Looking for Lost Proficiency in East Polynesian Voyaging Traditions and Ethnology

Abstract

ABSTRACT The lost proficiency hypothesis holds that ancient voyaging technology in East Polynesia was superior to that recorded historically. It provides an indispensable assumption for modern experimental voyaging and associated research, but its origins in traditional migration narratives and associated ethnology are uncertain. Inspection of Maori voyaging traditions, published between 1840 and 1970, implies lost proficiency in the supernatural abilities of ancestors but not in technological change, except by comparison with post-European contact evidence. Ethnological considerations extending to the late 18th century also indicate that no greater technical capability in ocean-going canoes existed before European arrival than was observed in the early decades afterwards. These results suggest that the early historical record of East Polynesian canoes might provide more useful information about ancient voyaging technology than the assumptions involved in current experimentation and simulation. They also underline the role of lost proficiency in the cultural politics of conjecture about ancient voyaging.