The flint implements in these drawings were found by geologist Julius Haast at an early Māori archaeological site at the mouth of the Rakaia River. The drawings were published in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. Haast became convinced that an early pre-Māori people had hunted the moa to extinction, a view disputed by other scholars. Debates over early peoples and the moa were common among the learned members of New Zealand's philosophical institutes during the 19th century.
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Royal Society of New Zealand
Reference:
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 4 (1871), plate 7
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