Talk:Antipodes Islands

Correction
These islands are southeast of Stewart Island NOT southwest as stated.

JF

Correction
Hi, Im Philip Edgar and Im the Manager of Collection Information Services at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. I have recently edited the “Prehistory” section of the wikipedia entry entitled "Antipodes Islands", reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes_Island.

The "Prehistory" section of this article contained the following "In 1886, a shard of early Polynesian pottery was discovered roughly 0.75 metres (2 ft 6 in) below the surface on the main island, indicating visitation prior to European discovery of the islands. The pottery fragment, apparently a piece of a bowl, is now housed in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington."

We believe this information is incorrect, and edited the entry for the following reasons:

1. there is no evidence that this particular shard is in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand

Since the digitisation, and subsequent wide availability of a 1967 article in "Te ao hau" http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/teaohou/issue/Mao59TeA/c18.html referenced in the Wikipedia article but not linked to the digitised version) we have had a number of enquiries regarding this shard. Each enquiry has resulted in collection store and documentation searches, with no indication of such an artefact in the collection, nor any record, if the original shard did indeed come to the Museum, that it was of Polynesian influence.

2. There is no evidence of this shard being of Polynesian origin

The "Te ao hou" article suggests the shard was of possible Polynesian influence, however there is no indication as to how this conclusion had been reached, and no references given to support it.

The original report by a member of the party that found the shard, Captain Fairchild, to the Secretary Marine Department in the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (1986) describes the shard as being found at the same time and place as timber from NZ, most likely from a whalers hut. There is no mention of any Polynesian influences in the shard in the report: http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&d=AJHR1886-I.1.2502&cl=search&srpos=1&e=---50--1--01886+hZz-24—

The annual report for the Colonial Museum (the predecessor to the Dominion Museum, now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) from 1886, while describing the shard, provides no mention of any Polynesian influence. It was recorded alongside other specimens and objects as "7 Botanical Specimens, 2 Geological Specimens, 1 piece of earthen Jar from 2ft. 6in. Below surface, Antipodes Islands".

For the reasons given above, we believe the prehistory section of the article is incorrect. We have edited the Prehistory section of the article to the following:

"There is no archaeological evidence of human visitation prior to European discovery of the islands. Descriptions of a shard of early Polynesian pottery having been discovered 2 ft 6 in below the surface on the main island in 1886, and housed in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, are unsubstantiated. The Museum has not been able to locate such a shard in its collection, and the original reference to the object in the Museum's collection documentation indicates no reference to Polynesian influences" Cmdmtp (talk) 23:12, 9 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Hi Philip. Thanks for correcting the text. Maias (talk) 03:51, 10 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, thank you for providing the detailed information. It's a good contribution. Twalls (talk) 13:31, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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I have just modified 2 external links on Antipodes Islands. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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Maori Pottery Original Research/Citation Needed
The source cited for the claim that the pottery shards were not in fact found cites a primary source from 1887. The claim that the source is not in the museum is not substantiated. This article also conflicts with the one on Ui-te-Rangiora. I'm skeptical of the pro-pottery claim, since it's from 1967 and this sort of thing ages badly. If no one disagrees I plan to moderate the claim and the debunking. Hamster Drink (talk) 19:40, 15 March 2021 (UTC)