Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and the impacts of volcanism on early Maori society: an update

Models of settlement Various lines of evidence indicate that the ‘homeland’, or Hawaiiki, of the early Polynesian settlers of Aotearoa was eastern Polynesia (e.g. see Sutton, 1994; Howe, 2003). Establishing the timing of settlement has been problematic, however. The most recent and reliable evidence, both from archaeological and natural sites, points consistently to initial settlement between c. 1250–1300 AD (called the late settlement model). Wilmshurst et al. (2008) suggested a settlement date of c. 1280 AD (see below). The application of tephrochronology to the issue is well established (Newnham et al., 1998; Lowe et al., 2000; Lowe and Newnham, 2004). The Kaharoa Tephra was erupted from Mt Tarawera in winter of 1314  12 AD, as determined from the wiggle-match dating of a log of celery pine (tanekaha, Phyllocladus spp.) killed in the eruption (Hogg et al., 2003). It provides a key marker enabling both archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sites  which record the earliest forest clearances accompanying settlement  to be dated. The impacts on soils of Polynesian deforestation by burning are noted in a short article below (Lowe and McDaniel, this volume).