The Missing Lands Read online

  At this point in the narrative a second hero survivor appears, a female leader from the west by the name of Hotu Matu’a, commander of a fleet of double hulled wakas to whose captains she instructs, “go forth and find the Sacred Birthing Cord of the World,”18 the nickname by which Easter Island was known, and from which derives its oldest name Te Pito O Te Henua (Navel of the World). That's quite the panegyric for such a small dot in the middle of the Pacific, the meeting point of two ancient currents stretching horizontally across this ocean, suggesting Easter Island once served as a kind of focal point.

  Like Kiwa, Hotu Matu’a was an accomplished seafarer, and for her mapping of many islands she became known as the Net of the World. She was described as tall and dark with black hair and brown eyes. Kiwa, on the other hand, couldn’t be more different: fair skinned, blue eyed, golden or red haired, features defining him as a genetic link to the Urukehu gods. In time the two heroes are wed and their ten children follow in their footsteps, mapping more of the restructured Pacific Ocean, but primarily visiting Aotea Roa, and returning to Easter Island on multiple occasions.

  But it is their grandson Mãui who is of importance to our quest. During his formative years Mãui was schooled by his grandmothers, memorizing the oral traditions dating from a time "long ago when the stars shone in a different sky and a different pattern,”19 an indication of the remote period from which the tribe's knowledge is drawn and remembered. Mãui was taught to respect the seven gods, each representing an aspect of nature. He learned about the two great oceans that made up the world, how to navigate the great currents, and the stars that guide seafarers across vast and truculent seas. Not surprisingly this instilled in the young lad a respect for the wisdom handed down from the antediluvian gods, so much so that he hoped one day to navigate the dangerous currents of the central Pacific himself and locate a distant land said to be protected by the old tides: the Birthplace of the Gods.

  The opportunity presented itself soon enough. Sailing his great waka westwards along the north current, Mãui and his crew survive mountainous seas, connect with the southern current and arrive at the mist-covered North Island of New Zealand. After stocking up with provisions, the crew set sail down the east coast and the short hop to Aotea Roa. Mãui must have had foreknowledge of the exact location of “where the gods first drew breath” because he searches for specific features along the coast — a considerable feat given 1200 nautical miles of coastline to choose from — before the waka finally beaches at a wide estuary opposite a place called the Mast of Aotea Roa, today known as the eroded volcanic peninsula of Onawe, to the east of the present city of Christchurch.

  Mãui then instructs his most able runners to mark a trail leading to a specific location deep in the mountainous center of the island. For two days and nights the runners follow the winding, snow-fed waters of the Waimakariri River, returning to describe the magic of the land and waters they found. Emboldened, Mãui assembles a party of twelve men and twelve women to walk the river to the Pukenga hills, crossing majestic tussock grasslands, beech forests and a mountain pass before finding themselves in an alpine basin of great mystery and power. “He stood in awe of a wairua [spirit] that filled the air with forces that stretched his being to another plane. His triumphant karakia [prayer] echoed strongly from the soaring towers of stone that marked forever the Birth Place of the Gods.”20

  Song of the Waitaha — the collective name of the oral traditions — is highly descriptive of Mãui’s exuberance as he stood in this, the Crucible of the World. It is clear the sacred site induced in the ancient navigator a reaction that was nothing short of spiritual, and having experienced the site myself on five occasions I can attest to the accuracy of what this adventurer must have felt. Kura Tawhiti, as the main site is called — Castle Hill in anglicised form — is both breathtaking and exhilarating, it is proof that when a sacred place remains continuously unadulterated by human folly its power is palpable to even the most cynical visitor. Even now it is difficult to find the superlatives to describe the feel of this place. I, for one, empathise with how Mãui must have felt when gazing upon the Birthplace of the Gods for the first time — as did another pilgrim who journeyed to the site in 2002, the Dalai Lama, who described it as one of the great spiritual centers of the universe.

  The Sacred Nest, as seen from Kura Tawhiti.

