Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-685pp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-12T02:22:36.813Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dating the first New Zealanders: the chronology of Wairau Bar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Thomas Higham ,
Atholl Anderson  and
Chris Jacomb
Thomas Higham
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand, T.Higham@waikato.ac.nz
Atholl Anderson
Affiliation:
Division of Archaeology & Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Chris Jacomb
Affiliation:
Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The first colonization of New Zealand is a much debated issue. The lack of appropriate absolute dating has meant chronology has been poorly understood. New 14C dating of materials from archaic Polynesian graves and occupation levels provides important precision and understanding of early exploitation on New Zealand.

Keywords

PolynesiaNew Zealand14C datingcolonizationWairau Bar
Type
Notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 280 , June 1999 , pp. 420 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambrose, S.H & Norr, L.. 1993. Experimental evidence for the relationship of the carbon isotope ratios of whole diet and dietary protein to those of bone collagen and carbonate, in Malbert, J.B. & Grupe, G. (ed.), Prehistoric human bone — archaeology at the molecular level: 1–38. Berün: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. 1989. Prodigious birds. Moas and moa-hunting in prehistoric New Zealand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. 1991. The chronology of colonization in New Zealand, Antiquity 65: 767–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, A.J. 1994. Palaeoenvironmental evidence of island colonisation: a response, Antiquity 68: 845–7.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. 1995. Current approaches in East Polynesian colonisation research, Journal of the Polynesian Society 104:110–32.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. 1996. Was Rattus exulans in New Zealand 2000 years ago? AMS radiocarbon ages from Shag River Mouth, Archaeology in Oceania 31: 178–84.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. N.d. Implications of obsidian transfer in southern Polynesia. Unpublished manuscript, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J., Ambrose, W., Leach, B.F. & Weisler, M.. 1997. Material sources of basalt and obsidian artefacts from a prehistoric settlement site on Norfolk Island, South Pacific, Archaeology in Oceania 32: 39–46.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. & Mcfadgen, B.G.. 1990. Prehistoric two-way voyaging between New Zealand and East Polynesia: Mayor Island obsidian on Raoul Island and possible Raoul Island obsidian in New Zealand, Archaeology in Oceania 25: 24–37.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J. & Smith, I.W.G.. 1996. The transient village in southern New Zealand, World Archaeology 27: 359–71.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J., Smith, I.W.G & Higham, T.F.G.. 1996. Radiocarbon chronology, in Anderson, A.J., Allingham, B.J. & Smith, I.W.G. (ed.), Shag River Mouth: the archaeology of an early southern Maori village: 60–69. Canberra: ANH Publications. Australian National University Research Papers in Archaeology and Natural History 27.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: The OxCal program, Radiocarbon 37: 425–30.Google Scholar
Brown, J. 1995. On mortuary analysis, with special reference to the Saxe-Binford research programme, in Beck, L.A. (ed.), Regional approaches to mortuary analysis: 2–26. New York (NY): Plenum.Google Scholar
Challis, A.J. 1991. The Nelson-Marlborough region: An archaeological synthesis, New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 13: 101–42.Google Scholar
Davidson, J. 1984. The prehistory of New Zealand. Auckland: Longman Paul.Google Scholar
Duff, R.S. 1950. The Moa-hunter period of Maori culture. Wellington: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Duff, R.S. 1977. The Moa-hunter period of Maori culture. 3rd edition. Wellington: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Enright, N.J. & Osborne, N.M.. 1988. Comments on D.G. Sutton’s paper ‘A paradigmatic shift in Polynesian prehistory: Implications for New Zealand’, New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 10: 139–46.Google Scholar
