The First New Zealanders: Patterns of Diet and Mobility Revealed through Isotope Analysis

Direct evidence of the environmental impact of human colonization and subsequent human adaptational responses to new environments is extremely rare anywhere in the world. New Zealand was the last Polynesian island group to be settled by humans, who arrived around the end of the 13th century AD. Little is known about the nature of human adaptation and mobility during the initial phase of colonization. We report the results of the isotopic analysis (carbon, nitrogen and strontium) of the oldest prehistoric skeletons discovered in New Zealand to assess diet and migration patterns. The isotope data show that the culturally distinctive burials, Group 1, had similar diets and childhood origins, supporting the assertion that this group was distinct from Group 2/3 and may have been part of the initial colonizing population at the site. The Group 2/3 individuals displayed highly variable diets and likely lived in different regions of the country before their burial at Wairau Bar, supporting the archaeological evidence that people were highly mobile in New Zealand since the initial phase of human settlement.: University of Otago Research Grant (http://www.otago.ac.nz/research/otago004140.html); A grant-in-aid by the School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago (http://osms.otago.ac.nz/); The Mason Foundation (http://research-hub.griffith.edu.au/display/fosc_MASONG); Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/funds/marsden/) grant number UOO0711. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Review of the archaeology of foveaux strait, New Zealand

A recent archaeological survey of the south coast of the South Island of New Zealand highlighted some unusual features of the occupation of this part of the country. Although there was clear evidence for widespread settlement early in the prehistoric sequence and again early in the period of sustained European contact, there was a marked absence of evidence for settlement during much of the intervening period. Furthermore, there was a bias towards relatively small sites except where stone procurement or working were the major focus of activity. To investigate these features a radiocarbon dating programme was carried out alongside a study of specific aspects of material culture and site distribution. The results confirmed the initial impression of an all but invisible archaeological presence in the Foveaux Strait area for a period of up to two centuries until about the contact period. Three models to explain this pattern of settlement are evaluated and the one that is selected as the best fit is a resource network model in which Foveaux Strait may never have been permanently settled in prehistory but was always peripheral to wider economic imperatives

A morphometric reassessment of Roger Duff's Polynesian adze typology

Stone adzes are found throughout the Pacific islands and documenting their diversity is critical to understanding relationships between past human populations. The adze typology devised by Roger Duff half a century ago is the standard across New Zealand and the rest of Polynesia. Here we describe the different types in the Duff system and analyse 148 adzes from the Wairau Bar site, which has a high diversity of complete adzes and is the assemblage that Duff used as the basis of his system. We use Principal Components Analysis of morphometric variables to test the empirical basis of the Duff system - an analytical exercise that should have applicability to typological systems elsewhere. Our results show different Duff types clustering separately to an extent, but there are issues of ambiguity in assigning types. Duff emphasized cross-section shape and the elaboration of the tang. We propose a new classification system that emphasizes technological and functional features of the adzes. There is considerable agreement between Duff's system and ours, as different manufacturing methods create different cross-section shapes, and functional modifications are often related to the adze tang. We describe four main manufacturing methods with functional elaborations, resulting in nine different adze types that are represented by at least 3 specimens each at Wairau Bar. Examples of each of these adze types are illustrated. We also note the presence of 'stitched' edges on some adzes likely resulting from fine punch work. The Wairau Bar adzes are some of the finest examples of knapping skill known anywhere in the world and suggest a high level of craft specialization

Molecular and morphological analyses of avian eggshell excavated from a late thirteenth century earth oven

Using ancient DNA (aDNA) extracted from eggshell of the extinct moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) we determined the species composition and number of eggs found in a late thirteenth century earth oven feature at Wairau Bar (South Island, New Zealand) - one of New Zealand's most significant archaeological sites. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA signatures confirmed this oven feature contained fragments of at least 31 moa eggs, representing three moa genera: Emeus; Euryapteryx; Dinornis. We demonstrate through the genetic identification of 127 moa eggshell fragments that thickness is an unreliable character for species assignment. We also present a protocol for assessing the preservation likelihood of DNA in burnt eggshell. This is useful because eggshell fragments found in archaeological contexts have often been thermally modified, and heat significantly increases DNA fragmentation. Eggshell is widely used in radiocarbon dating and stable isotope research, this study showcases how aDNA can also add to our knowledge of eggshell in both archaeological and palaeoecological contexts

Median-joining network of control region sequences (582bp) of Wairau Bar dogs, and modern sequences from Haplogroup A.

<p>Modern = red, Wairau Bar = purple, A75 = yellow, A29 = blue.</p

Median-joining network of complete mitochondrial genomes of Wairau Bar dogs, and modern and ancient sequences from Haplogroup A.

<p>Wairau Bar = red, Dingo = purple, ancient American dogs = blue, Basenji = pink.</p

Wairau Bar archaeological site.

<p>Location of the archaeological site (top left), location of Oven Pit 1 (top right), and section view of Oven Pit 1 (horizontal scale 2 m, vertical scale 0.5 m).</p