  The natural alpine basin in which Kura Tawhiti stands was once part of a shallow seabed, since thrust three thousand feet closer to the stars, leaving the limestone exposed to the elements to create two groups of freestanding megaliths. The first resembles a labyrinth of curiously shaped stones that seem somehow animated, while the second stands individually apart along the backbone of a nearby ridge, in a certain light resembling the outstretched fingertips of a buried giant.

  Two adjacent sites complete the Birthplace of the Gods: Flock Hill, and Prebble Hill, which the Waitaha refer to as the Sacred Nest, undoubtedly the focal point, a place that keeps its mysteries very close to its chest. Visually it is an awesome lunar-shaped escarpment, similarly composed of scores of limestone monoliths, its concave basin appearing as though molded by the curved underside of a massive spaceship. Around the time of the Younger Dryas it would have been surrounded by deep, turquoise waters fed by nearby glaciers, making the Sacred Nest resemble an island in a primordial lake.

  Kura Tawhiti translates as ‘School Distant’, it is a vast outdoor academy whose stones are said to contain the wisdom and cosmology of the Urukehu gods and, later, the Waitaha who followed in their footsteps. Each monolith — whether natural or deliberately placed — was selected to impart a specific teaching of the Mysteries to visiting initiates, in the same tradition as the stone circles of western Europe. The metaphor behind ‘distant school’ refers to how the knowledge placed here not only came originally from the stars, but its combined and applied wisdom serves to reconnect the initiate with those distant points of light — a relationship any ancient Egyptian or Chaldean would find familiar; its secondary meaning accurately describes its reclusive location on the globe. The ancients always worked with multiple layers of interpretation in every name or symbol.

  The reward for hiking the long trail to the summit of Kura Tawhiti is an enigmatic fifty-foot tall monolith named for the tutelary goddess of the site, Marotini. The combined forces of thousands of years of veneration, plus the action of water percolating through the limestone bedrock — the bi-product of which is the creation of a natural electrical charge — produces an immediate and palpable energy of place. This point of high wisdom, literally and metaphorically, may also have once been a place of shamanic travel, a portal that by its very geology alone connects one to the stars.

  Long before I'd read the traditions of this landscape temple, as transmitted by the Waitaha, I experienced its power first-hand, hearing the voices of the ancestors that later became a framework for this book. As is the case at most sacred sites, information is revealed layer by layer, visit upon visit, the understanding building like a play in many acts. On one occasion I had a chance to meditate beside the Marotini stone, which even to the casual observer resembles the eroded face of a kind of lioness. The stone was trying to confirm something that had occupied my mind during the uphill trek: how the eroded monoliths, even the tall outcrops forming the labyrinth in the lower section, seemed to portray faces and forms deliberately carved into the limestone but long since eroded. Of course the average geologist would explain — and correctly — how the action of rain and weather over time on exposed rock does give the impression of features familiar to the eye — faces of people, animals and so forth, a phenomenon known as simulacra, particularly common in waterborne rock such as sandstone and limestone. And yet I found this valid scientific explanation wanting. There was something different about these stones, they really did appear to be a picture gallery of faint faces worn by thousands of rainy seasons.

  It was much later, sitting in the comfort of the main library in Wellington, the capital, when I finall
y spent quality time pouring over the Waitaha narrative. Much to my amazement it contains references to the creation of monuments at Te Kohanga, the collective title for the Birthplace of the Gods, of which Kura Tawhiti is but one component. The story goes back to the days following the Deluge — after the gods stopped visiting Easter Island, but before the time of the great navigator Mãui — when a group of people called Tu Mata Kokiri (Keepers of Stone) appear from the west Pacific. Nothing else is mentioned until several generations after the Deluge, when the Waitaha on Easter Island welcome another canoe, whose passengers are described as pale-skinned with hazel eyes and red or fair hair, not dissimilar to some inhabitants already living on the island by then, but with a difference: the visitors arriving from somewhere to the northwest, from a land even by then lost to memory, are described as having eyes with a half-closed appearance. These voyagers are referred to as kanohi karapa, and since they carried knowledge of “shaping stone without breaking its spirit“ they were named Tu Takap (Stone People).21 The Waitaha recorded their story thus: “We are and we are born to stone... hidden in the hugeness of stone built so tall, other eyes failed to see our monuments... Huge are the sacred monuments we carved at Te Kohanga.”22

