Jack Golson, Roger Green and debates in New Zealand archaeology

Abstract

Discussion in settler New Zealand concerning the Maori past has gone on for more than 150 years. To a large extent, archaeological approaches to this issue date only to the arrival of Jack Golson, a Cambridge-trained archaeologist, at the University of Auckland in 1954. He was joined shortly afterwards by Roger Green from Harvard. Debates between Golson and Green, bringing both European and American approaches to bear within a culture historical framework, have been influential. Their work and subsequent critiques are reviewed, along with an assessment of how New Zealand archaeologists currently interpret the archaeological record of change and development within Maori culture.