I have just been sent a very interesting story which continues the whole archeology theme of the last blog.

According to New Zealand author Ross Wiseman in his 2001 book "New Zealand's Hidden Past" there was a settlement of people in New Zealand prior to the last major volcanic eruption of Lake Taupo in 18oAD.
These people were, by his reasonings, Phoenicians and they left behind carvings in rock which were discovered after a slip on Mt Tauhara (in Taupo) in the 1970's.

I personally have not seen these carvings, but I do know people that have, and during our time in Taupo a few years back the story was even published in tourist guides as a bit of a novelty. This is a very interesting development in a part of our history that I have been studying over the last 20 years.

Taupo features very heavily in all of this because of the volcanic lake that was once a mountain. Around 25,000 years ago (there is that magic date again) the mountain exploded resulting in a massive 800 cubic kilometres of pumice and ash ejected into the sky. The Oruanui eruption as it is called, probably occurred over a period of a few days or even weeks, with enough pumice expelled to bury the entire North Island by 10 metres.

To put this into perspective the Hatepe Eruption of Lake Taupo in 180AD ejected 120 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, and turned the sky red in China and Rome. Mount St helens by comparison ejected just 2.8 cubic kilometers of material in 1980.

Keen to read more about the possible Phoenician involvement in our distance past? It seems to be quite a hard book to get online. Fishpond NZ doesn't have any copies for sale, and Amazon only has 2nd hand ones.
Use the link below to buy the book from Amazon