The Prehistory of New Zealand, by JanetDavidson, Longman Paul, Auckland, 1984, pp. 270 $NZ39.95, cased.

Abstract

It is now some 35 years since publication of The Moahunter Period oj Maori Culture , in which the late Dr Roger Duff defined two cultural periods in New Zealand prehistory and posed the problem of explaining the difference between them. During this time a lot of earth has been moved by archaeologists addressing the problem, and while there may be disagreement about the exact causes of the changes which occurred, a considerable body of knowledge about New Zealand prehistory has been accumulated. Although some of this information is available to the nonspecialist reader in a variety of books and articles, there has never before been any up‐to‐date, comprehensive and authoritative review. This gap is now filled by Janet Davidson's The Prehistory oj New Zealand.