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New Zealand's Colonization 1000 Years Later Than Previously Thought?
- Date:
- June 4, 2008
- Source:
- Landcare Research
- Summary:
- The dating project, in one of the largest studies of its kind, has shown that the country was not visited by humans over 2000 years ago, as some previous research suggests. The new research shows that the earliest evidence for human colonization is about 1280-1300 AD, and no earlier. They based their results on new radiocarbon dating of Pacific rat bones and rat-gnawed seeds. Their results do not support previous radiocarbon dating of Pacific rat bones which implied a much earlier human contact about 200 BC.
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The dating project, in one of the largest studies of its kind, has shown that the country was not visited by humans over 2000 years ago, as some previous research suggests.
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Materials provided by Landcare Research. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Janet M. Wilmshurst, Atholl J. Anderson, Thomas F. G. Higham, and Trevor H. Worthy. Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105: 7676-7680 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0801507105
Cite This Page:
Landcare Research. "New Zealand's Colonization 1000 Years Later Than Previously Thought?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 June 2008. <www.sciencedaily.com
Landcare Research. (2008, June 4). New Zealand's Colonization 1000 Years Later Than Previously Thought?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 10, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com
Landcare Research. "New Zealand's Colonization 1000 Years Later Than Previously Thought?." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com
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