Diseases and disorders of the temporomandibular joint are commonly encountered clinically. This has lead to most temporomandibular research focusing upon the pathologies that affect the joint and their proposed aetiologies. Little of this research has been conucted on the prehistoric Polynesians. Therefore, this study was developed in order to determine the type and pattern of any temporomandibular pathologies in the prehistoric Maori and Moriori and to investigate their possible aetiologies. For this study a sample of 89 prehistoric Maori and Moriori skulls were used. All temporomandibular pathologies were recorded by type, location, and severity. Where possible, the ecological and geographical provenance of each individual was recorded and their sex and age estimated. This enabled an analysis of whether the prevalence and severity of temporomandibular degeneration varied between provenances or sexes, and if the occurrence of temporomandibular pathology increased with age. The condition of the dentition was also recorded for each individual as the dentition has been implicated in many previous studies to be an aetiological factor in temporomandibular degeneration. The dental conditions examined include; tooth attrition, inflammation of infection of the alveolar bone, dental caries, and fern root planes. Finally, the presence of any congenital or developmental anomalies and condylar enthesophytes were recorded in order to investigate if these conditions had any relationship to the occurrence of temporomandibular degeneration. A high prevalence of temporomandibular degenerative joint disease was found in this sample. No primary relationship was seen between age, congenital or developmental anomalies, condylar enthesophytes and temporomandibular degeneration. Furthermore, despite a high proportion of these individuals having very worn teeth, with consequent infection and tooth loss, no primary relationships were found between the selected dental conditions and temporomandibular degeneration either. However, a significant association was found between the selected dental conditions and temporomandibular degeneration either. A significant association was found between the sex of the individual and temporomandibular pathology, with males being more frequently and severely affected than the females. This appeared to be due differences in dietary type between the sex of the individual and temporomandibular pathology, with males being more frequently and severely affected than the females. This appeared to be due to differences in dietary type between the sexes resulting in more severe biomechanical degeneration recorded may be caused by excessive biomechanical loading possibly resulting from the diet or as a consequence of the Polynesian morphology. Interestingly, over one third of the sample had grooving in at least one fossae. It is proposed that this grooving may have either a hereditary component, or result from a specific morphological variation that is present in the prehistoric Maori and Moriori.

The history of ideas about Moriori origins, settlement, and culture has yet to be charted across the entire twentieth century. The thesis' primary goal is to begin the documentation of this in detail. It examines the two key strands of thought that have shaped this history of ideas: that Moriori were the remnants of a mainland pre-Maori people, and that they were the descendants of Maori voyagers. These sets of ideas existed simultaneously, which led to an intellectual history shaped by intersecting curves formed through long-ranging debate rather than a single linear progression of thought. Each strand of thought comprised several threads, or ideas about Moriori history that altered over time. The thesis traces this history of ideas about Moriori origins, settlement, and culture through texts, from Alexander Shand's ethnological analysis The Moriori People of the Chatham Islands, published in 1911, to Barry Barclay's 2000 documentary, The Feathers of Peace. It establishes the ideas advanced in key texts on Moriori history, explores the context in which these texts were produced, and suggests a link between shifts in debate and contemporary relations between Maori and Pakeha.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-140). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Throughout the nineteenth century probably the majority of Pakeha held the view that the East Polynesian ancestors of the Maori were the first people to settle in New Zealand. Over the same period there were always considerable numbers of Pakeha who held the alternative view that an earlier people were already living in New Zealand when the first East Polynesian immigrants arrived. Among Maori each hapu and iwi had their own origin traditions. Some held that their ancestors arrived to an empty land, while others believed there were other groups already here when their own ancestors arrived. The traditions of the Chatham Island Moriori indicated that they were also East Polynesian migrants, but some Pakeha speculated that the Moriori were a distinct people from the Maori. By the early twentieth century one set of ideas on early settlement had become the orthodox view of the past among Pakeha. This view, which held sway from the 1910s until at least the 1960s, maintained that the original people of New Zealand were the �Moriori�, a people only distantly related, if at all, to the Maori. This primitive early people were supposed to have been displaced by the arrival of the more advanced East Polynesian Maori. Some of the more fortunate Moriori were absorbed into the Maori tribes, while the majority were