Waihou Journeys: The Archaeology of 400 Years of Māori Settlement
Caroline Phillips
As the Waihou river wends its way across the Hauraki Plains to the Firth of Thames it passes through an immensely rich archaeological landscape. This land was the birthplace of many of New Zealand models of Māori culture history, ideas that now date back 40 years and that have scarcely been questioned since.
Waihou Journeys is an investigation of the Hauraki Plains that sheds light on the fundamental assumptions of New Zealand archaeology. Using a ‘landscape’ approach it draws together Māori oral history, European accounts, environmental reconstruction and archaeological excavation and analysis to build up a picture of Māori social and cultural change over 400 years. While the focus of the study is a particular geographical location, its comprehensive treatment makes it a radical and refreshing approach of interest to a variety of readers.
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. . . takes into account scientific data and oral traditions, and is precisely the type of synthesis awaited by the indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific. Furthermore, by achieving the synthesis of over 70 years of often-unpublished excavations, the author also concludes a long awaited work in the archaeological history of New Zealand. These two points make the book a cornerstone not only for New Zealand, but, as the author correctly states in her conclusion, for the whole Pacific. – Christophe Sand, Asian Perspectives