(ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC) When our Maori ancestors arrived on these shores, Aotearoa became the last major landmass on Earth to be inhabited by humans. Our genealogies tell me the names of those tupuna, those ancestors, but who came before them? In this series, I want to truly understand where we come from and how our people got here. Last time, I travelled to Samoa and Vanuatu and found surprising links to our language and culture. But there are still so many questions. No reira, Maori na, no Ahia ranei tatou? Are we from Asia? This time, I'm leaving the Pacific and going beyond the oral traditions of my ancestors, back before our great ocean migration. I want to put everything I believe to the test and go right back to the very beginning of us all. Hono mai ki au ki a hikoi tahi tatou ki te Ao whanui me to tomo au o te wa. So join me as I travel across the world and through time. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2020 Rotorua is my ukaipo. It's the place I connect with in my bones. My tribe's whakapapa gives us a lineage that stretches from here back to Eastern Polynesia and into the beginning of time itself. However, DNA and archaeology say the ancestors of Polynesians, the Austronesians, came from Southeast Asia, and Taiwan is believed to be their birthplace. I've always thought of Taiwan as Chinese, and I can't imagine finding any Maori connection here at all. The indigenous people of Taiwan are made up of 14 tribes. That's about 560,000 people, and that's 2% of the 23.5 million people that live here in Taiwan. Us Maori in Aotearoa, we're 15% of the population, and climbing. But as you can see, the indigenous people of Taiwan are heavily outnumbered by the Han Chinese, who started arriving here ` kia ora! ` in around 1600. Colonisation hit the native Taiwanese hard. Kaohsiung City, on the flatlands of the West Coast, is now largely Chinese. So I'm heading to the east coast, where the indigenous tribes were more protected by Taiwan's mountain range. My first stop is near the city of Taitung, where the people of the Paiwan tribe are rediscovering their history and culture. This small school teaches traditional hunting, and with it, language. (SINGS IN PAIWAN) A hill people, they hunt the small barking deer that fill these forest-clad mountainsides. And like us, they are traditionally animists ` their many gods are in the natural world around them. (SPEAKS PAIWAN) Chief Tajnubak teaches the qualities and medicinal use of every plant and tree in the forest ` a science we call rongoa. (SPEAKS PAIWAN) (STUDENTS RESPOND IN PAIWAN) (SPEAKS PAIWAN) (STUDENTS REPEAT) So, you and the mountains and the trees, you are all like siblings? - Thank you. (SPEAKS PAIWAN) I can identify with the Paiwan, as an indigenous person. But after this first meeting, I don't feel a deeper connection as a Maori yet. But then we don't have snakes, and here snakes are everywhere. Legend has it that in the distant past, the mighty sun came down to earth and laid four eggs. To ensure their safety, the sun ordered a giant green snake to protect two of the eggs, and a hundred-pace viper to guard the other two. (SNAKE GROWLS) The creatures wrapped themselves around the sun eggs and watched over them. The eggs guarded by the green snake hatched a male and female, who became the ancestors of Paiwan commoners. And from the eggs the sacred viper protected came the man and the woman who became the ancestors of the Paiwan rangatira, their chiefly families. The Paiwan rangatira families were tapu ` divine. Only they had the right to wear special adornments. Their leather, jewellery and tattoos were often decorated with the pattern of the hundred-pace viper, in honour of the creature that had protected their ancestors. Tattooing predates Pacific migration, so there's a good chance the art was carried down into the Pacific from Taiwan. Unfortunately, it was banned during the Japanese occupation and is only now making a slow comeback. Cudjuy is the only traditional tattooist currently working here and is drawing on practitioners of Samoan tatau and Maori moko to revive his art. Do these designs mean different things ` the wavy patterns, the lines? (SPEAKS PAIWAN) (SPEAKS PAIWAN) The design on his face looks Maori. Where did he get that from? Yes. Yes. I could recognise it when I saw it. The art of tattooing is... one of the main things, or probably the main thing that connects people right across the Pacific. What does he think about