University Essay: Debates on Māori Origins and Arrival in New Zealand

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the debates surrounding the origins and arrival of the Māori people in New Zealand. It delves into the historical context, exploring various theories and scientific analyses used to determine the timing and routes of Polynesian migration. The essay examines archaeological findings, radiocarbon dating, and genealogical approaches, including Māori oral traditions and whakapapa. It discusses the differing viewpoints of scholars, the role of key figures like Kupe and Toi, and the evolution of understanding. Additionally, it investigates the influence of European encounters on the interpretation of Māori history. The essay concludes by highlighting the ongoing research and evolving perspectives on Māori heritage and the methods used to understand their arrival and settlement in Aotearoa.

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Introduction to New Zealand History
Name of Student
Institution Affiliation

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Introduction
Around 100,000 years ago people departed from Africa and slowly migrated towards
north and east to Europe and Asia. The population slowly spread across the main islands of
South East Asia between 50,000 and 25,000 BCE with clear furrows. Finally, they came to
Australia and New Guinea, which was then linked by land. About three thousand years ago
people sailed from the Salomon Islands to the south-east Pacific Ocean, and most Melanesian
islands were founded. between the 1100 and 800 BCE They expanded widely in the areas like
Tonga & Samoa, Fiji and West Polynesia. In the last Pacific relocation, around 1200 and
1300 CE, people moved to different points of Polynesia –Hawaiian, Easter Island and New
Zealand. There are lots of proof that the Maori people first settled in different parts of New
Zealand but the proofs are inconclusive for whether the Europeans entered South America
after them (Matisoo-Smith, 2017). While this series seems very straightforward, the exact
dates and order of settlement are still being debated. Many experts differ, and conflicting
hypotheses arise. Furthermore, the various argumentative theories and proofs of the origin of
Maori and their settling in New Zealand is documented hereafter.
Analysis
Scientific Analysis and theories
Several techniques were used to establish where they first landed and where they
settled. Since no single approach is perfect, it is noteworthy that a permanent settlement in
Polynesia was founded about 1300. The settlers landed hroughout the coastal areas of the
islands. Remnants of fire and other archaeological proofs were found in these areas.
Archaeologists may determine when the first colonists came by through studying the proofs
and remains. A method used for this is r radiocarbon dating tests. these tests provide almost
accurate age of bones and wood and other objects. There is much evidence that Polynesians

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first migrated to New Zealand from eastern Polynesia in canoes during 1250–1300 CE. In the
1990s, a certain volume of rat bones was dated to around 50-150 CE by radiocarbon dating
test (Wade, 2019). this was done mainly because rats are not native to New Zealand and
cannot swim large distances, they had been thought to have arrived in canoes with people.
This new evidence raised the possibility that people arrived at that time too, however, it did
not remain or end up leaving further indications. Most researchers now consider this earlier
date to be inaccurate.
The genealogical approach involves re-counting through Māori predecessor's arrival
in traditional canoes. In the early 2000s, the bulk of tribal genealogies or whakapapas created
settlements in times that were dated 24 to 27 generations ago. This gives a date of 1325–1400
CE if there are 25 years for every generation. Genealogies often include past ancestors. The
Polynesian adventurer Kupe was known as the first generation of settlers in several oral
traditions. Māori ancestor Toi was in some myths those even tells he used to stay in Te Ika-a-
Māui (the north island) until tribal canoes landed. Historians challenging the tales of the early
arrival of Kupe and Toi claiming that they were not produced by oral beliefs of Māori but by
Western theories and Pacific Island sources. Such customs render both Kupe and Toi a real
character who existed in about 1300–1400 or later during the settlement canoes (Rout, 2018).
Throughout either case, myths may indicate that a number of occasions have followed the
discovery of major settlements. This theory is backed by stories of native canoe travellers
who come to Northern Island to meet Polynesians. It is likely that travellers sailed off the
coast without leaving any archaeological signs.
In the 1950s a modern archaeological research process, the radiocarbon dating,
permitted correct dating of organic material including wood, bone or shell. The radioactive
type of carbon (carbon 14), is present in all living organisms. The molecule decay at a
defined rate. Thus scientists may assess their age by calculating the volume of carbon 14 that

