Since the early 1900s it has been accepted by archaeologists and anthropologists that Polynesians were the first ethnic group to settle in New Zealand. Before that time and until the 1920s, however, a
Statue of the legendary explorer Kupe
Ethnographers Elsdon Best and Percy Smith, the two most prominent academic proponents of pre-Māori settlement.
The Kaimanawa Wall, a natural outcrop of ignimbrite with regular joint sets, which are interpreted by some to be man-made
Māori people
Videos
Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. The Māori are descended from East Polynesian settlers who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1
Pre-Māori settlement of New Zealand theories
…Since the early 1900s it has been accepted by archaeologists and anthropologists that Polynesians (who became the Māori) were the first ethnic group to settle in New Zealand (first proposed by Captain James Cook). Before that time and until the 1920s, however, a small…
New Zealand Maori rowing 8444
Early Archaic period artefacts from the Wairau Bar archaeological site, on display at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch
Model of a pā (hillfort) built on a headland. Pā proliferated as competition and warfare increased among a growing population.
A drawing from Abel Tasman's travel journal of the first encounter between Europeans and Māori, in 1642