that? These patterns remind me of what I've seen on Lapita pottery and Samoan tatau. I'm heading north now to meet a member of the Amis tribe. Martin has built a replica of the bamboo boats that may have begun the Austronesian people on their amazing ocean migration 5000 years ago. How long did it take you to make this? - Uh, a gruelling four months. - Four months? - Yeah. It was is originally a sailboat, though. So you can tell, there's two slits here ` those are to put your keel. That hole there, that's to put the mast for the sail. - And you reviving this. This is something that hasn't been around for a little while. - The last one that was seen was maybe 80 years ago. - So, how did you get involved in all of this, Martin? What prompted you to build this? - Well, the ocean is right in front of our village. A lot of my family like to do diving ` diving for what we call awang, which is your kina. - Yeah. - So that's how it started. - This bamboo raft seems a long way from the massive double-hulled waka of Maritime Polynesia. But it would have preceded them by thousands of years. - You're the captain now. (BOTH LAUGH) - Thank you. Thank you, brother. Thank you for giving me the mana of your waka. What's the origin story for your tribe? Do they have a story about where they originated from? - There's only a story that is how we landed on this island. But there's no time ` like we don't know what time it would have been ` like, when. So, the story goes we came in from the east coast. There's a little island called Green Island. In our native language, it's called Sanasai. And that's basically one of the islands that we stopped on, before we came here on to the main island of Taiwan. - So, what do you think of the theory that we could be cousins somewhere along the...? - Linguistically, I think so. - Linguistically, yeah, yeah. - I can count in our native language if you want me to. - Yeah, go up 10. - Uh, so it's decay, tosa, tolo, sepat, lima, enem, pito, falo, siwa, motep. So, yeah, that's one to 10. - Falo, quite close to waru. Lima close to rima. - Yeah. Falo was eight. - Tolu close to toru. - Yeah, tolo. - Yeah, there's a couple there, eh? - Mata is your eyes. - Mata, eyes, yeah, same. - Tangila is ears. Taringa. Ears, yeah. It's mind-blowing to imagine those first Austronesian explorers heading into the unknown on bamboo rafts, and then to so quickly develop the serious maritime technology to be able to navigate the vastness of the Pacific. It makes this part of our story very hard to comprehend. * The colonisation of the indigenous people along the coast in Taiwan is all too familiar. It comes down to land ` lose your land and you lose your way of life. I'm going to meet Sumi Dongi, who gave up a big-city career and returned to help her tribe revive traditional agriculture. And so how did you get involved in the growing of rice and the revitalisation of traditional practices around growing rice? (SPEAKS MANDARIN) (SPEAKS MANDARIN) So, how did she get the farmers to support? It's the land is the important thing. (LAUGHS) For Sumi, her kaupapa is about the land, the all-important ocean, and reviving traditional Amis cultural practices. Is that rock out there significant in any way? - And they still do that now? - Yes. - It's not just a story. That's real. - Yes, yes, very important rock. I'm heading inland to Guangfu, where I'm told is the only remaining carved house of the Amis people. It belongs to the Kakita'an family, who can trace their ancestry back 59 generations. CHANTS: Whitiki nukutia ki te ao o naianei! Kia tu, kia oho! Kia putu ki te wheiao, ki te ao marama. Uhi! Wero! Hau mai te mauri. Haumi e! Hui e! Taiki e! Whare e tu nei, tena koe. E mihi ana ki a koe. Like the carvings in our wharenui back home, these panels embody the Amis creation stories. This feels like going back in time. Hoki whakamuri ki te ao o nehe. It feels both very familiar and yet different. And I'm shocked to see in this written whakapapa familiar names like Rata and Maiau. (HOWLS) (SPEAKS AMIS LANGUAGE) There's another New Zealand connection here. After visiting a Kohanga reo in Aotearoa, my guide, Sifo, returned home inspired by the idea of immersion learning. His school is due to open soon. But in the meantime, this sacred whare is used to teach Amis children their Amis language through their cultural stories and myths. He honore nui te nohotahi me nga iwi manawhenua o tenei takiwa i te ra nei. It's been a huge privilege to spend time with the local people of