Quote:
Originally Posted by SoonerUte
Did anyone ever write the Maoris' tales and genealogies down??
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Yes. There are several different versions. Some are deemed more authentic than others based primarily on how early they were recorded, wioth thosewirtten later being less likely to be accurate (this is a gross oversimplfication, but you get the idea). All Maori 'iwi' can trace their lineage back to one of the original canoe landings, which tracing is through the oral histories. For many years european historians beleived these histories were fanciful tales, but with furhter investigation they have come to conclude that they can be related to actual events and in fact may be quite accurate, basing this on textual analysis as well as traditonal archeology and even DNA samples.