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posted by martyb on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-chillin' dept.
Pacific islanders likely found Antarctica first: study:

New Zealand researchers scoured so-called "grey literature"—including oral records, historic indigenous artworks and non-academic sources—looking for links between Maori people and Antarctica.

"When you put it together, it's really clear, there's a very long history of connection to Antarctica," said project leader Priscilla Wehi from New Zealand's government research institute Manaaki Whenua.

[...] The research, published last week in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, found they reached Antarctica long before the first Westerners in the 1820s.

The researchers believe the first voyage to Antarctica waters even pre-dates Maori arrival in New Zealand in the 14th century.

"We find Polynesian narratives of voyaging between the islands include voyaging into Antarctic waters by Hui Te Rangiora and his crew on the vessel Te Ivi O Atea, likely in the early seventh century," Wehi said.

[...] Oral histories of the voyage include reference to "a foggy, misty and dark place not seen by the sun" and iceberg-like summits "piercing the sky with no vegetation".

The study said that Maori carving and weaving also supported accounts of early Antarctic exploration.

Wehi said collating traditional Maori accounts helped give a broader view of Antarctic history, beyond the accounts of European male explorers that usually predominate.

At last, a study that makes sense!

Journal Reference:
Priscilla M. Wehi, Nigel J. Scott, Jacinta Beckwith, et al. A short scan of Māori journeys to Antarctica, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand (DOI: 10.1080/03036758.2021.1917633)


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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @04:27AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @04:27AM (#1145375)

    This sounds like more Critical Race Theory to me. Governor Florida Man don't want to hear anything about that.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by driverless on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:22AM (3 children)

      by driverless (4770) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:22AM (#1145403)

      It's a bunch of bollocks. They have some legend that someone who may or may not have existed discovered Antarctica seven hundred years before any known travel to the area. They also have a legend that the North Island was fished out of the sea by a mythological being but I don't see anyone changing their geology texts over this. There is absolutely zero actual evidence of either of these events ever occurring.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @07:11AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @07:11AM (#1145417)

        Maui wants to say Thank you! [youtube.com]. Not the only islands the demigod pulled from the bottom of the ocean.

      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:14PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:14PM (#1145526)

        > There is absolutely zero actual evidence of either of these events ever occurring.

        OK chill out. First man on Antartica ain't the great prize ya know? And secondly... they rowed from Hawaii to New Zealand and Easter Island. But Antarctica was just too difficult for these primitive savages? The white man discovers ALL! Sheesh.

        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:45PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:45PM (#1145622) Journal

          But Antarctica was just too difficult for these primitive savages?

          Not at all. The Polynesians were phenomenal sailors and navigators. But there is no archaeological evidence that says they did discover Antarctica first.

          The Vikings had a saga about their discovering Vinland/America first, but until archaeologists proved it at L'Anse aux Meadows it was just a story, not fact.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:32PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:32PM (#1145618) Journal

      Accurate history that makes Florida Man uncomfortable?

      Yep, CRT in a nutshell!

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:04AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:04AM (#1145384)

    What does their gender have to do with anything?

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday June 15 2021, @11:02AM

      by looorg (578) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @11:02AM (#1145452)

      It's something that have to be pointed out in some circles these days to know you are on the "right side" of history and that you tick the correct boxes for your current and future research grant(s).
      The issue with grey source studies is that it's sometimes hard to know when fact and fiction meet. But be sure that if they had found even the most minute evidence of strong female Maori explorers stepping foot on some iceberg that would have been what was front and center. Now they had to settle for pointing out that they beat the vile white man there.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by crafoo on Tuesday June 15 2021, @12:33PM

      by crafoo (6639) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @12:33PM (#1145467)

      it's just an artifact of our current culture

      resentment is a powerful emotion, and we live in the age of emotional-thinkers

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:17PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:17PM (#1145529)

      Is it not true? Interesting it only takes 1 word to flame out the Trumptards. Fly, little orange birds, into the flames!

      • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by FatPhil on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:14PM (1 child)

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:14PM (#1145613) Homepage
        Using your logic, if it can be called that, it would have been just as sensible to write "two-legged European male explorers". Is that not true? Just because things may be true doesn't mean they necessarily need to be injected into every sentence. Prose is perfect when there's nothing more that can be removed, not when there's nothing more that can be added, to paraphrase EAB.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @03:16PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @03:16PM (#1145935)

          Fly, fly, poor victim!

    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday June 15 2021, @11:43PM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 15 2021, @11:43PM (#1145692)

      ....beyond the accounts of European male explorers that usually predominate.

      You couldn't parse that sentence? Really?

      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:20AM (5 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:20AM (#1145389) Journal

    I suspect Pacific islanders found and forgot and found Antarctica several times. They've been sailing the seas for thousands of years, literally. "Generally accepted" timelines established by Euro-centric studies may or may not be valid.

    Between about 3000 and 1000 BC speakers of Austronesian languages spread through the islands of Southeast Asia – most likely starting out from Taiwan,[2] as tribes whose natives were thought to have previously arrived from mainland South China about 8000 years ago – into the edges of western Micronesia and on into Melanesia, through the Philippines and Indonesia. In the archeogenetic record, there are well-defined traces of this expansion that allow the path it took to be followed and dated with a degree of certainty.[3][4] In the mid-2nd millennium BC, a distinctive culture appeared suddenly in north-west Melanesia, in the Bismarck Archipelago, the chain of islands forming a great arch from New Britain to the Admiralty Islands.

