"THE MOA HUNTERS"

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 141, 17 June 1922, Page 9

"THE MOA HUNTERS"

PREHISTORIC SAILORS OF SOUTHERN SEAS

RELICS GOO TO 1000 YEARS OLD.

Some highly interesting information regarding the original inhabitants of New Zealand who hunted the lordly moa and the prehistoric sailors who saifed the Southern Seas was given to the Otago Institute by Mr. H. D. Skinner, lecturer on anthropology at Otago University, on Tuesday night. There were, said • Mr. Skinner,- three great methods of establishing the approximate age of*"the various races that had inhabited the eaHh, but the .only one that he could see so far that had any application to New Zealand was the association of implements with the bones of animals that have long been extinct. After a| very interesting elaboration of this matter, Mr. Skinner proceeded to deal with extensive excavations that have been, made in recent years at Shag Point, associating the early inhabitants of Otago with the moa. It was true, he said, that authorities wero divided as to the period at which the moa became extinct, some dating it very long ago, but others, holding that it did not long precede the arrival of the white races in New Zealand. Actually, ho thought that it would bo found thai/ the truth lay soncwhere between. The grent moa. became extinct very long ago. Then there followed a period when the mon seemed to recover, a, smaller species becoming very numerous. No association had yet been discovered between man and the great moa ; there were absolutely no signs' that he had ever hunted it. The association with the lesser moa, however, was pronounced, particularly in the case of Shag Point, which apparently had been a favoured spot, the moa flourishing to a greater extent there probably than anywhere else in .New Zealand. Mr. Skinner referred to early excavations at this place by Sir Julius yon Haast, Captain Hutton, and others, but their labours had been to a great extent nullified by want of proper care, and had it not been for Mr. Justice Chapman, who ; had preserved certain specimens, which wero produced for inspection, no assured connection between the implements and the moa hunters might have beon established. Excavations had been made on n very extensive scale in recent years by Mr.1 Teviotdale, of Palmerst'on, who had always been interested in Maori relics, but who. as the result of a visit to the Otago Museum, had become imbued with the necessity of the utmost care, and as a result an enormous collection of material was now available, in which the bones of the moa and the implements of the hunters were associated in a manner that was beyond questionNot a tenth part of this collection could be arranged before the audience, but sufficient was produced to give .a clear demonstration.

Mr. Skinner was particularly interesting in regard to the spread of the Polynesian race. It took its origin in the Malayan Archipelago. Only a, race highly skilled in navigation could have spread over" the Pacific and Indian Oceans as the Polynesians had done. Whether their knowledge pre-dated that of the more western nations he could not say, hut it was reasonable to believe that a race so near China, which gave the world the compass, were early navigators. Malayans invented the double canoe and the outrigger. Some might question whether the Maoris had the outrigger, but the fact was set beyond dispute by the discovery of an actual outrigger in the Moa Bone Cave at Sumner, and, what was more, the outrigger was precisely the type used by the Polynesians. Mr. Skinner rejected entirely Melanesian theory. Apart from other proofs he gave, he stressed the absurdity of supposing that a race " too ignorant to get out of the rain " were skilled navigators, and there was every indication that the early inhabitants of New Zealand were such. ' Greenstone ornaments associated with the relics at Shag Point, and relics obviously from ■ the North Island, proved that the early communications must have been by sea. The concluding portions of the lecture were devoted to a demonstration of the close resemblance, and in many cases absolute uniformity, of the relics of the moa hunters with those' from Hawaii, Tahiti, and the Polynesian races generally, bearing, on the other hand, no resemblance whatever/to Melanesian records. A special treasure was a hook discovered by Mr. Teviotdale with the point alongside which was formerly attached to it, and which lay in such a position that the method of attachment was beyond question, completely upsetting all former theories. Investigation showed that, though the Maoris themselves did not know how to attach it, the correct method was precisely that at Tahiti. Summing up, Mr. Skinner said ho could not state how old the relics were. They might bo 1000 years, or only 500 years, but from the geological nature of the coast where they were found he thought the moa hunters could be placed at a period antecedent to 1000 years ago.