Life without coconuts in pre-European New Zealand: shellfish from site s24/3, Foxton, Manawatu, an economic reconstruction
- Author
- Leach, B.F.; Davidson, J.M.
- Year
- 2023
- Journal / Source
- People and Culture in Oceania
- Volume
- 39
- Pages
- 19-42
- Summary
- When Polynesians first arrived in New Zealand they encountered an environment bereft of the most important source of dietary fat in their homeland: coconuts. New Zealand abounds in sources of protein from the marine environment, and carbohydrate needs were satisfied by two imported cultigens (kūmara and taro), and locally available bracken rhizome. Finding adequate fat to balance nutritional requirements presented a significant problem. This study presents the results of a detailed study of the marine shellfish component in a midden on the shores of Cook Strait where bracken rhizome would have been the main source of carbohydrate for the people living there for at least six months of year. Simulation of various mixtures of shellfish and rhizome reveal a considerable challenge in reducing caloric energy from protein below a dangerous ceiling of c. 30%. Moreover, such a diet, dominated by protein and carbohydrate, would mean that the inhabitants would be in a constant state of “fat craving.” Ethnographic records during the proto-historic period are consistent with this