Regional and chronological variations in energy harvests from prehistoric fauna in New Zealand

Abstract

Regional variations in the subsistence practices of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori were recognized by the first Europeans who studied them closely in the late eighteenth century. There is now a critical need to reassess the evidence for both regional and chronological variations in evidence for the types and relative importance of the foods that prehistoric Maori ate to establish when, where, and how changes took place. Reliably dated archaeological assemblages from two New Zealand study areas are examined to generate estimates of the dietary energy harvested from major classes of fauna. These reveal changes over time which are attributable to human predation, and regional differences that reflect differing trajectories of human population growth.