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Atholl John Anderson

アソール・ジョン・アンダーソン

Atholl John Anderson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1943 （Hāwera, New Zealand）
Nationality
New Zealand
Languages
English
Residence History
Dunedin → Nelson → Karamea (West Coast) → Canberra, Australia → Wairau Valley, Marlborough → Stewart Island (ancestral links with Ngāi Tahu)

Career

Occupations
archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, academic, author
Active Years
1966-2008
Affiliations
University of Otago, University of Auckland, Australian National University, Heritage New Zealand (formerly New Zealand Historic Places Trust), Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (advisor)
Memberships
Royal Society of New Zealand (Fellow), Australian Academy of the Humanities (Fellow), Society of Antiquaries of London (Fellow), New Zealand Archaeological Association
Influenced By
Ngāi Tahu oral histories and local traditions, Traditions of anthropology and ethnography
Influenced
Generations of archaeologists and historians in New Zealand and the Pacific

Education

University of Canterbury
Geography
Degree: MA
Year of Graduation: 1966
Country: New Zealand
Master's thesis: "Maori occupation sites in back beach deposits around Tasman Bay"
—
Degree: Diploma in Teaching
Year of Graduation: 1968
Country: New Zealand
Completed a Diploma in Teaching; in 1968 became assistant principal at a school in Karamea
University of Otago
Anthropology
Degree: MA (First-class honours)
Period: 1969–1973
Year of Graduation: 1973
Country: New Zealand
Master's thesis: "Archaeology and behaviour: prehistoric subsistence behaviour at Black Rocks Peninsula, Palliser Bay"
University of Cambridge
Archaeology
Degree: PhD
Period: 1973–1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United Kingdom
PhD thesis: "Prehistoric Competition and Economic Change in Northern Sweden"

Awards

Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand
1991
Organization: Royal Society of New Zealand (Royal Society Te Apārangi)
Result: 選出
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
1996
Organization: Australian Academy of the Humanities
Result: 選出
James Cook Research Fellowship
1996
Organization: Royal Society Te Apārangi (James Cook Research Fellowship)
Result: 受賞
Federation Medal of Australia (for services to archaeology)
2001
Organization: Australian Government
Result: 授与
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
2002
Organization: Society of Antiquaries of London
Result: 選出
Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Cambridge
2002
Organization: University of Cambridge
Result: 授与
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM)
2006
Organization: New Zealand Honours System (awarded by the Crown/Government)
Result: 授与（人類学・考古学への貢献）
Humanities Aronui Medal, Royal Society Te Apārangi
2015
Organization: Royal Society of New Zealand (Royal Society Te Apārangi)
Result: 受賞
Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement
2016
Organization: Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement
Result: 受賞（文学における業績を顕彰）
Ockham New Zealand Book Award (for co-authored 'Tangata whenua: a history')
2016
Work: Tangata whenua: a history
Organization: Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
Result: 受賞（共著）
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Otago
2019
Organization: University of Otago
Result: 授与（名誉学位）
Roger Green Lifetime Achievement Award (New Zealand Archaeological Association)
2019
Organization: New Zealand Archaeological Association
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

When all the moa ovens grew cold: nine centuries of changing fortune for the southern Māori

1983 Archaeology / Regional history

A reconstruction of southern New Zealand Māori lifeways and environmental change, focusing on moa hunting and changing resource use, based on archaeological evidence.

colonisation and settlementmoa huntingenvironmental change

Te Puoho's last raid: the march from Golden Bay to Southland in 1836 and defeat at Tuturau

1986 History / Ethnohistory

A detailed account of Te Puoho's 1836 expedition and defeat, using documentary sources and ethnography.

inter-tribal warfarecontact with colonial forcesuse of local sources

Prodigious birds: moas and moa-hunting in prehistoric New Zealand

1989 Archaeology

Analysis of the relationship between humans and moas in prehistoric New Zealand, examining hunting and extinction processes from archaeological evidence.

extinction ecologyhunting behaviourhuman-animal interactions

The welcome of strangers: an ethnohistory of southern Maori A.D. 1650–1850

1998 Ethnohistory / History

An integration of historical, ethnographic and archaeological sources to describe origins, migrations, social and economic organisation, and responses to European contact for southern Māori between AD 1650 and 1850.

migration and originssocial and economic organisationhistory of contact

Tangata whenua: a history

2015 History / Scholarly

Co-authored with Judith Binney and Aroha Harris. A multidisciplinary synthesis using environmental science, geology, linguistics, archaeology and history to examine migration and settlement in New Zealand.

interdisciplinary researchmigration historysettlement and land

The global origins and development of seafaring

2010 Edited volume / Archaeology

An edited volume discussing the origins and development of sailing technologies worldwide, including comparative studies on Pacific voyaging and maritime dispersal.

sailing technologiesmigration and dispersalPacific studies

The Origins of Prehistoric Sailing Technologies in the Pacific Ocean

2023 Scholarly chapter / Archaeology

A chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Island and Coastal Archaeology examining the origins and development of prehistoric sailing technologies in the Pacific.

history of voyagingtechnology historyPacific archaeology

Bibliography

  • When all the moa ovens grew cold (1983)
  • Te Puoho's last raid (1986)
  • Prodigious birds (1989; reprinted 2003)
  • The welcome of strangers (1998)
  • Tangata whenua: a history (2015, co-authored)
  • The global origins and development of seafaring (2010, edited)
  • Chapter: The Origins of Prehistoric Sailing Technologies in the Pacific Ocean (2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Interdisciplinary and empirical approachIntegration of historical, biological, ethnographic and archaeological evidenceEmphasis on detailed chronological reassessment
Recurring Motifs
processes of colonisation and migrationvoyaging and mobilityhuman-environment interactions (extinctions, resource use)history of southern margins

Legacy

Atholl Anderson made major interdisciplinary contributions to studies of colonisation, voyaging and environmental history in New Zealand and the Pacific, integrating archaeology, ethnography, history and natural science. His work on Ngāi Tahu testimony and regional historical reconstructions has influenced both academia and local communities.

Museums

  • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Wellington, New Zealand Opened in 1998

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society Te Apārangi
  • Australian Academy of the Humanities
  • Society of Antiquaries of London
  • New Zealand Archaeological Association

Archives

  • University of Otago Archives
  • Australian National University archives
  • Heritage New Zealand digital library (archaeological reports)

Quotes

  • "[It] draws together the disparate sources of information about later southern Māori in an attempt to describe, in some detail, the origins and migrations of the historical peoples, their social and economic organisation, their distribution in the landscape and their responses to the arrival of European culture."
    Source: Interview about The Welcome of Strangers (1998) (1998)

Trivia

  • An extinct Fijian crocodile species, Volia athollandersoni, was named after him.
  • Played in the Nelson College 1st XI hockey team in 1960–1961.
  • Contributed substantially to Ngāi Tahu's evidence for the Waitangi Tribunal.
  • Retired in 2008 and lives in the Wairau Valley, Marlborough.