this area today. Uncanny, the similarities between us as Maori and the indigenous people here ` visual similarities, linguistic similarities. Some of the ritual and protocols are very similar to what we do in te Ao Maori, in the Maori world. So there's obviously been a lot of wananga happening in here, and a lot of tribal knowledge has been shared. A lot of elders have sat in this whare, and you can still feel them here. You can feel their presence. So I wasn't expecting this. I wasn't expecting the whare to look the way it does and feel the way it does. And it's the look of the whare and the feel of the whare that really makes me feel like I'm in a whare at home. I could be sitting in one of our wharenui in Ohinemutu, Rotorua right now. It would be exactly the same as this. So the similarity is quite... it's extraordinary. It's extraordinary how similar this whare is to our whare at home. I came to Taiwan expecting nothing. But I leave more open to the idea that Pacific migration may have begun in Asia. And I'm feeling a surprising connection to the indigenous tribes of this land. My next stop will take me 8500km away and hundreds of thousands of years in the past, deep in to the origins of te ao tangata, the human race. I've literally no idea what I'm going to find. * Addis Ababa is the chaotic capital city of Ethiopia, in northeast Africa, a place I barely knew of and one I certainly never thought I would visit. At the beginning of this hikoi, kaumata Sir Toby Curtis said that there were other Hawaiki outside of the ones in Eastern Polynesia ` a Hawaiki in India, a Hawaiki in Africa. Ethiopia is said to be the cradle of humanity. This is where it all began. But to tell you the truth ` kia pono taku korero ` I feel million miles away from Aotearoa and a million miles away from Maori people, Maori culture, and Maori whakapapa. Ethiopia is the home of long-distance runners and coffee. But it's also thought to be the birthplace of humanity. Coming from Aotearoa, the last stop in humankind's long journey, it's strange to be here, where many say it all started. I've come to the National Museum of Ethiopia to hear the story of human evolution. If the body found at Wairau Bar was our Maori auntie, the auntie of all may be the 3.2-million-year-old Lucy. But she's just part of the story. I'm lucky enough to be meeting a man who co-discovered some of the earliest humans on display here. - In this particular room, you may find at least 11 different humans that lived from six million years ago, all the way to the present, one replacing the other. So when you have this data, then you can comfortably say that Africa is the birthplace of humankind. So, why is Lucy so important? - When Lucy was discovered in 1974, Lucy was the only one which had almost 40% of the body parts. At a young age, the vertebrae show some skeletal problems like arthritis ` very young. So this tells you that early humans have walked on two legs. - Why did humans leave Africa? - Looking for food. That's exactly what is happening still now, trying to get more resources. If they just walk only 1km a day, in one year, they're away 365km from their centre. In 10 years, they're away 3650km. Then before they know it, they're all the way to... - ...New Zealand. (LAUGHS) - ...China. And then finally, to New Zealand and Australia. - Lucy was a breakthrough find back in the '70s. But since then, our understanding of evolution has progressed, with successive discoveries of human and prehuman remains. Dr Berhane co-discovered a number of the exhibits here. - OK, this is the earliest human. The date is 5.8 million years old, so almost six million years. And we named it Ardipithecus Kadabba. Ardi means ground. Kadabba means 'big father'. - Good name for our early ancestor. - Yeah. In 1994, we found this skeleton. And this clearly shows at around 4.4 million years ago, as you can see, very big hands and the complete foot bones. This is very important because, 1) it proved to us that the early humans, they changed from quadrupedal, chimpanzee-like animals into a biped, into a bipedal, walking on two legs. When you go to this one, this one, Australopithecus, the molars are not very big. Then they started using stone tools ` and the tools are right here, very primitive tools. So who was the creator of these stole tools? Maybe this guy. That is the beginning of the change. Then comes this one. This is around 2.4 million years old. In 200,000 years, the brain has expanded. And then when we get here, this