THE MOA HUNTERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16940, 15 January 1923, Page 7

THE MOA HUNTERS.

OF POLYNESIAN ORIGIN. A SCIENTIST’S DEDUCTIONS. An interesting paper upon the moa hunters qf Otago was read before the Ethnology section of the Science Congress by Mr H. D. Skinner, of Otago. The moa, he said, reached its acme during the Pleistocene period, and it was a smaller bird which was exterminated by the Maoris. Maori records were largely fantastical and legendary in character, and authentic information was difficult to obtain. In various parts of New Zealand ancient camp excavations showed that there the moa was killed and eaten. The first inhabitants of New Zealand must have hunted the moa. and the implements found had a valuable bearing on the culture of the Maori of, that time. The prevailing view for more than a century was that the Maori who hmiwci the mOa differed little from the Maori discovered by Captain Cook. The earliest inhabitants of New Zealand were said to he very dark in colour and inferior to the Maori. The Moviori of the Chatham Islands were said to be descended from these early inhabitants. Polynesia and Melanesia had many points in com mom but there were differences. The Polynesians were cultured and skilled in making weapons, and in decoration in straight lines. Their axes were of shell and their spears were tipped with obsidian (volcanic glass). Amongst some the how and arrow were known In Melanesia culture was less noticeable. Tn some of the islands fish hooks were unknown. The weapons differed, and the bow was universal. Moa Bone Cave, Sumner, was excavated in 1872. under the direction oi Sir*Julius Von Haast. The excavations seemed to have been well done, and the strata were capable of age determination. Earth ovens and “fire ploughs,” of distinctly Polynesian origin, were found in strata approximately 2000 years old. also hone needles, and an adze, of the Polynesian recto ngu lar tv - The old deposit in the cave held few shells, showing that the Maoris then subsisted chiefly on moas. while as much as five feet of shells was seen in the newer dejiosits. Remains of Dinornis robustus, ribs and hones other than leg bones, which were often brought long distances for t-lie manufacture of fish-hooks, were found in this old deposit, showing that flesh was attached to the bones when they were brought into the cave, and that the Dinornis robustus was alive when New Zealand was inhabited by man. Jn Monk’s Cave, Sumner, opened in I£B9. were some of the most interest ing objects found in New Zealand. The floor showed five distinct layers. It was impossible to authoritatively place the date of the objects because of the unsvstematic. search. The wooden carved dog found was of a recognise! Polynesian breed. The most interest ing discovery was the outrigger, the only example found in New Zealand and the type of attachment to the canoe was unique. The Shag River. Otago, site gave the richest store of objects of all. Several railway trucks of moa bones were sent to Dunedin, but the bone mills refused them, and they were de stroyed. Numerous knives, cleavers, and saws of quartzite, basalt, and gieenstone -were found. The moas were evidently driven from the warm downs into a triangle at the river mouth and there killed. The accumulations of rib and other bones not I’sed in making articles proved that the accumulations had once formed food for man. The stone used was from as far a 1: "Westland and the North Island ; types of difference were to be noted in the fish-hooks and articles found, compared with those from other sites. Greenstone was rare, but stone fishhooks were more plentiful. The ‘workmanship was of richer design, and this and the vast accumulation of moa hones, more numerous than elsewhere, together with the fact that Maori traditions held no mention of a village there indicated that the Shag Valley was an older deposit than all the others. The general conclusion drawn ( by the lecturer was that the moa hunters were of Polynesian origin, as they had loft no distinct traces *>f Melanesian culture or implements. Mr Justice Chapman said that tb<first inhabitants were not likely to be great navigators, as their sinkers were all smaller than those used bv tlic later Maoris. Dr Buck, after s-omC general indica tions of the directions in which the history of the early inhabitation of New Zealand was being investigated, expressed gratification at the definiteness of Mr Skinner’s conclusion that the earliest race of which there is any trace—the moa hunters—was Polynesian in type.