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The earliest period of Māori settlement is known as the "Archaic", "Moahunter" or "Colonisation" period. The eastern Polynesian ancestors of the Māori arrived in a forested land with abundant birdlife, including several now extinct moa species weighing between 20 kilograms (44 lb) and 250 kg (550 lb) each.
Starting in the 1920s, H. D. Skinner and others overturned the hypothesis about a pre-Māori people by showing the continuation and adaptation of the 'Archaic' Māori culture into the 'Classic' Māori culture. This negated the need for pre-Māori settlement in models of prehistoric New Zealand.
Māori culture has been in constant adaptation to New Zealand's changing environment. From the late 1950s onward the terms "Archaic" and "Classic" culture have been used to describe the early and late phases of pre-contact Māori, [ 3 ] with "Archaic" replacing the older term "moa hunter" as the hunter-gatherer society lasted beyond the ...
Mātauranga was traditionally preserved through spoken language, including songs, supplemented carving weaving, and painting, including tattoos. [10] Since colonisation, mātauranga has been preserved and shared through writing, first by non-Māori anthropologists and missionaries, then by Māori.
Tikanga is a Māori term for Māori law, customary law, attitudes and principles, and also for the indigenous legal system which all iwi abided by prior to the colonisation of New Zealand. Te Aka Māori Dictionary defines it as "customary system of values and practices that have developed over time and are deeply embedded in the social context ...
Before European contact Māori did not have a written language and "important information such as whakapapa was memorised and passed down verbally through the generations". [161] Māori were familiar with the concept of maps and when interacting with missionaries in 1815 could draw accurate maps of their rohe ( iwi boundaries), onto paper, that ...
Sex within Māori culture was an open discussion, people chose their own sexual partners and 'accepted that sex before marriage occurred'. [49] In Māori society assault on a woman was a serious offence [50] different to English laws. Before 1896 under English law the age of consent was 12 years old and incest was not considered a crime.
Moko facial tattoos were traditional in Māori culture until about the mid-19th century, when their use began to disappear. There has been something of a revival from the late 20th century. In pre-European Māori culture, they denoted high social status. Generally only men had full facial moko. High-ranked women often had moko on their lips and ...