Who Are the Maori?
	The indigenous people of New Zealand are the Maori, belonging to the Polynesian group. Between 800 and 1,350 AD, a wave of Polynesians coming from Tonga and Samoa on their canoes settled in New Zealand. The Maori tradition says that a Polynesian chief of the island of Hawaiki, called Ngahua, knowing the abundance of jade in New Zealand, a shiny tough green stone used for making carvings, collars and adornments, headed an expedition made o ... [read more >>]
	23 February 2008, 07:56GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Over 50 Headless Skeletons Found on the Cannibals' Island
	Traveling 100 years ago in the Vanuatu islands would have meant you were going to lose your head. And you body inside the stomachs of the locals, as they were still practicing cannibalism in certain areas. Now, over 50 headless skeletons have been discovered in one of the oldest cemeteries of the Pacific islands, belonging to a complex society of seafarers, the Lapita people. They are believed by some to be the ancestors of the Polynes ... [read more >>]
	01 November 2007, 07:13GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Stone Tools Reveal the Longest Uninterrupted Prehistoric Maritime Voyage
	Before Columbus and the Vikings, other sailors could have entered the Americas: the Polynesians. This is strongly suggested by chickens grown by tribes in Peru and Chile, which do not have European ancestry, but Polynesian, but also by some cultural facts common to tribes of the Amazon and Malayo-Polynesians from Indonesia and Pacific, like the use of hammock, blowpipe and the "Big House" of the tribe. And even that common fringe ... [read more >>]
	01 October 2007, 06:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Chicken Proves It: Polynesians Entered America Before Columbus
	Chicken preceded Christopher Columbus when it comes to setting foot in America. We know Vikings stepped into the New World too, but they were not the first outsiders. Recently dug chicken bones on the coast of Chile have been dated before Columbus’ "discovery" of America and their DNA matched fowls breeds of Polynesia. "Chickens could not have gotten to South America on their own—they had to be taken by humans," ... [read more >>]
	05 June 2007, 03:53GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Ancient Headless Bodies Found on the Cannibals' Islands
	Archaeologists have discovered in the Pacific islands of Vanuatu (New Hebrides) the region's oldest cemetery, 3,000 year old, filled with a huge amount of headless bodies. The strange skeletons belong to the Lapita people, the earliest known sailors in the Pacific Islands. Their DNA could explain how many remote islands around Vanuatu were colonized. "Polynesia was first settled by the Lapita culture but their popul ... [read more >>]
	16 March 2007, 05:22GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia