TRIBAL SURFERS

The earliest New Zealand Maori were East Polynesians who arrived in large ocean going waka (canoes) about 800 years ago from the Hawaiki zone, thought to be the islands of northern Tahiti. It is unclear why they chose to do this; it may have been due to overpopulation on existing islands, or fleeing inter-tribal warfare. They knew they were voyaging to colonise a new land, because they took with them live vegetable plants and sacred marae stones collected from a southern Tahitian island en route, which they used to establish new marae (sacred tribal meeting grounds) on arrival. These ordinary looking blocks of volcanic scoria stones have since been found on different ancient archaeological sites at the bottom of the South Island, and are the oldest sites of habitation found on New Zealand to date. Recent geochemical testing on the stones shows an isotopic signature not found anywhere in the region. Rather, it pinpoints Mahetia Island, 150km southeast of Tahiti, as the source.

This new discovery is being heralded as the Holy Grail in the story of Polynesian migration to New Zealand, and indicates that the earliest voyagers were following the