107: The mysterious relics of Pelorus
On 10th May 2018 we mentioned the Marlborough Sounds unusual artefacts and mentioned some odd shaped stones. This will expand on those items a little more from an old article.
"In various places within the bush, along the shores of the Pelorus Sound, New Zealand, very symmetrical egg-shaped stones, foreign to the locality have been picked up, evidently relics of the ancient inhabitants of whom there are everywhere traces. Two of these stones in particular with one being well polished and the other nearly smooth, weigh respectively 64 and 74 ounces. The use of these stones I have not been able to discover, but the following passage in a letter from Colonel Smythe, who in 1860 was sent by the British Government as Commissioner to Fiji, may throw some light on them:—
“Mr. Waterhouse held a short service in English in Harry's house. In the afternoon we left Namusi, and ascended the secluded and lovely valley in which it lies. On reaching the sacred place, whence the Rewa god Wairua was said to have drifted, we stopped to examine it more closely, and asked the guides to point out the exact spot. They indicated a hole in a small tree by the side of a stream a few yards from the path. Manoah put his hand into the hole and brought out an oval stone of very regular form, about the size of a swan's egg; the guides said that was the god. Manoah again put in his hand and brought out some small stones of a similar shape, which they said were the god's children. We then began to question them about the god, on which they looked very grave, and pressed us to move on. Manoah wanted to throw the stones away, but as the act would only have irritated the natives without doing any good, we desired him to restore them as he had found them.1 In addition to these oval stones a number of equally symmetrical but much larger, nearly spherical stones, have been found in the Sounds and in the Pelorus Valley; one of these, 26 inches in circumference which I possess, was discovered in very dense bush on a hill at Four-Fathom Bay, Pelorus Sound. I have heard of another that was found in a hollow tree, and of one concealed in a fork of a large tawa tree. Six of these stones which I examined were very much alike in shape and size, and several others described to me must have been very similar. These stones have the appearance of water-worn boulders, but how such a number of are so nearly alike were obtained it is difficult to conceive. I have repeatedly questioned both Maoris and Europeans, but have not been able to obtain any satisfactory explanation of these curious relics."
It might be possible that they were some random object that the previous inhabitants used, but the first Polynesians discarded, or they may be a clue to a Melanesian past where such items were in fact throwing stones (below). Unfortunately, we have no examples of any that are able to be examined and tested to see what material they are made from. But somewhere in NZ, someone has some of these not knowing what they are and how important they are to the history of Marlborough where may strange objects have been found. Maori would not and could not know what they were and so hid them or buried them, as they did many things they did not understand or feared. As we have previously said, many unusual artifacts have been found underground that do not fit any Polynesian style whatsoever.
Typical Melanesian throwing stones
Ceremonial stone form Papua New Guinea. This rare unusual archaic old tribal ceremonial artifact is a heavy black egg shaped stone. It gave special power to the owner.
These type of stone are found as far away as the island of Guam, one large one is in the museum there. Being as revered as they were by Maori (as they did anything they did not understand or know the origins of) this seems to suggest that indeed this is more evidence of Melanesian influence and occupation long before the mass Polynesian immigrations occurred. It is noted that slings and stones like this were seen on the island of Niue in 1831 Tonga is just outside Melanesia and Niue just to the east of Tonga, but this is the only example we can find anywhere inside Polynesia. To be fair, the old seafaers has no borders.
Like everything else we post, this isn't proof Melanesians were here first, but when you consider stone 'eggs' are not a Maori item, that none are classed as maori on display, that there are none on display, and that those that were found (as per the stories above) were things the maori hid away. They tended to hide away things they feared which is why so many unusual artifacts were found at the base of tree roots. These things therefore make up our 'suggestion' on the basis of probability that Melanesian were here first.
If our skeletons end up having Melanesian DNA, Polynesian claim to being first is gone. Our belief is that will be the result of the testing on the bones.