is Homo erectus. - This is Homo erectus, here? - This one is, yeah. Tiny, tiny mandible. Big brain. And then when you come here, at around one million years ago, this is what we discovered too. This is one million years old. The brain size has tripled. The mystery, or the miracle that happened is because the stone tools gave them access to all kinds of protein and bone marrow, and everything. - And then that caused the brain to grow. - The brain. Now they are able to feed a big brain. - Yeah. - And this was replaced at around 200,000 years ago by people like us. The first Homo sapiens are right here. And the brain size here has expanded to 1450cc. That is modern Homo sapiens. So everything that you see all over the world now, the differences that you've seen between blacks, whites, Orientals and everything, happened much, much later after this one. Much later ` less than 50,000 years. So now you have walked through the whole human evolution in one place. And the record is right here. So for anybody who doubts evolution, this is the place to come. - The korero with Dr Berhane has left me with a lot to think about. My next stop is a short flight south. It's one thing to learn about evolution, but will I feel a connection with the ancient tribes that still live in Ethiopia? * (STIRRING MUSIC) Kua tae mai au ki te wharua o Omo. I've arrived here in the Omo Valley. The Omo Valley is famous for three things ` its red clay, what we at home called kokowai; its tribes and ethnicities that call this place home; and its role in the evolution of the human species. The idea that I might be standing in the place where experts say Homo sapiens developed and evolved, and the idea that I may be walking in the footsteps of my ancient ancestors who lived in this place is really hard to process. But one thing I do know is that I've been through a lot of countries around the world, and right now I couldn't feel further away from home. (GENTLE FLUTE MUSIC) I'm travelling with Minalu, who grew up in the region and has written about the ancient tribes of Omo Valley. - There are 16 distinct ethnic groups living in the area. - Those are tribes? 16 tribes? - Yes, 16 tribes. The magic of the people here is the simplicity of the way they live. The tribes that live here haven't always been in this area. Nomadic people have come and gone, chasing resources like water, which is precious around here. Minalu is taking me to meet people of the Hamar tribe, who consider this river sacred and use the water to help decorate themselves for important events. Their distinctive look comes from ochre soil and the body paint they make with it. They brought the ochre from the Buska Mountain. The Buska Mountain is the most sacred mountain of the Hamar people. - These patterns, do they signify anything ` like, the swirly lines? Does that signify different things? Yeah, it's just like, you know, you look like a zebra. - Zebra. - Yeah. You look like a zebra. (STIRRING AMBIENT MUSIC) (SPEAKS HAMAR LANGUAGE) So, this red clay, it's like the kokowai in Hawaiki, and the kokowai that we use a lot in Aotearoa for this purpose, as well ` in traditional times, anyway. And the kokowai, the red clay, is said to be found in a place called Kurawaka, which is the name of my daughter. She was named for that purpose ` Kurawaka. Kurawaka. She was named for that purpose. The first human created, the female called Hineahuone ` the woman who emerged from the soil, the red soil of Kurawaka. I feel very honoured by this. I feel very privileged. It feels like I'm being bestowed some mana from the Hamar people, which is very humbling. - You call it mana? - 'Mana'. - Mana. Mana is a blessing from the gods. - That's us, too. - Whoo! - That's what we call it. - What's your name? - Te Manahau. - Eh? - Te Manahau. - Te Manahau. - Whoo! Chur, brother. Good work. - (LAUGHTER) (SPEAKS HAMAR LANGUAGE) - 'My name is Dambe,' he said. - Dambe. Dambe. - They would like to sing you a song, and they consider you as part of them. (CHANTS LOUDLY, VOCALISES) (ALL CHANT TOGETHER) (LAUGHTER) (WARM AMBIENT MUSIC) (SPEAKS HAMAR LANGUAGE) - Hey, my brother. Hey. - Hongi. - Hongi? - Hongi. - Thank you. Thank you. - Hey says thank you very much. That was... out-of-this-world experience. Just being embraced by the boys as one of them, treated as one of them, and, yeah, receiving this mana, mana of theirs from centuries ago, getting a body paint. It's really, really a privilege to participate in that ceremony and to receive this. It's mana, and