lecture 4: canoe migrations Flashcards
east Polynesian language relationships
- te reo Maori groups with languages in cook islands, society islands, Tuamotu islands as ‘Tahitic’ branch of polynesian language tree
- Hawaiki must lie close to the islands associated with ‘tahitic’ languages
archaic east polynesian assemblage
this assemblage is almost identical throughout East polynesia but quite different from anything found in Fiji or West Polynesia
hawaiki zone
- very high level of interisland voyaging and networking behaviour in tropical east Polynesia
Hawaiki= ancestral homeland - not a single island but a zone of islands
reasons for leaving Hawaiki
- escape conflicts over land boundaries, gardens and fruit trees, or conflicts between men of rank seeking to marry the same woman
- internal cultural imperatives were a key driver for departures
departures= carefully planned: waka gifted to migrants or specially built for trip
why did Turi leave
(Aotea waka)
left after hearing a threatening song composed by his opponent and which his wife overheard and sung to him
Hawaiki migrations
building of waka by teams of tohunga hired by migration leaders
- Rakataura = chief builder of Tainui waka
some migration leaders
- Turi = commander of Aotea Waka
- Tama-te-kapua, commander of Te Arawa waka
- whakaotirangi = female leader, tainui waka
significance of waka names
- they remember incidents in building
Horouta =swallowed land, bc it was fast
Tainui (big in sea) bc it did not sit right in sea
cargo in wakas
- plants (taro, kumara)
- animals (dogs and rats)
- other objects including tools, weapons
- cultural knowledge in their memories
migration dates
earliest site in Aotearoa = mid 14th century
- major settlement event shortly after 1300AD
which ancestors visited and returned to Hawaiki
Kupe, Irakewa, Ngahue
multigenerational migration pattern
- uruao waka encountered earlier people living in northern tip, Te Ika-a-Maui, and sailed for Te Waipounamo
- Tainuis commander (Hoturoa) –> Tamaki river
- Tutara-kauika –> Aotearoa
Findings from mitochondrial DNA studies
- 190 females present in founding crews = 500 people as founding population
Wairau bar
- early Maori settlement with strong evidence of direct link to Hawaiki
- evidence from early site includes location of burials close to village, as in tropical East polynesia, but in contrast to later Maori practices when bodies were secreted away from sites of occupation
Leaders of waka
Rangatira = commander at stern, other leaders supervising at bow, midships
Tohunga = specialists, responsible for navigation, ritual protection from elements
