Mass Migration and the Polynesian Settlement of New Zealand

Walter, Richard; Buckley, Hallie R.; Jacomb, Chris; Matisoo‐Smith, Elizabeth

doi:10.1007/s10963-017-9110-y

Cited by 73 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Even under a scenario where moa density is double our upper estimate, extinction can occur with a small initial human population (n = 100), human population growth rates of 4-5% and offtake rates of less than five individuals per person per year. There is considerable uncertainty over the size of the founding Polynesian population in New Zealand (Murray-McIntosh et al 1998, Whyte et al 2005, Walter et al 2017. Our results show the size of the initial human population has a strong effect on the offtake rates required for moa extinction; with a founding population of 500 people, lower human population growth rates and offtake rates are sufficient to drive moa to extinction within the timeframe estimated by Perry et al (2014) (Fig.…”

Section: Extinction Processesmentioning

confidence: 76%

A refined model of body mass and population density in flightless birds reconciles extreme bimodal population estimates for extinct moa

et al. 2019

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Flightless birds were once the largest and heaviest terrestrial fauna on many archipelagos around the world. Robust approaches for estimating their population parameters are essential for understanding prehistoric insular ecosystems and extinction processes. Body mass and population density are negatively related for extant flightless bird species, providing a method for quantifying densities and population sizes of extinct flightless species. Here we assemble an updated global data set of body mass and population densities for extant flightless birds and estimate the relationship between these variables. We use generalised least squares models that account for phylogenetic relatedness and incorporate the effects of limiting factors (e.g. habitat suitability) on population density. We demonstrate the applicability of this allometric relationship to extinct species by estimating densities for each of the nine species of moa (Dinornithiformes) and generating a combined spatially explicit map of total moa density across New Zealand. To compare our density estimates with those previously published, we summed individual species' abundances to generate a mean national density of 2.02–9.66 birds km−2 for low‐ and high‐density scenarios, respectively. Our results reconcile the extreme bimodality of previous estimates (< 2 birds km−2 and > 10 birds km−2) and are comparable to contemporary densities of large herbivorous wild mammals introduced into New Zealand about 150 yr ago. The revised moa density has little effect on the harvest rates required to bring about extinction within 150–200 yr, indicating that rapid extinction was an inevitable response to human hunting, irrespective of the initial population of moa.

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Section: Extinction Processesmentioning

confidence: 76%

A refined model of body mass and population density in flightless birds reconciles extreme bimodal population estimates for extinct moa

et al. 2019

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“…Specht (2002) notes that this colonisation period in other regions of the Pacific was associated with pulses of large obsidian blocks being imported to new sites and expediently reduced, while later periods saw less material being imported and more conservative reduction. Walter et al (2010Walter et al ( , 2017 identify a similar proxy in the Austronesianspeaking colonisation of New Zealand. The implications of the present lithic analysis and the lack of dramatic change through time are (1) that we are not seeing the first colonisation mode because the sites excavated do not represent the earliest pulse of Bel colonisation from the east, or (2) there was no major change because the area was already populated on the mainland and the Bel were already geared towards subsistence trading, with established trading links all along the northeast coast.…”

Section: Coastal Mobility and Lithic Supply Linesmentioning

confidence: 92%

Coastal mobility and lithic supply lines in northeast New Guinea

Gaffney

Summerhayes

2018

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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This paper investigates how coastal mobility and a community's place within regional trade networks intersect with technological organisation. To do this, we identified different types of lithic production and exchange during the late pre-colonial period at three coastal sites around Madang in northeast New Guinea. The study is the first major technological and sourcing study in this area. Consistent with terrestrial models, lithic technological analysis crucially shows that groups with higher levels of coastal mobility (1) were reducing a wider range of lithic materials and (2) reduced material less intensively than groups with indirect access. Conversely, groups with lower coastal mobility levels (1) were flaking a restricted range of lithic materials and (2) reduced material more intensively. Geochemical analysis, using X-ray fluorescence, shows that at all three sites obsidian artefacts exclusively derived from Kutau/Bao (Talasea) in West New Britain. This indicates that, by about 600 years ago through to the late nineteenth century, the Kutau/Bao source had become a specialised export product, being fed into major distribution conduits operational along the northeast coast. Importantly, there is no evidence for exchange with other sources such as Admiralties or Fergusson Island obsidian. This is contrastive to the Sepik coast, where obsidian from the Admiralties Islands featured prominently alongside West New Britain obsidian, and suggests the emergence of different coastal supply lines feeding the northeast Madang coast and the north Sepik coast.

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“…Both regions and cultural groups provide examples of long-term relationships to place. Māori migrated to Aotearoa from Polynesian islands by oceangoing canoes around 700 years ago (Wilmshurst et al 2008, Tapsell 2014, Walter et al 2017) and quickly established themselves across the previously unpopulated lands. Across the Pacific, the West Coast of Canada is inhabited by many culturally distinct First Nations (hereafter Coastal Peoples) who have inhabited the region since time before memory (at least 14,000 years according to archeological surveys; Muckle and Gauvreau 2017).…”

Section: Place-based Peoples In Aotearoa (New Zealand) and West Coastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Values-led management: the guidance of place-based values in environmental relationships of the past, present, and future

Artelle¹,

Stephenson²,

Bragg³

et al. 2018

E&S

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ABSTRACT. The prevalence of widespread, human-caused ecological degradation suggests that fundamental change is needed in how societies interact with the environment. In this paper we argue that durable models of environmental relationships already exist in approaches of place-based peoples, whose values connect people to their environments, provide guidance on appropriate behaviors, and structure sustained people-place relationships. To illustrate, we identify and discuss concordant values of indigenous peoples at opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean: the Māori of Aotearoa (New Zealand), and First Nations of the West Coast of Canada. We find that values of relatedness to, respect of, and reciprocity with other species and places correspond with sustained long-term relationships between people and places, and illustrate with examples from both regions. We propose that by integrating a values-led foundation into management broadly, values-led management could enable similar sustained relationships in places where they have been recently disrupted or where they are altogether lacking. We characterize values-led management as being founded on values that underpin stewardship-like relationships between people and place and that in turn guide related objectives, policies, and practices. We examine two contemporary values-led management plans that follow this structure, and provide additional examples of emergent values-led approaches elsewhere. From these we compile a set of questions that might guide the conception of place-based values-led management in decolonizing contexts, in contexts where people have a desire for place-based approaches but have not yet distilled foundational values for guidance, or in contexts where people have a united set of values but have not yet translated them into specific management approaches. We conclude by discussing both the challenges and learning opportunities that the resumption, or commencement, of values-led management might entail.

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Mass Migration and the Polynesian Settlement of New Zealand

Cited by 73 publications

References 51 publications

A refined model of body mass and population density in flightless birds reconciles extreme bimodal population estimates for extinct moa

A refined model of body mass and population density in flightless birds reconciles extreme bimodal population estimates for extinct moa

Coastal mobility and lithic supply lines in northeast New Guinea

Values-led management: the guidance of place-based values in environmental relationships of the past, present, and future

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