© Stuff.co.nzJesus Watch: Investigations into this unusual rock carving have uncovered that an ancient Greek celestial calendar had been carved into it. The rock carving dubbed Jesus Watch by those who found it was discovered on a Northland farm recently.
Captain James Cook and Abel Tasman could lose their place in history as the first Europeans to reach New Zealand.
A controversial book, To the End of the Earth, claims to contain evidence that Greeks, Spanish and Egyptians settled in New Zealand long before the Maori people. The 378-page book, to be released this weekend, was co-authored by researchers Maxwell C Hill, Gary Cook and Noel Hilliam.
It shows ancient maps drawn before the birth of Christ, which the authors said detail the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand.
Skeletons, rock carvings, stone buildings and monuments all attest to people of European origin living in New Zealand for centuries before the arrival of Polynesians, they said.
The artefacts include a rock carving of an ancient Greek ship found in Taupo, a stone pillar with an accurate coastal map of New Zealand showing Lake Taupo in its pre-232AD eruption shape, and carvings on rocks at Raglan.
Hill said a huge boulder weighing several tonnes, deeply cut into a huge circular star calendar and marked with what were believed to be figures and rebuses, was the most stunning find.
He said there was also evidence that showed Maui was not the legendary Maori god-explorer, but an actual Egyptian naval navigator, who steered a flotilla of Greek ships to discover new shores, Hill said.
The book quotes Professor Barry Fell, of Harvard University in the US, who interpreted graffiti drawn on limestone in caves at McCluer Bay, on the coast of Indonesia.
Hill said Fell's find names Maui as a navigator from the Red Sea under the flag of Ptolemy III in 232BC.
A cave inscription near Santiago, Chile also shows the Maori god-explorer was an Egyptian navigator, saying the point was "the southern limit of the coast reached by Maui," Hill said.
However, AUT University professor Paul Moon said the authors lacked credibility as none of the writers had any qualifications in history, archaeology, anthropology or related disciplines.
Ptolemy's maps were not an indication at all that New Zealand was discovered by the Greeks or Egyptians, he said.
"This is no evidence at all that people came to New Zealand at this time. On the contrary, Ptolemy's map shows a complete lack of geographical knowledge about the South Pacific," Moon said.
British botanist and TV personality David Bellamy has defended the book, according to Hill.
"Max Hill has filled his steerage log with a collage of artefacts any museum would like to have in its keeping," Bellamy said.
Reader Comments
Maybe the Greeks should claim NZ as belonging to them a la Palestine belonging solely to the Jews, kick out the kiwis, get billions of dollars in military aid every year from the US and the god given right to bully every other nation on the planet.
Surely the Greeks the founder of the western civilisation could do a bit of creative myth-writing, thus cementing their right to NZ. And given that the banksters have taken over Greece, then New Zealand could be a reasonable place to resettle.
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song of waitaha is a good book on the topic theirs heaps of history here thats well known and most is in legends and historical accounts their is rakiahotu and tangaroa also navigators but some historys way up north go back to the exodus and are explained in local legend , theirs also kupe , the way it sounds is they came off the tip of africa and travelled to newzealand then up to tonga then afew other islands , i spoke to a lady about her tongan ancestors and she said that tangaroa was her ancestor , in newzealand hes the god of the sea but is also an ancestor to another family that i know and their history here goes back at least 3600 years , they were coming here for years and it had white , black , red heads , blue eyes , very tall peoples and even very small peoples like the ones from wellington whos skeletons keep turnning up and are thought to be a childs but later are found to be adult and very old , newzealand is the home of peace where everyone gets along and has been for ever
Now its just another globalist led shit hole with the same unimaginative,gutless PTB's at the helm as in every western nation at this time.
Lets not forget,all native folklore from all corners of the globe are eerily similar in many respects.
Forget the Egyptian angle.Its BS
Also it must be taken into account the possibility of ancient global civilisations, such as Atlantis and others when finding these unexpected things
The egyptian angle is very revalient , during ww2 the maori who fought in the dessert conflict and the local dessert folk worked out they were related when comparing their language they then went back to older dialect and found enough to be certain of their common ancestry . Definately not B S
A global community existed in NewZealnd and still does , we are the peace makers of the earth , ultimately people make a country great not goverments , If you dont vote or speak out with knowledge and insight no solutions will be found , speading dispair is spreading weakness undermining the strength of any vision of creating a safe home to leave our desendants , Love our country .
Kindest regards
hipstarr68