    This culture, known as Lapita, stands out in the Melanesian archeological record, with its large permanent villages on beach terraces along the coasts. Particularly characteristic of the Lapita culture is the making of pottery, including a great many vessels of varied shapes, some distinguished by fine patterns and motifs pressed into the clay. Between about 1300 and 900 BC, the Lapita culture spread 6000 km further to the east from the Bismarck Archipelago, until it reached as far as Tonga and Samoa.[5] Lapita pottery persisted in places such as Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji for many years after its introduction to Western Polynesia but eventually died out in most of Polynesia due to the scarcity of clay.[6] Although the production of ceramics did not travel beyond Western Polynesia, some ceramic materials have been recovered through archeological excavations in the Central Polynesia but have been attributed to trade.[7]

    Specific chronology of the discovery and settlement of specific island groups within Eastern and Central Polynesia is hotly debated among archeologists, but a generally accepted timeline puts the initial settlement of the Cook Islands before 1000 AD.[8] From this point, navigation branched out in all directions with Eastern Polynesia (including the Society Islands and the Marquesas Islands) settled first followed by more remote regions such as Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand peopled later.[9] The pattern of settlement also extended to the north of Samoa to the Tuvaluan atolls, with Tuvalu providing a stepping stone to the founding of Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia and Micronesia.[10][11][12]

    The archeological record supports oral histories of the first peopling of region including both the timing and geographical origins of Polynesian society.[13][14]

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:22AM (3 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:22AM (#1145390) Journal
      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:43AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:43AM (#1145408)

        I was going to say, "Runaway, you ignorant moron! Where are you getting this from? And then you cited Amazon? Or Wikipaedophila? Not sure if we can trust your references, Runaway, since you are not smart enough to vet them. Besides, lot of explorers discovered Arkansas, but were sensible enough not to record it in their logs. Arkansas Diner [youtube.com] Same could go for Antartica: not chance of growing kava. Erase the records.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:49AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:49AM (#1145410)

          Besides, lot of men discovered Yo Mama, but were sensible enough not to record her in their logs.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @07:14AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @07:14AM (#1145418)

          Runaway, you ignorant non-polynesian culturally appropriating moron.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:31AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:31AM (#1145393)

      The Lupita culture, yeah, I bumped into that in Sonora

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:58AM (1 child)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @06:58AM (#1145414)

    Nice that they got there first.

    On the other hand, where are the maps? Where are the records?

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @11:26AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @11:26AM (#1145458)

      Maps and historical evidence are a white construct invoked to repress the noble Pacific Islanders. The grey evidence conclusively points to Maori world domination... just be glad they decided to stop at Antartica and never conquered Europe.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @08:53AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @08:53AM (#1145427)

    This story has been pushed by Antarctica NZ for years - I personally witnessed this 5 years ago at Scott Base. While New Zealand is a signatory to the Antarctic treaty it can't promote or deny it's claim in Antarctica. But what I believe this is is trying to lay some ground work for legitimising their claim when the treaty expires. But this is an embrassing clutching at straws. They are trying to claim that the maori teavelled to Antarctica 600 years before they setteled New Zealand. But in which case, that claim aught to belong to where they came from (Hawakii I think) not where some of their descendants setteled 600 years later.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @09:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @09:41AM (#1145436)

      Oh no, then the "rabid non-NZ speculators shall descend like flock of hungry exploitative vultures", I mean "100% NZ owned housing developers will exploit every government grant dollar to ease the housing shortage with all urgency", move into Antarctica and build thousands of tiny shit "homes" that New Zealanders can rent because nobody can buy a house anywhere anymore.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @12:59PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @12:59PM (#1145470)

      What you are saying here is that Hawaii has a claim to New Zealand, going back centuries.

      I have visited NZ. Lo.g before this.plague troubled the world. Frankly, they sound and look like folk from Hawaii. Their language and songs ties them to whence they came.

      Does this mean NZ belongs to the US?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @12:42AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @12:42AM (#1145700)

        What an ignorant haole! Maori did not come from Hawaiʻ i. Learn a little about cultures other than your own.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @12:52PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @12:52PM (#1145468)

    Hello, I am a Maori and this is the first post in this thread. Don't believe me? Check the grey evidence.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:43PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:43PM (#1145539)

      I am an Australian Aborigine and I can corroborate Mr Maori's assertion. My grandfather told me about a Dreamtime story in which a tattoo-faced man conquered a land filled with small black and white birds.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:47PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @03:47PM (#1145542)

    Maori run the place due to guilted whites.
    What else would you expect from the wokest little island nobody has ever been to.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @04:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @04:20PM (#1145565)

      If you think Maori run NZ what will you do when the Chinese decide to colonize you little white paradise?

    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:14PM

      by looorg (578) on Tuesday June 15 2021, @05:14PM (#1145595)

      I thought NZ was home to Sauron and his army of Urukhai. Who are these Maori? Is it some kind of Orc-Human hybrid?

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @07:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 15 2021, @07:02PM (#1145633)

    "Wehi said collating traditional Maori accounts helped give a broader view of Antarctic history, beyond the accounts of European male explorers that usually predominate."

    Now vague references from people with no written language, and wang powered navigation devices are scientific evidence. Got to keep those anti-white jew grant dollars coming!

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @12:24AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @12:24AM (#1145696)

    Vikings found N. America first. They didn't establish much of anything and it was forgotten again. Before then people crossing the straight "found it" and at least set up shop.

    Whoever ended up in antarctica turned around and left.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:53PM (#1146019)

      Maybe we aren't looking hard enough. I'll bet Atlantis just might lie buried underneath a mile of Antarctic ice. Has anyone even tried looking based on the old Greek and Sumerian legends? Solid proof.

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