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a once-lived entity holds. The radiocarbon dating process may be precise but cannot be
deemed accurate. The earliest dates of radiocarbon are measured between 1000–1100CE in
New Zealand (Walter et al., 2017). These dates had been regularly reassessed throughout the
1990s when the methodology became better established and several issues with earlier dates
were found. Of example, radiocarbon dates from bits of charcoal were also not reliable; wood
may have come from some tree that burnt centuries earlier, and therefore the occupation
place may look much older than it was in reality. The reliable dates, all correspond to the
period after 1250.
Some settlement hypotheses dating around 1300 are focused on environmental
conditions. New Zealand is in the south and consists of a separate weather pattern from east
Polynesia. It is impossible to travel from eastern Polynesia to New Zealand, New Guinea or
eastern Polynesia without stays owing to the prevailing winds. It is possible to infer the
period that they may have come to New Zealand through timing archaeological reports of
people stopping at islands on their return voyage (Buckley & Petchey, 2018). Kermadec and
Norfolk Islands are situated roughly halfway between New Zealand and Eastern Polynesia, so
Polynesian explorers who arrive from New Zealand would most possibly rest on the route.
Distinctive New Zealand obsidian a glassy volcanic rock used for cutting is contained in the
sites of archaeology at Kermadecs and it may have been brought there by returning voyagers.
The hypothesis that New Zealand and its North Satellite Islands became established around
the same period may be backed by archaeological radio-carbon dates. Radiocarbon periods
for central New Zealand round 1500 are actually older than the dates of colonization in the
Chatham Islands (King, 2019). This is continuous with the ages of tentative explorations in
the Pacific: first of all, the Kermadecs, then New Zealand that could involve the subantarctic
Auckland Islands as far south as Enderby Island and finally the Chathams.
Ideas about their Origin

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After the Europeans found New Zealand, they inquired about the Māori people's
history. Renowned captain James Cook noticed The Polynesians and Māori have similar
appearances and cultures. He assumed that they probably come from the Southeast Asian
islands (McCoy & Ladefoged, 2019). It is accepted the Māori people are Polynesians and
lived in the area of Taiwan. Some of the first visitors who studied items like headdresses and
sculptures thought that ancient Greeks or Egyptians might be the Māori ancestors. On the
other hand, one artist portrayed the Māori as a roman fighter and the Christian missionaries
proposed that Māori people were Jewish, belonging to the Abandoned Tribes of Israel
(Anderson, 2017). Another thesis arose, the bulk of European languages had originated from
the ancient language of India, Sanskrit. Europeans and Indians are often thought to have
similar roots, Aryan or Caucasian. Ethnologists including Edward Tregear claimed Māori
originated from India too. He discovered similarities between words and symbols of Māori
and Sanskrit.
In the 19th Century, several scholars had recorded different Māori stories about
arriving from Polynesia in New Zealand. A further theory was called the large fleet story.
One guy, Percy Smith, estimated that the Māori had immigrated together into one of seven
"big fleets" of canoes in 1350 AD, after listening to Māori tales, Smith claimed that the
Moriori, who he said was an earlier group of Milanese people that resided in New Zealand,
were eventually defeated. The story of Smith was believed after 60 years (Anderson, 2016). It
became famous since many citizens assumed that the next' superior' to take over from Māori
was the European settlers.
Two New Zealand ethnologists, explored the concept of a pre-Māori named Moriori,
in the 1920s, H. D. Skinner and in the 1940s, Roger Duff. Both men maintained that
Polynesians or moa hunters themselves were the first settlers. Duff excavations
archaeological Wairau Bar site at the Marlborough suggested that the Moa hunters were early

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Māori. He proved that the origin of Māori society was the cause of the variations within
human instruments found in numerous excavated layers. Furthermore, no proof of different
people from the Pre-Māori community was found in New Zealand. In the 2000s the definition
became widely acknowledged (Whaanga et al., 2018). In the late 1200s, Polynesians became
New Zealand's first colonizers. A range of these people sailed east over 800 kilometers of the
sea to the Chatham Islands sometime after 1300, possibly around 1500. They became the
only ones here and their distinctive community was established. Part of the Māori landed on a
European sailing boat on the Chatham Islands in the 1830s (Scranton, 2018). This was the
first time these two countries had met in around 300 years and shared the same Polynesian
heritage. The inhabitants of the Chatham Islands chose to name themselves "Moriori," their
Māori variant.
Conclusion
So we can conclude that several interesting study fields of both Māori heritage and
their date and manner of arrival have developed since the late 20th century. Recent
understandings have also been related to the dating from the sites of prehistoric occupation,
volcanic ash research, Māori women and Pacific rat DNA study and restoration of ancient
Polynesian canoes. Now people from East Polynesia, the South Cook and the Society Islands
claim that New Zealand has purposely emigrated to canoeing in numerous areas and has
landed for the first time at the end of the 13th century (Hikuroa, 2017) . While these findings
have a solid theoretical base, but these may also reform when a new study arises. They show
the awareness and the perception of their age, similar to other theories regarding Māori
heritage. There are indeed believers of the Great Fleet theory–it is not surprising though,
considering, schoolchildren have been taught that as traditional literature for decades.

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References
Anderson, A. (2017). Changing perspectives upon Māori colonisation voyaging. Journal of
the Royal Society of New Zealand, 47(3), 222-231.
Anderson, A. (2016). The First Migration: Māori Origins 3000BC–AD1450 (Vol. 44).
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Buckley, H. R., & Petchey, P. (2018). Human Skeletal Remains and Bioarchaeology in New
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Matisoo-Smith, E. (2017). The Human Landscape: Population Origins, Settlement and
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Walter, R., Buckley, H., Jacomb, C., & Matisoo-Smith, E. (2017). Mass migration and the
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