  I had my answer. The faces in the stones hadn't been a figment of imagination. The monoliths had been shaped using “hammer stones" by the Tu Takap, who also carved the image of Marotini and other figures related to ancient mythology: “A towering column of the purest stone was shaped to place Marotini in the land... we asked so much of the Stone Shapers when they carved her to stand against the stars. Tall timbers and thick ropes lifted them high above the land to carve Marotini. Ever higher they climbed to cut away the curving charcoal lines to reveal the beauty of our tupuna [ancestor]. And when the last blow was struck, and the inner stone stood true, we made kumara [sweet potato] to place at her feet."23

  Interestingly, the related word tunupa (mill-bearer) is the Andean nickname for the Creator God Pachacamac, upon whose shoulders the mill of the heavens churns. His effigy is carved onto the vertical mountainside overlooking the temple city of Ollantaytambo.

  The image of Marotini, tutelary goddess of Kura Tawhiti, once shaped by human hands. It gazes over the Birthplace of the Gods. a site that is potentially 16,000 years old. New Zealand

  It wasn’t just heroes who were commemorated in stone at the Birthplace of the Gods. As I mentioned earlier, this was a great seat of learning, an ancient academy. The Waitaha narrative implies that the Urukehu with whom they’d interacted were great navigators as well as astronomers. In one account it is stated how these Starwalkers went to Kura Tawhiti to record the movement of the stars on a monolith called the rock of ages. I’ve climbed to the site on five separate occasions but have yet to locate this calendar stone, hardly surprising given the thousands of years of weathering, it may no longer be obvious to the eye, however, another quote clearly states there were other monoliths used for the same purpose: “Many were the wondrous shapes worked in the stone of Te Kohanga, and none was more sacred than the Tai Atea, the stone set in place to hold the central star of Matua Tonga [Southern Cross].”24

  A 16,000-YEAR OLD CALENDAR STONE?

  In 2018 I switched my attention to Flock Hill, the third site, because so little of it has been explored. Like Kura Tawhiti it features the same type of limestone monoliths, lots of them, and from its escarpment one is treated to a dramatic side view of the Sacred Nest. Not a whisper could be heard on the hill or the entire plain below, a total absence of sound. A falcon landed on an unusual monolith nearby, whose top appeared to have been artificially shaped into a large, flattened disc. Taking this as a beckoning call, I wandered over. A raised relief stood on the surface of the disc, much like a sundial. Unlike a sundial, the relief was two-thirds along the diameter of the disc, enabling an observer on the ground to line up the relief with the top of the disc.

  Since the disc was also inclined at approximately 30º it was possible to look at the relief face-on and make out what appeared to be an elongated face; I shifted my position to observe it from the side and the effect was still obvious. Whether or not it was just a trick of the light, of greater importance is that the relief had a long axis, thus it could be used to reference an object in the sky. If this stone was the one used to mark the Southern Cross, a few days playing with a program called Stellarium would reveal if ever the two lined up.

  Flock Hill calendar stone, with Kura Tawhiti and Marotini in the distance.

  The problem was, where to start? The two most important calendar events used by ancient people were the spring equinox and the winter solstice, so I decided to work with these around 8000 BC, well after the great flood. Nothing. The Southern Cross was way off the mark by then. 11,000 BC, still nothing. But around 14,000 BC the constellation began to rise in alignment with the relief, yet still below the mountain range in the background. Then on the spring equinox c.14,800 BC, magic. An observer would have seen the Southern Cross rising above the disc for the first time, carried along a vertically inclined Milky Way as though the celestial river was oozing from the monolith itself. The effect must have seemed dramatic.

  The exact same alignment repeated on the winter solstice.

