Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

331 Pages·2019·10.69 MB·English

by  Christina Thompson

Dedication
For Tauwhitu
Epigraph
For we are dear to the immortal gods,
Living here, in the sea that rolls forever,
Distant from other lands and other men.
—Homer, the Odyssey
(translated by Robert Fitzgerald)
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
List of Plates
Prologue: Kealakekua Bay
Part I: The Eyewitnesses (1521–1722)
In which we follow the trail of the earliest European explorers as they attempt to
cross the Pacific for the first time, encountering a wide variety of islands and
meeting some of the people who live there.
A Very Great Sea: The Discovery of Oceania
First Contact: Mendaña in the Marquesas
Barely an Island at All: Atolls of the Tuamotus
Outer Limits: New Zealand and Easter Island
Part II: Connecting the Dots (1764–1778)
In which we travel with Captain Cook to the heart of Polynesia, meet the
Tahitian priest and navigator Tupaia, and sail with the two of them to New
Zealand, where Tupaia makes an important discovery.
Tahiti: The Heart of Polynesia
A Man of Knowledge: Cook Meets Tupaia
Tupaia’s Chart: Two Ways of Seeing
An Aha Moment: A Tahitian in New Zealand
Part III: Why Not Just Ask Them? (1778–1920)
In which we look at some of the stories that Polynesians told about themselves
and consider the difficulty nineteenth-century Europeans had trying to make
sense of them.
Drowned Continents and Other Theories: The Nineteenth-Century Pacific
A World Without Writing: Polynesian Oral Traditions
The Aryan Māori: An Unlikely Idea
A Viking in Hawai‘i: Abraham Fornander
Voyaging Stories: History and Myth
Part IV: The Rise of Science (1920–1959)
In which anthropologists pick up the trail of the ancient Polynesians, bringing a
new, quantitative approach to the questions of who, where, and when.
Somatology: The Measure of Man
A Māori Anthropologist: Te Rangi Hiroa
The Moa Hunters: Stone and Bones
Radiocarbon Dating: The Question of When
The Lapita People: A Key Piece of the Puzzle
Part V: Setting Sail (1947–1980)
In which we set off on an entirely new tack, taking to the sea with a crew of
experimental voyagers as they attempt to reenact the voyages of the ancient
Polynesians.
Kon-Tiki: Thor Heyerdahl’s Raft
Drifting Not Sailing: Andrew Sharp
The Non-Armchair Approach: David Lewis Experiments
Hōkūle‘a: Sailing to Tahiti
Reinventing Navigation: Nainoa Thompson
Part VI: What We Know Now (1990–2018)
In which we review some of the latest scientific findings and think about what it
takes to answer big questions about the deep past.
The Latest Science: DNA and Dates
Coda: Two Ways of Knowing
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Photo Section
About the Author
Also by Christina Thompson
Copyright
About the Publisher
List of Plates
1. “Map of the World, showing Terra Australis Incognita,” from Theatrum
Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas, by Abraham Ortelius, 1570.
Wikimedia Commons.
2. Tattooed Marquesan, “Back View of a younger inhabitant of Nukahiwa
[Nuku Hiva], not yet completely tattooed,” in G. H. von Langsdorff,
Voyage and Travels in Various Parts of the World (London, 1813).
Courtesy Carol Ivy.
3. Easter Island moai, “A View of the Monuments of Easter Island,” by
William Hodges, ca. 1776. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich,
London. Wikimedia Commons.
4. Nukutavake canoe, acquired in the Tuamotus in 1767 by Captain Samuel
Wallis of H.M.S. Dolphin. British Museum.
5. Nukutavake canoe detail showing repair.
6. Portrait of Captain James Cook by William Hodges, 1775–76. National
Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
7. Drawing by Tupaia of a Māori trading crayfish with Joseph Banks, 1769.
British Library.
8. Peter Henry Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa) in academic robes, ca. 1904. Alexander
Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
9. Felix von Luschan’s Hautfarbentafel (skin color panel). Peabody Museum
of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
10. Richard Owen standing beside Dinornis novaezealandiae (large species of
moa) while holding the bone fragment he was given in 1839. From Richard
Owen, Memoirs on the extinct wingless birds of New Zealand (London,
1879). Wikimedia Commons.
11. Moa egg found by Jim Eyles at Wairau Bar in 1939. Photograph by
Norman Heke, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
12. Necklace of moa bone reels and stone “whale tooth” pendant, discovered at