Review of Celtic NZ Book

     I should have foreseen that Margaret Mackenzie would enter the Battle of the Pyramids; no, not the one that Napoleon fought, but about the Celts and the Pyramids ( I suspect that he believed the ancient Egyptians had history books proclaiming "nos ancêtres, les Gaulois"). Seriously, where did this story come from? Margaret is 1) a New Zealander and 2) an anthropologist (one of the few I trust). She writes:
     "I have remained silent about the Celtic claims about New Zealand, but I think it has reached the stage where it is important to consult Professor Patrick Kirch, Director of the Hearst Museum at UC Berkeley, and leading archaeologist of the Pacific. When he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences about fifteen years ago, he was the youngest person ever to have been appointed. The time has come to get some scholarly authority on this because the discussion has begun to get out of hand.
     As far I know, there is no evidence whatsoever for Celtic claims, and the physical claims about jaw notches are bilge, but verging on dangerous bilge that might perpetuate illusions of 'real' 'racial' differences. The original settlement dates of New Zealand have been contested both by some academics and by some of the contemporary Maori activists, but Celtic origins do not appear in the scholarly discussions. Genetic research on Pacific island populations and their origins is proceeding apace, and aspects of that too are contested in, for instance, recent issues of Nature and Science as well as the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. What is not controversial is their ultimately Asian origin, pointing at this stage to more genetic influence from South China than had been expected."


     My response: I would be delighted if Margaret showed the review to Patrick Kirch and happy to post his response. I repeat that anthropologists never have the last word. American anthropologists dismissed French theories about the way the Asians reached the American continent and the theories of Thor Heyerdahl, but both the French and the Norwegian have been partly vindicated. However, that is not the last word. In any case, I would like to know how the Pyramid story started and how it spread.

Ronald Hilton - 1/4/00