we know what that means. We know how special that is. You can't buy that kind of stuff. There's no value. It's beautiful. I'm gonna put my shirt on, cos I've put some weight on this tour. (LAUGHS) (GENTLE ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC) The body paint is something the tribesmen do ahead of the Saturday morning market in nearby Dimeka. The tribes of this area have come and gone over millennia. But effectively, these are the people who stayed when the rest of humanity left so many thousands of years ago. You could say the ancestors of my guide, Minalu, have been here since the dawn of humanity. It's humbling and mind-blowing to be here. Everywhere you go, there's coffee. In fact, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and it plays an important role in life here. - We are going to meet the Hamar tribe in their village where they live. I'm taking you to a family who invited us to a traditional Hamar coffee ceremony. - This is the home of Kalla, a village elder. Seven people live in this house, including his wife, Gayto. - Bordjumay, you say. - Bordjumay. - Now they are making a blessing. - Ooh, beauty. Tino, tino reka. - It's very, very sweet and beautiful. - Yeah. - Tino reka, yeah? - Tino reka, that's it, bro. (LAUGHS) Tino reka. - How old are these people here? - Hamar people don't care about age. They just live and die. - Yeah. - So birth and death; they don't count the age in between. But we ask them, he will ask how old, for example... (SPEAKS HAMAR) (LAUGHTER) (RESPONDS IN HAMAR) - (SPEAKS HAMAR) - (SPEAKS HAMAR) - Uh-huh. Uh-huh. - You're born, you live and then you die, and that's all that matters. (TRANSLATES TO HAMAR) - (CHUCKLES) I'm older than all of you. - (LAUGHTER) - Good answer. Good answer. Have a safe way. - Does she wanna do a hongi? (SPEAKS HAMAR) (SPEAKS HAMAR) (SPEAKS HAMAR) (EXCLAIMS) (LAUGHTER) Thank you. Mihi ana ki a korua, nga wahine rangatira o tenei papakainga. Tena korua. I'm surprised to find how much spending time with these people who still live a tribal lifestyle affects me. It makes me think about how my tupuna lived so long ago, and how our Maori tribes would have interacted with each other. I feel very moved. Perhaps one of the most significant days of my life. So I feel both connected to this place and 70,000 years distant from it. Because it was around that long ago that a few hundred people left Africa, probably across the Red Sea. They spread out and multiplied. Some interbred with other now extinct species of humans. One group moved into East Asia, probably travelling along coastlines now underwater. Around 5000 years ago, a group left Taiwan, beginning the greatest sea migration in human history, moving east to Vanuatu, then West Polynesia. After 2000 years, they started off again, discovering the islands of East Polynesia. And from there, my tupuna headed south-west. Superstay Matte Ink from Maybelline New York. (CRUNCH!) (SLURP!) Liquid matte formula, up to 16-hour wear. Superstay Matte Ink from Maybelline New York. * (GENTLE MUSIC) On this journey I've gone from Aotearoa, the last major landmass to be inhabited by humans, back to the first, Africa, and now I've come full circle back to one of the last stepping-off points of my ancestors en route to Aotearoa. My whakapapa tells me that the Te Arawa waka was one of many that stopped here in Aitutaki, and over in Rarotonga, before heading to Aotearoa. Bombs ` one of the true Pacific traditions. Looks pretty high. He teitei te peke. Three well-known waka came through here on their journey south ` Tainui, Takitumu and our waka, Te Arawa, which picked up some crew here. Tainui have a particular connection. They stayed longer, and there's even a Tainui marae here. (CONCH TRUMPETS) Ali Maao is a tohunga who can whakapapa to the Tainui and Te Arawa wakas. - Kia ora, Brother. - Kia ora. What's the connections that you know of between Maori in Aotearoa and Maori here in Aitutaki? - With our language as Cook Island Maori, your guys language is New Zealand Maori; same thing. - When you talk about Hawaiki, where's Hawaiki for you? Where does Hawaiki mean to you? So, Avaiki... What I was taught about, Avaiki is not an island. You know, it's not like an island by the name of Avaiki. Avaiki is where you come from. Like, our Avaiki for Aitutaki, we come from Tupua'i. That is our Avaiki right there. And if you trace yours back wherever you came from, that's your Avaiki. - So, those three islands out there, what are their names? - The