to settle New Zealand transported the rats with them. If there were rats in New Zealand 2000 years ago, humans must have already found their way there. However, as with the stone wall, there is some controversy about Holdaway’s dating results which some scientists question.
Of course - believers will believe and debunkers will debunk - and there is a debunk of the wall as a man made structure at the link below:
https://skeptics.nz/journal/issues/41/a-new-age-myth-the-kaimanawa-wall
But even if that wall is a natural formation, it doesn't rule out that there were people in NZ before the Maori. Indeed, Maori tradition states that there were other people already present when they arrived - the Waitaha, which were later assimilated by the Maori. And these people were red heads!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patupaiarehe.
It's a fascinating tidbit of human history, and there seems to be no consensus in sight.