Featherston's Crusoe: A female caucasion castaway in eighteenth century Aotearoa.
No Thumbnail Available
Open Access Location
Authors
Strongman, L.
Keywords
New Zealand
Ruamahanga
Aotearoa
Captain Cook
Ruamahanga
Aotearoa
Captain Cook
Description of form
Publisher
Rights
Rights holder
Issue Date
2010
Peer-reviewed status
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The discovery by Sam Tobin in 2004 of a European woman�s skull, subsequently radiocarbon dated at 300 years old, on the banks of the Ruamahanga River in South East Featherston in the lower North Island of New Zealand, raises the question of the possibility of a European presence (if not settlement) in Aotearoa before Cook during the European enlightenment era. This paper will explore the options the researcher has for reconstructing her possible origins as European woman and shipwreck survivor � Pakeha, a manuhiri (guest, visitor) and tangata k? (stranger) in the Maori Tangata Whenua society she encountered, what life may have been like for her under proto-cross-cultural conditions during the mid-eighteenth century, and assesses the likely impact her presence may have on the historical narrative of European discovery of New Zealand.
Citation
Strongman, L. (2010). Featherston's Crusoe: A female caucasion castaway in eighteenth century Aotearoa. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(3), 323-330.