name of the island is called Akitua. Then you go next door, is Angarei. And then you got Mangere, and then you got` - Mangere out here too? So there's an island out there called Mangere? - Mangere. Mangere. - These... - (BOTH LAUGH) - These are all places in Aotearoa, bro. (PEACEFUL MUSIC) 260km, or just over a day's sail south, is the next and final stopover on my ancestors' journey to Aotearoa. So I'm here now in Hawaiki Tumu-te-warowaro, or Rarotonga, and this is a very significant place in terms of the history of the voyaging waka. Here we have Pikopiko-i-whiti. This is the place where our waka, like Te Arawa, Tainui, Takitimu came in, and just on the other side there, we have the island called Te Motu-tapu-a-Tinirau. Both of these places are mentioned in our ancient incantations and all of our oral traditions. So very significant and great timing from our whanaunga here coming in on their waka. This is what it might have looked like all of those hundreds of years ago. The great fleet commemorated here may be a myth, but that doesn't take away from the fact our waka came through here. Rarotonga is an important touchstone in the Te Arawa story. I know my version of our waka story, but I'm keen to hear the Rarotongan side, so I'm meeting waka builder and master carver Mike Tavioni. - Kia orana. - Kia orana. - Welcome. - Yeah, welcome back to your original home. (LAUGHS) - From what you know, though, Arawa came through this way as well ` the Te Arawa waka? - I don't need to know. If you are a wise captain, you will stop here in Rarotonga, because last leg of the trip is almost 2000 miles. - But what about Hawaiki, Papa Mike? Is Hawaiki a metaphor as well? - Avaiki is a realistic place. But for me, my Avaiki is at Cook's Corner where the bus stop is. I was born there. My afterbirth is buried there, and I should be buried there. And that's my Avaiki. My father's Avaiki is in Atiu. He was born there. His afterbirth is there. And his grandfather's Avaiki is Ra'iatea and Bora Bora. And that's their Avaiki. So Avaiki is simply where you originated. But if you talk about your origin as the Maori people, then you talk about Avaiki Pamamao. In this case, maybe we say Asia. So if that is Avaiki Pamamao, then the row of homelands started from there, then the next Avaiki may be in Taiwan. And then the next Avaiki is Samoa, and Tonga and Samoa, and then until it reaches Tahiti and Ra'iatea. - If I was to ask you what the connections are between Maori in Aotearoa and Maori here in Rarotonga, Aitutaki, what would your answer be? - I would say you are stupid. - (LAUGHS) - It's a stupid question. - (LAUGHS) - What is a Maori? Can you tell me what is a Maori? - Taua? - No. What does it mean? - Native, natural. - Maori, 'ma' means clean, pure. - Pure, yes. - 'Ori' is to move. We might say to migrate. - Yeah. To move. - So that did not originate in New Zealand. So you are certainly our teina, not tuakana. - So if you want to be Maori, we are more Maori than you. - (LAUGHS) I don't think everyone in Aotearoa would agree, but I thought I'd let the kaumatua have the last word. Mike's offered to take me to Taputapuatea Marae, built surrounding a mauri stone from sacred Taputapuatea in Ra'iatea. It's the bridge between Eastern Polynesia and Aotearoa to the south. It's the last step of my journey. (CHANTS KARAKIA) This has been a journey of a lifetime. I've been to some amazing places and met people who have changed the way I see the world. And wherever I've gone, strangers have welcomed me. I've seen how language and cultural practices echo down through millennia, and how the thirst to move on creates new cultures. This journey has been challenging for me, and we've talked about a number of possible origins. Ultimately, it's strengthened my commitment to my own Maori culture, and I finish in the firm belief that I visited my Hawaiki in Rai'atea. Ko te ahurea, ko te whanau, ko te whakapono e mohio ai tatou ko wai tatou. Ahakoa nga korero rereke puta i roto i te roanga o tenei hikoi ` nga korero rereke kua whaptaritari i te hinengaro ` e pupu tonu ake ana te aroha i roto i te whatumanawa ki nga korero katoa i puta. Nga korero i ata tuitui i te korowai o te maramatanga kia puta ai he matauranga hou e pa ana ki te kaupapa no hea tatou. Na tenei hikoi, kua pakari ake taku mohio ko wai ahau ko wai tatou te iwi Maori. And that, my friends, is pretty cool. (SOARING MUSIC) Captions by John Gibbs. Edited by James Brown. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2020