Date

Event

1654

Archbishop James Ussher of Ireland publishes a chronology for bible events beginning with the creation of the world in 4004 BC.

1769

During Cook's first voyage to the South Seas the Tahitian Tupaia is able to converse with New Zealanders. Cook concludes the two are of common origin.

As a result of Cook's second voyage. Tongans, Tahitians and New Zealanders are considered by J. Forster as of possible Malay origin. By 1778, with Hawai'i added to the list of places visited it was apparent to Captain King that all of Polynesia was united by a single language.

1775-95

J.F. Blumenbach treatise On the Natural Variety of Mankind (1775) classifies the races of man. It is modified at the behest of Banks in its 2nd edition of 1781 to include Malay. Further modified in 3rd edition of 1795 dedicated to Banks and now including: Caucasian, American, Ethiopian, Mongolian. 

1832

Ethnographic divisions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia defined by Dumont D'Urville.

The missionary Samuel Marsden classifies Maori as descended from the biblical sons of Shem and thus of Semitic origin.

1843 & 1859

In his book Travels in New Zealand Dieffenbach draws on the pseudo-science phrenology, and A.S. Thomson in his book The Story of New Zealand on craniometry.

1855

In his book Te Ika a Maui the missionary Richard Taylor sees Maori as a lost tribe of Israel.

1859

Charles Darwin publishes his epoch-making book Origin of Species.

1869

The geologist Julius von Haast introduces modern archaeology to New Zealand as a result of excavation of a moa-hunter site at the Rakaia River in the South Island.

1872

Charles Darwin publishes his book Descent of Man.

1877

L.H. Morgan publishes a book, Ancient Society, in which he attempts to classify the races of man into three divisions, advancing from savagery through barbarism to civilisation. 

1878-80

Abraham Fornander draws upon Hawai'ian oral tradition in a 2-volume work, An Account of the Polynesian Race.

1885

Edward Tregear publishes his book The Aryan Maori, and A.S. Atkinson publishes a devastating parody of it, The Aryo-Semitic Maori, in the following year. 

1892

Polynesian Society formed by S. Percy Smith and Elsdon Best.

1898

First edition of S. Percy Smith's book Hawaiki.

1907

In his book Maori and Polynesian J. Macmillan Brown supports an Aryan origin for the Maori.

1910

In his book Hawaiki, the Original Home of the Maori

S. Percy Smith claims an origin for the Maori in India.

1914

W.H.R. Rivers distinguishes kava people and betel people in Melanesia.

1934-38

Otto Dempwolff ushers in a new era of Pacific linguistics with publication of his Oceanic hypothesis.

1936-38

A.C. Haddon and James Hornell publish a 3-volume treatise on the Canoes of Oceania.

1938

American ethnologist Edwin G. Burrows sets the scene for future comparison with an influential study of cultural differentiation in Eastern and Western Polynesia.

1938

Peter Buck publishes his book Vikings of the Sunrise in which he proposes a Micronesian origin for Polynesians.

1947

Thor Heyerdahl sails his raft Kon Tiki from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotus in an attempt to prove that Polynesia could have been settled from South America. The last surviving member of the expedition, the radio operator, Knut Haugland, dies in Norway in 2009.

1949-50

First and second editions of Peter Buck's The Coming of the Maori add a seal of approval to S. Percy Smith's fleet chronology. It continues to be taught in schools for many years.

1950

W.F. Libby develops the first form of radiocarbon dating, and refinements of the method become an essential tool for archaeologists.

1950

Publication of Roger Duff's The Moa-Hunter Period of Maori Culture.

1952

Archaeologists Gifford and Shutler excavate a unique form of dentate-stamped pottery at Lapita, New Caledonia. The name of the place is henceforth applied to this form of pottery which is discovered in numerous other sites throughout Island Melanesia and Western Polynesia in coming decades.

1955

Bengt Anell shows fishing hooks and lures are paralleled in Micronesia and Polynesia but not Melanesia.  

1956

Andrew Sharp puts the case for accidental voyaging in his book Ancient Voyagers of the Pacific.

1963

In a second book, Ancient Voyagers in Polynesia Andrew Sharp extends his argument to include deliberate voyages of no return.

1965

At the University of Auckland, Bruce Biggs begins work on a Proto Polynesian Lexicon of reconstructed terms (Pollex).

1966-76

Beginning in 1966, Ben Finney commissions a number of double canoes based on traditional Polynesian designs, and uses them to determine their sailing capabilities. From May 1 to June 4 1976 a successful voyage is made from Hawai'i to Tahiti using traditional navigational techniques.

1969

In an article, D.R. Simmons debunks Smith's Fleet chronology and follows up with a book The Great New Zealand Myth in 1976.

1971

Douglas Yen provides evidence for introduction of the sweet potato from South America to Eastern Polynesia.

1971

L.M. Groube introduces the idea that Polynesians emerged in a process of "becoming" in Polynesia itself. The idea is embraced by Lapita scholars and becomes a cornerstone of later orthodoxy.

1972

David Lewis publishes a book, We the Navigators, in which he reports the results of practical sailing experiments with Polynesian methods of navigation.

1988

Entangled bank and Fast train hypotheses of Polynesian origins.

1991

In an influential paper Roger Green attempts to disestablish Melanesia as an ethnographic division, and substitutes a now widely accepted alternative grouping called Near and Remote Oceania.

1991

Triple I hypothesis of Polynesian origin is proposed by Roger Green.

1992

Geoffrey Irwin provides evidence for use of a deliberate two-way voyaging strategy by Lapita settlers.

2000

Slow boat hypothesis of Polynesian origins.

2004

Excavation begins of the Teoma Lapita site in Vanuatu. Headless skeletons with complete Lapita pots are found.