- MD & YM
134: Petroglyph evidence
I was sent a picture of a petroglyph in Tasman Bay. This rocks location is being kept secret as iwi want to protect it, and the site needs archaeological investigation. It doesn't match anywhere else in Aotearoa and that is because it is specific to the original inhabitants that lived there.
Below is another picture of another set of petroglyphs once found in Taranaki. Again this type of petroglyph is found nowhere else in NZ as it was specific to the people that once lived here (before Polynesians arrived). There is no record of such designs in Polynesia. There are two small feet in Tonga but they are not like these at all. These were unique and are now lost.
There is a similar style in Utah (see left below) and Melanesia (right).
We do not suggest that there is a physical link but wish to point out that in Utah those petroglyphs are also specific to the ancient people who lived in Utah. As Polynesians supposedly all came from one place at one time (that isn't true but lets run with the story...) then all the art, beliefs, language, styles and weapons would all be the same right? Well, they mostly were as they came from the same group of islands.
But designs that do not match Polynesian immigration are from those already living here. Even most Maori believe they were not the first (not the political Maori, the ordinary people).
Then there are the spirals found on many rocks in NZ. There are only two examples of spiral petroglyph in other areas of the Polynesia and one of those if Fiji which is regarded as part of Melanesia. Explain that! We suggest it's because the spirals were carved by Melanesian stocks as spirals abound there.
The first two photos are actually Tonga Bay, (one from a book called 'Down the Bay' by Phillip Simpson - buy a copy, it's an excellent book) and the style is similar to other petroglyphs few know about within NZ but are not displayed or recorded as 'Maori'. Even the upper South Island has rock 'art' unlike anywhere else in NZ. There is a reason for this, they were not painted by Maori as we know them at least. They belong to different stock, different arrival times, and cultural differences. Still... no one from academia will believe anything of the sort until conclusive physical, DNA and CD proof of a race before Polynesians is produced.
