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A HISTORY OF BLACKBALL, 13th to 18th century.
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DescriptionHi everyone. It turns out a few friends on here are still having doubts about historical accuracy.
The first thing to say is that nothing I’ve written about the history of the East Polynesian settlers and the Māori iwi that evolved out of those settlers is the slightest bit controversial for the Māwheranui rohe as a whole. Anyone who wants to find out what archaeologists and historians know so far about the various iwi living here over the first five hundreds years can easily find plenty of trustworthy data online or in books. You can learn some Waitaha and Ngāi Tahu history, for example, in Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Ngāi Tahu – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
The only controversial thing about my posts is my attempt to relate what we know of Māwheranui in general to one particular locality: Blackball.
A big problem we grapple with is that the archaeological record for Te Tai Poutini is weak. The West Coast is six hundred kilometres long and hardly anywhere has been studied at all closely by archaeologists. Archaeology is time-consuming, expensive, and can only be done properly by people with training. Another problem is that the spots in our region most likely to have provided good troves of artefacts were wetlands and riverbanks. Wetlands and riverbanks around Blackball have been mashed, crushed, chewed up and spat out by gold sluicing and gold dredging. Almost none has its original topsoil.
Māori artefacts, campsites, hunting spots and so forth cannot survive sluicing and dredging.
Also, archaeological evidence from between the 13th century and the early 19th century has been swept away by the ceaseless floods, landslips and changes in riverbeds that are always making and remaking so much of Te Tai Poutini.
So, my reading of Blackball history up to the early 19th century is indeed no more than educated guesswork.
Historical research and historical analysis is a process, a sorting-through and thinking-through. It’s not something engraved forever on tablets of knowledge. I’m keen to hear any solid thoughts about possible flaws in my logic. Accordingly, I’ll pose some questions for my critics over the next week or two, and invite you to share your ideas.
What I’m thinking is a sort of intellectual and emotional version of crowdfunding.
I pose a question about history. You can post your answer to the question. We all treat each other civilly and with mutual respect. We see if a consensus answer to the question does or doesn’t emerge gradually.
We could call it crowdthinking.
So, that’s our contract.
Moa are the topic of the first question. A bit of background data: two main species of moa lived in the beech forests of Māwheranui. One was the South Island giant moa, or Dinornus robustus. The other was the bush moa, or Anomalopteryx didiformis. The two species became extinct within a few generations of the landing of the first settlers from Eastern Polynesia. Archaeologists and historians agree that moa vanished because the settlers hunted them to extinction.
Question One:
How did moa become extinct in and around Blackball if they were not killed by Polynesian hunting bands?
Pic: Dinornus robustus in a beech forest © Te Papa, artist Paul MartinsonMap[1] ContributorStevan Eldred-Grigg
The first thing to say is that nothing I’ve written about the history of the East Polynesian settlers and the Māori iwi that evolved out of those settlers is the slightest bit controversial for the Māwheranui rohe as a whole. Anyone who wants to find out what archaeologists and historians know so far about the various iwi living here over the first five hundreds years can easily find plenty of trustworthy data online or in books. You can learn some Waitaha and Ngāi Tahu history, for example, in Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Ngāi Tahu – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
The only controversial thing about my posts is my attempt to relate what we know of Māwheranui in general to one particular locality: Blackball.
A big problem we grapple with is that the archaeological record for Te Tai Poutini is weak. The West Coast is six hundred kilometres long and hardly anywhere has been studied at all closely by archaeologists. Archaeology is time-consuming, expensive, and can only be done properly by people with training. Another problem is that the spots in our region most likely to have provided good troves of artefacts were wetlands and riverbanks. Wetlands and riverbanks around Blackball have been mashed, crushed, chewed up and spat out by gold sluicing and gold dredging. Almost none has its original topsoil.
Māori artefacts, campsites, hunting spots and so forth cannot survive sluicing and dredging.
Also, archaeological evidence from between the 13th century and the early 19th century has been swept away by the ceaseless floods, landslips and changes in riverbeds that are always making and remaking so much of Te Tai Poutini.
So, my reading of Blackball history up to the early 19th century is indeed no more than educated guesswork.
Historical research and historical analysis is a process, a sorting-through and thinking-through. It’s not something engraved forever on tablets of knowledge. I’m keen to hear any solid thoughts about possible flaws in my logic. Accordingly, I’ll pose some questions for my critics over the next week or two, and invite you to share your ideas.
What I’m thinking is a sort of intellectual and emotional version of crowdfunding.
I pose a question about history. You can post your answer to the question. We all treat each other civilly and with mutual respect. We see if a consensus answer to the question does or doesn’t emerge gradually.
We could call it crowdthinking.
So, that’s our contract.
Moa are the topic of the first question. A bit of background data: two main species of moa lived in the beech forests of Māwheranui. One was the South Island giant moa, or Dinornus robustus. The other was the bush moa, or Anomalopteryx didiformis. The two species became extinct within a few generations of the landing of the first settlers from Eastern Polynesia. Archaeologists and historians agree that moa vanished because the settlers hunted them to extinction.
Question One:
How did moa become extinct in and around Blackball if they were not killed by Polynesian hunting bands?
Pic: Dinornus robustus in a beech forest © Te Papa, artist Paul MartinsonMap[1] ContributorStevan Eldred-Grigg
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Location (city or town)BlackballEventA HISTORY OF BLACKBALL, 13th to 18th century.
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Date Created22nd February 2021CommentsHeather Newby
excellent,,, thanks for posting
John Lester
I enjoy reading your posts.Thanks.Blackball is awesome
Pam Englefield-Absolum
Brilliant - I love these posts. It is opening up our minds to previous history we did not know about. Keep writing and researching.
Roger Strong
Someone posted here that Maori bought breadfruit with them and grew it in New Zealand. A few minutes research was enough to see that of the six tropical plants growing here when Europeans arrived, breadfruit was not one. Simply too cold and generally too cold even for the six south of Northland. Its possible that things like breadfruit and even bananas were bough here but growing them would have been impossible. The six grown were kumara, hue (bottle gourd), aute (paper mulberry) taro,yam and the tropical cabbage tree (Cordyline fruiticosa). Source Te Ara.
Heather Newby
bananas grow in Porirua and taro
Sophie Allan
Is there any evidence that blackball was inhabited by moa? It doesn't seem like a place that would support a large population, being rather cold in winter.
excellent,,, thanks for posting
John Lester
I enjoy reading your posts.Thanks.Blackball is awesome
Pam Englefield-Absolum
Brilliant - I love these posts. It is opening up our minds to previous history we did not know about. Keep writing and researching.
Roger Strong
Someone posted here that Maori bought breadfruit with them and grew it in New Zealand. A few minutes research was enough to see that of the six tropical plants growing here when Europeans arrived, breadfruit was not one. Simply too cold and generally too cold even for the six south of Northland. Its possible that things like breadfruit and even bananas were bough here but growing them would have been impossible. The six grown were kumara, hue (bottle gourd), aute (paper mulberry) taro,yam and the tropical cabbage tree (Cordyline fruiticosa). Source Te Ara.
Heather Newby
bananas grow in Porirua and taro
Sophie Allan
Is there any evidence that blackball was inhabited by moa? It doesn't seem like a place that would support a large population, being rather cold in winter.
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West Coast New Zealand History (22nd Feb 2021). A HISTORY OF BLACKBALL, 13th to 18th century.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 6th Mar 2021 13:34, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/29019