11: Were the Urukehu tall?

We have seen in previous posts about red hair and lighter skin in the stories Maori told the European. But there were no stories about them being tall...or were there? There is certainly no evidence of it other than the skeletons that turn up from time to time in 'legend'. (I say that because there is nothing but legend as yet!). However, let's assume these reports are true. Here are some things to note...

Maori buried their people separately in most cases. When you hear of an old skeleton being dug up it is just one. Right? Yet in every case where the 'tall ones' seem to be reported, there are what is described as a whole cache of them. These number from 14 to 86, or so we've read so far.

So if the Urukehu are not tall, (the old Maori stories don't say they are) - who the heck are these 'tall ones', if in fact they do exist?

Do these 'tall ones' predate the Urukehu, Ngati Hotu, Turehu and others? If they did, wouldn't that be amazing.

How to accurately measure bones.

So how will we know? By measuring the bones as we do our documentation - primarily the thigh bone. The femur is the longest bone and is typically 26.74% of a human beings total height. That being the case, if we found a femur of one of the 'tall ones' at say...60cm, that would mean the individual would be 7'4" tall. Now imagine if one of the males femurs measured 62.3cm!

You'll just have to wait to find out.