J World Prehist DOI 10.1007/s10963-017-9110-y Mass Migration and the Polynesian Settlement of New Zealand 1 2 1 Richard Walter • Hallie Buckley • Chris Jacomb • Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith2 Ó The Author(s) 2017. This article is an open access publication Abstract This paper reintroduces the concept of mass migration into debates concerning the timing and nature of New Zealand’s settlement by Polynesians. Upward revisions of New Zealand’s chronology show that the appearance of humans on the landscape occurred extremely rapidly, and that within decades set- tlements had been established across the full range of climatic zones. We show that the rapid appearance of a strong archaeological signature in the early 14th century AD is the result of a mass migration event, not the consequence of gradual demographic growth out of a currently unidentified earlier phase of settlement. Mass migration is not only consistent with the archaeological record but is supported by recent findings in molecular biology and genetics. It also opens the door to a new phase of engagement between archaeological method and indigenous Maori and Polynesian oral history and tradition. Keywords Polynesia Á New Zealand Á Colonisation Á Migration Á Indigenous history Introduction The Austronesian colonisation of the Pacific commenced around 3500 BP and culminated, nearly three millennia later, in a 3000 km journey south of tropical East Polynesia into the temperate and sub-Antarctic waters of New Zealand. This is one of the longest known ocean voyages of the preindustrial age and marks the point at & Richard Walter
[email protected] 1 Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand 2 Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand 123 J World Prehist which the natural world of an isolated Polynesian archipelago began its transfor- mation into a cultural domain (Fig.