Quote:
Originally Posted by creekster
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.
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I'm not surprised there's a core of truth. The same has been shown to be true in the same way for Homer's works. For example, adventurers and archeologists have found Minoan civilizations (the Minoans preceded the Greeks as the dominant culture in the Aegean Sea) destroyed by siege warfare around the general time they believe the events of the Iliad took place, including a huge settlement on Asia Minor some believe is the basis for Troy.
Do you have a title for these Maori works?