Groundbreaking research has shed light on traditional Māori diet and their burial practices in New Zealand years before the first Pākehā (non-Polynesian) settlers first arrived in Aotearoa.
The study, which had been conducted with the approval and guidance of Indigenous hapū and iwi tribes — the Ngāti Maahanga, Ngāti Wairere, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and Ngāti Hauā peoples — provides the first direct scientific evidence of Māori culture almost exclusively living and eating plant-based foods.
Māori peoples' diet was previously thought to be a diverse mix of seafood, birds, root crops, native berries and wild greens.
The findings come following a close partnership between the University of Otago (Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka) with mana whenua — Māori customary territorial rights — amid one of limited number of Aotearoa studies to utilise the scientific analysis of Māori kōiwi tangata (human remains) to investigate diet, childhood life histories and chromosomal sex.
The kōiwi tangata were accidentally discovered during archaeological investigations associated with the Hamilton Section of the Waikato Expressway, which was undertaken on behalf of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.
International archaeological journal, Nature Communications, recently published the findings.
The study's lead author, Dr Rebecca Kinaston, said the research highlights the central role of horticulture — particularly kūmara (a sweet potato) and the root vegetable of taro — a staple in Māori society during the period.
"These findings provide direct biological evidence that supports Māori oral histories, the ethno-historical accounts and archaeological research," Dr Kinaston said.
"They show that plant foods were a central component of the diet for some individuals, including children, in this (Waikato) region."
The Archaeology consultancy firm BioArch South director said researchers used an advanced isotope and enamel peptide analysis of kōiwi tangata of seven tūpuna (ancestors) which included four children to determine diet, place of childhood residency and chromosomal sex.
Visual analysis of their teeth indicated diets rich in soft, starchy and sticky foods, consistent with cultivated crops, such as kūmara and taro, were largely prominent.
Isotope results show that the children were likely weaned onto these plant foods within their first two to three years of life.
The study also provides rare insight into Māori burial practices prior to the widespread influence of Christianity from their history under colonisation of British influence.
Kōiwi tangata were recovered from a borrow pit formed by the extraction of a gravel surface used to amend soils for kūmara cultivation.
The tūpuna were interred as a secondary burial, a practice which was commonplace in later periods and may relate to protecting ancestors during times of conflict, or possibly to specific ritual practices associated with tapu.
Co-author Dr Jonny Geber, a scholar from the University of Edinburgh who works in collaboration with the collegiate university based in Dunedin, added such "insight helps us understand how tūpuna were once cared for and ritually treated before major cultural changes brought by colonisation".
Hamilton Section of the Waikato Expressway, lead archaeologist, Sian Keith, also acknowledged the research has introduced new Indigenous insight was only possible through sustained collaboration and trust with mana whenua.
"We are so deeply grateful to Ngāti Maahanga, Ngāti Wairere, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and Ngāti Hauā for approving this research and guiding how it was carried out," she said.
The academic study was published under the title of Horticultural intensification and plant-based diets of 18th century CE Waikato Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.