either killed or driven into exile on the Chatham Islands. This idea of the past, sometimes called the �Moriori Myth�, has now been largely rejected by scholars, but still holds some currency in popular circles. The current thesis examines the question of how the �Moriori Myth� developed and eventually became the orthodox view of the past. This question is investigated in the contexts of British imperial expansion, of the development of scientific ideas on race and evolution, and of the study of language and folklore as a way to decipher racial history. The current thesis is largely based on the writings of Pakeha and Maori scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Letters and manuscripts, in both English and Maori, have been used, along with published books and papers. The major focus of the work is the idea that the Moriori Myth largely developed out of the Pakeha study of Maori oral history. This study of oral history led to a considerable degree of interaction between Pakeha scholars and Maori experts. A major focus in the early part of the work is on Pakeha attempts to determine the racial identity and history of the Chatham Island Moriori. In this part of the work considerable attention has been paid to the collaborative work of the Pakeha scholar Alexander Shand and the Moriori expert Hirawanu Tapu, who worked together to record the surviving Moriori traditions. The focus of the latter part of this thesis is on the creation by Pakeha scholars of theoretical models of the early migrations to New Zealand, based on their understandings of Maori oral traditions. It will be argued that the �Moriori Myth� was largely based on the writings of Stephenson Percy Smith, as promoted by himself and Elsdon Best, through the medium of the knowledge network formed by the Polynesian Society. Smith�s writings on the �Moriori Myth� will be shown to have been largely based on his interpretations of the writings of the Ngati Kahungunu scholar Hoani Turei Whatahoro. It will be argued that the �Moriori Myth� was in fact the creation of interactions between Pakeha scholars and Maori experts rather than the invention of any one person or group.

Throughout the nineteenth century probably the majority of Pakeha held the view that the East Polynesian ancestors of the Maori were the first people to settle in New Zealand. Over the same period there were always considerable numbers of Pakeha who held the alternative view that an earlier people were already living in New Zealand when the first East Polynesian immigrants arrived. Among Maori each hapu and iwi had their own origin traditions. Some held that their ancestors arrived to an empty land, while others believed there were other groups already here when their own ancestors arrived. The traditions of the Chatham Island Moriori indicated that they were also East Polynesian migrants, but some Pakeha speculated that the Moriori were a distinct people from the Maori. By the early twentieth century one set of ideas on early settlement had become the orthodox view of the past among Pakeha. This view, which held sway from the 1910s until at least the 1960s, maintained that the original people of New Zealand were the �Moriori�, a people only distantly related, if at all, to the Maori. This primitive early people were supposed to have been displaced by the arrival of the more advanced East Polynesian Maori. Some of the more fortunate Moriori were absorbed into the Maori tribes, while the majority were either killed or driven into exile on the Chatham Islands. This idea of the past, sometimes called the �Moriori Myth�, has now been largely rejected by scholars, but still holds some currency in popular circles. The current thesis examines the question of how the �Moriori Myth� developed and eventually became the orthodox view of the past. This question is investigated in the contexts of British imperial expansion, of the development of scientific ideas on race and evolution, and of the study of language and folklore as a way to decipher racial history. The current thesis is largely based on the writings of Pakeha and Maori scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Letters and manuscripts, in both English and Maori, have been used, along with published books and papers. The major focus of the work is the idea that the Moriori Myth largely developed out of the Pakeha study of Maori oral history. This study of oral history led to a considerable degree of interaction between Pakeha scholars and Maori experts. A major focus in the early part of the work is on Pakeha attempts to determine the racial identity and history of the Chatham Island Moriori. In this part of the work considerable attention has been paid to the collaborative work of the Pakeha scholar Alexander Shand and the Moriori expert Hirawanu Tapu, who worked together to record the surviving Moriori traditions. The focus of the latter part of this thesis is on the creation by Pakeha scholars of theoretical models of the early migrations to New Zealand, based on their understandings of Maori oral traditions. It will be argued that the �Moriori Myth� was largely based on the writings of Stephenson Percy Smith, as promoted by himself and Elsdon Best, through the medium of the knowledge network formed by the Polynesian Society. Smith�s writings on the �Moriori Myth� will be shown to have been largely based on his interpretations of the writings of the Ngati Kahungunu scholar Hoani Turei Whatahoro. It will be argued that the �Moriori Myth� was in fact the creation of interactions between Pakeha scholars and Maori experts rather than the invention of any one person or group.