Wairarapa skull mystery update
Posted 21 May 2009 // Helen Rickerby
Captain James Cook, who arrived in New Zealand after the mystery skull
Back in August last year, we asked ‘Was Captain Cook beaten by a girl?‘ when carbon dating indicated that the skull of a European woman, which had been found in a river in Wairarapa, was around 296 years old.
This challenged what we know about New Zealand history, as it would mean that a woman, or her skull at least, had made it to New Zealand at least 23 years before Captain Cook’s first voyage in 1769. And long before the first documented white women, Catherine Hagerty and Charlotte Badger (two escaped convicts from New South Wales), who are thought to have arrived in 1806.
This week forensic anthropologist Robin Watt has suggested an answer to the mystery. The 40–45 year old woman could have been a Dutch shipwreck victim.
Dr Watt says, ‘At this time there was a tremendous amount of movement by the Dutch. We know they were exploring the southern coast of Australia. Anything sailing this way has a chance of being stopped by New Zealand, so for my money there was either a visit here or a wreck. I’d say it was probably a wreck.’ Apparently the Dutch took their wives and families along for the trip.
Mystery solved? I doubt it.
How about Spanish or Portugese ?
There’s a few helmets and pots and things to indicate many visits by several other nationalities