  But was this what the Urukehu had had in mind? Another pivotal constellation in their world — and later the Waitaha’s — was Orion, so I took the opportunity to examine its relationship with the calendar stone. In 14,800 BC Orion was 17º off the mark, but around 12,400 BC its belt stars could finally be seen rising above the disc on the winter solstice. As the program rolled forward in time to 10,400 BC, Orion’s belt remained aligned above the disc but now with most of the constellation above the horizon. As we shall see later, this date has enormous implications in our quest.

  I walked around the Flock Hill calendar stone and found an adjacent monolith with a convenient alcove to sit on and write down my observations.

  When I got up and looked back at the stone, I was amazed to find it too had every appearance of having been carved by human hands. The oval alcove resembled an upright bowl into which the light of an object is meant to shine; above the alcove, and slightly offset from its axis, the stone has been shaped into two horns, as though carved to mark the trajectory of an object in the sky. Turning to Stellarium, the only object that aligns with the narrow gap between the horns is the rising winter solstice Sun c.10,400 BC; the other is the Moon, whose Minor Standstill is precisely marked by the stone’s alcove; just like the stone, both objects’ trajectories are slightly offset to each other.

  It was turning out to be a very productive day. I returned to take a fresh look at the calendar stone. From the rear it resembles a boat, in fact the southern end of the entire monolith looked as thought it wass been carved like a figurehead at the bow of an old ship. Again, this could all be simulacra, and yet the head is precisely aligned to the south celestial pole. I positioned myself behind it. The head was clearly looking through the gap between two large boulders and right across the valley to another gap in the mountains. An observer sitting in the same position on the winter solstice in 10,400 BC would have seen Sirius, a major navigational star throughout the Pacific, rising into this natural cup.

  Sun and Moon positions in relation to the alcove stone c.10,400 BC (front of stone shown for clarity).

  Southern Cross as observed above calendar stone c.14,800 BC.

  Orion’s Belt above calendar stone c.12,400 BC, and the full constellation c.10,400 BC.

  I returned to Kura Tawhiti (another two hours of climbing) to see if another alignment presented itself. Its most obvious landmark is the Marotini stone on the summit. Due to long-term erosion, the monolith’s axis is not absolute, but it does point to a prominent curve between two peaks on the opposite mountain range, a convenient bowl. The spread of 90-98º means we could be looking at anything in the eastern sky along this arc. Using 10,400 BC as a marker, the only object of note that rises out of this bowl is the Southern Cross once again, on the spring equinox.

&
nbsp; It appears there are two potential dates being commemorated at the Birthplace of the Gods, with the location and its monuments carefully selected to take advantage of the background of mountains that the Urukehu would have used to frame the sky and reference significant stellar objects and dates.

  Marotini (shown face-on for clarity), would have looked at the Southern Cross rising into a natural hollow between two peaks across the valley on the spring equinox c.10,400 BC.

  The same technique was employed on the other side of the Pacific, at a site strategically founded by another group of flood gods at another kind of birthplace, Cuzco Cara Urumi (Uncovered Navel Stone). Seen from its original Qorikancha temple, the passage of the Milky Way establishes an intercardinal horizon against the foreground of mountains, creating a cosmic axis as it arcs through the night sky. This was recreated and marked on the ground using huacas (sacred sites). As any ancient seafarer knows, by understanding the position of the stars it is possible to predict the behavior of the oceans, even when doing so a hundred miles inland, making long sea voyages possible and assuring the safe passage of ships.

  DISTANT EVENTS ETCHED IN MEMORY

  Despite living on a near-paradisal land, life wasn’t all wine and roses for the Waitaha. Like many people whose existence covers great spans of time, they too record disasters that have befallen the Earth over the course of 11,000 years besides the great flood. One account describes how stars fell, “long showers of flame rained down, fiery darts falling out of the sky, a fiery waka descending out of the sky... burning rocks crashed to earth. And a frightful humming was heard. And a great burning ball plunged down.” Everything burned, a massive fire destroyed much of the eastern side of the South Island, followed by a change in climate. First came floods and heavy winds, then droughts that sparked more fires. No date is set for the event, but given the story’s place in the narrative it seems to coincide with a comet and mass coronal ejections in 3150 BC and 2345 BC,25 both events causing havoc on a global scale, the latter recorded by Chinese astronomers.