A Re-Assessment of the Role of Dogs (Canis familiaris) in Early Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

In New Zealand, dogs appear in the earliest archaeological contexts and were a common sight in the Māori villages described by European explorers in the late eighteenth century. In this review, we argue that the fundamental nature of dog–human relationships remained stable throughout New Zealand’s early history, despite major environmental change and transformations in Māori settlement patterns, subsistence systems, and social organisation. Although there are variations in dog abundance levels in the archaeological record through time, these are likely due to differences in site function rather than dogs’ diminishing importance or changing status. Dogs are unique in early New Zealand as the only animal that shared living space with humans. They did so as free-ranging populations; travelling with people, interacting in village life, and playing diverse roles in Māori social, technological, and ritual systems.