- IJ
213: Pelorus Giant
At Okoha, Pelorus Sound, NZ, Hamilton Redwood discovered, in October 1931, the skeleton of a 'Maori' measured at 8'. How he found it has not been discussed openly but it is likely as a result of a slip or erosion near the local river. The locals claimed to know who the person likely was due to legend reputation, and reinterred him at the local urupa.... (below, before it was tidied up in the 1970's, and now.)
At the time discussion revolved around whether he was of the ancient tribe of Rapuwai. Some locals informed that this is quite clear as the Rapuwai were of abnormal height and strength. A local Lands and Survey man, Mr Elvy, thought the discovery confirmed the rumours of a tall race, previously just being stories without evidence. Yet here was a skeleton to prove the stories true. Others thought it could have just been a tall individual in a tribe of average height.
We'll never know now. But here is a recap of a discovery in a previous post about ancient occupation that went back long before Maori were supposed to have reached these shores around 1200AD....
In 1894, a Joshua Rutland, shortly after settling in the Pelorus valley, was directed to a black horizontal seam in a perpendicular clay bank, formed by the encroachment of the Pelorus river on a small island at the head of the tide-way. The seam consisted of charcoal mixed with burnt stones and large mussel-shells, obviously a cooking location. So? There are thousands of these middens scattered over NZ many will say, some even go back as far as AD 1400. Yes, we know - but they do not have three feet of solid clay over them, over which again stood a large Matai tree more than three feet in diameter. Growth rates of naturally grown Matai are very slow with the fastest recorded growth rate being about 1mm annually. A 1.16 m (radius) tree would be well over 1000 years old. In cutting down old trees in the eighteen hundreds, annular rings showed that a Matai is four centuries old when three feet in diameter (JPS 1954). One of the few ancient trees still standing is Tane Mahuta which is 2500 years old so we'll be conservative and suggest that the Matai in this observation was at least 1500 years old... AND under that lay a solid clay base of 1 metre... (another 500+?). And still, below all of this was a human cooking fire. Have you opened your mind a little yet? That is factual provable range of 2000-2500 years old...UNDER which a midden revealing human occupation existed. There is more, but this needed to be stated first in case as a sceptic you got too bored. The Matai are not there any longer - but that seam still is...!
Yet another example to show that human beings were in this land a very long time time before those we call Maori ever got wind of this land. That would mean 2000 years ago at a minimum. Don't be fooled by the government protected legends when the evidence is there... even if now hidden. But more is to come....