Golson, J. 1959. Culture change in prehistoric New Zealand, in Freeman, J.D. & Geddes, W.R. (ed.), Anthropology in the South Seas: Essays presented to H.D Skinner: 29–74. New Plymouth: Thomas Avery & Sons.Google Scholar
Grant, P.J. 1988. Interpretation of evidence for the early prehistory of New Zealand: reply to Sutton, New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 10: 109–28.Google Scholar
Gumbley, W. 1996. Conservation plan for Wairau Bar moa hunter site. Wellington: New Zealand Historic Places Trust.Google Scholar
Higham, T.F.G. 1994. Radiocarbon dating New Zealand prehistory with moa eggshell: Some preliminary results, Quaternary Geochronology (Quaternary Science Reviews) 13: 163–9.Google Scholar
Higham, T.F.G. & Hogg, A.G.. 1997. Evidence for late Polynesian colonisation of New Zealand: University of Waikato Radiocarbon measurements, Radiocarbon 39: 149–92.Google Scholar
Higham, T.F.G. & Johnson, L.. 1996. The prehistoric chronology of Raoul Island, the Kermadec Group, Archaeology in Oceania 31: 207–13.Google Scholar
Holdaway, R.N. 1996. Arrival of rats in New Zealand, Nature 384: 225–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houghton, P. 1975. The people of Wairau Bar, Records of the Canterbury Museum 9: 231–46.Google Scholar
Jansen, H. 1984. Radiocarbon dating for contributors. Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 328.Google Scholar
Kirch, P.V. 1986. Rethinking East Polynesian prehistory, Journal of the Polynesian Society 95: 9–40.Google Scholar
Kirch, P.V. & Ellison, J.. 1994. Palaeoenvironmental evidence for human colonisation of remote Oceanic islands, Antiquity 68: 310–21.Google Scholar
Leach, B.F. 1977. Sex and funeral offerings at Wairau Bar: A re-evaluation, New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter 20: 107–13.Google Scholar
Mccormac, F.G., Hogg, A.G., Higham, G.L. Baillie, M.G. Palmer, J.G. Xiong, L. Pilcher, J.R. Brown, D. & Hoper, S.T.. 1998. Variations of radiocarbon in tree-rings: Southern hemisphere offset preliminary results, Radiocarbon 40: 1153–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mcfadgen, B.G. 1982. Dating New Zealand archaeology by radiocarbon, New Zealand Journal of Science 25: 379–92.Google Scholar
Mcfadgen, B.G., Knox, F.B. & Cole, T.R.L.. 1994. Radiocarbon calibration curve variations and their implications for the interpretation of New Zealand prehistory, Radiocarbon 36: 221–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G.H., Macee, J.W., Johnson, B.J. Fogel, M.L. Spooner, N.A. Mcculloch, M.T. & Ayliefe, L.K.. 1999. Pleistocene extinction of Genyornis newtoni: Human impact on Australian megafauna, Science 283: 205–8.Google Scholar
Spriggs, M. & Anderson, A.J.. 1993. Late colonisation of East Polynesia, Antiquity 67: 200–217.Google Scholar
Stafford, T.W. Jr, Jull, A.J.T. Brendel, K. Duhamel, R.C. & Donahue, D.. 1987. Study of bone radiocarbon dating accuracy at the University of Arizona NSF accelerator facility for radioisotope analysis, Radiocarbon 29: 24–44.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E. Beck, J.W. Burr, G.S. Hughen, K.A. Kromer, B. McCormac, F.G. Van Der Plight, J. & SPURK, M.. 1998. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal AD, Radiocarbon 40: 1041–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. & Braziunas, S.. 1998. High precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples, Radiocarbon 40: 1127–51.Google Scholar
Sutton, D.G. 1987. A paradigmatic shift in Polynesian prehistory: implications for New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 9: 135–57.Google Scholar
Sutton, D.G. 1994. Conclusion: origins, in Sutton, D.G. (ed.), The origins of the first New Zealanders: 243–58. Auckland: Auckland University Press.Google Scholar
Trotter, M.M. 1975a. Further excavations at Wairau Bar, New Zealand, Asian Perspectives 19: 75–80.Google Scholar
Trotter, M.M. 1975b. Radiocarbon dates for Wairau Bar and Wakanui, South Island, New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter 18: 90–91.Google Scholar
Wilkes, O. 1964. Further work at Wairau Bar. Canterbury: Canterbury Museum.Google Scholar
Wilmshurst, J.M. 1997. The impact of human settlement on vegetation and soil stability in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Botany 35: 97–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar