Riddle of the skull: What was a white woman doing in New Zealand 100 years before Europeans settled there?

The discovery of a yellowing, cracked skull on a riverbank in New Zealand’s North Island had baffled scientists.

Their research has shown the skull belonged to a European woman who lived about 270 years ago – a century before the first known arrival of white settlers in the country.

Even an inquest into the woman’s death has failed to solve the mystery.

Coroner John Kershaw, sitting in the town of Masterton, 50 miles from Wellington, decided after hearing expert opinions at the inquest that the skull belonged to a European woman aged between 40 and 45.

‘This suggests that the deceased was alive somewhere in the South Wairarapa region (north-east of Wellington) in or about 1740,’ said Mr Kershaw.

Mr Kershaw said despite radiocarbon dating of the skull, historians had reported that the region was not settled by Europeans until after the New Zealand Company sent settlers to Wellington in 1840.

The skull was discovered in October 2004 by a local resident as he walked by the Ruamahunga River, south-east of the small town of Featherston.

Two Auckland forensic pathologists, Dr Rex Ferris and Dr Tim Koelmeyer, told the inquest that the skull was not Maori – the Polynesian people who were the first known inhabitants of New Zealand – and was almost certainly a European woman.

They said that conclusion could be drawn because of the study of the size of the skull, and comparison of specific parts of the skull, such as the cheekbones and jaw, with skulls of other races.

Engraving made during the voyage of explorer Abel Tasman to New Zealand in 1642. In the background two Maori watch the ships approach.

The woman’s identity and cause of death could not be ascertained, and a verdict that ‘death has occurred’ was recorded.

New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in December 1642, but he only journeyed along the west coast of the country and did not land anywhere in the North Island.

And the first two European  women known to arrive in the country were Kathleen Hagerty and Charlotte Edgar, British convicts who escaped from New South Wales and arrived in New Zealand in 1806.

English explorer Captain James Cook visited the area in 1770 - but that was nearly 30 years after the mystery woman was alive in the area.

Local archivest Gareth Winter told the coroner: 'There were no European inhabitants in the area 300 years ago.

'There are no records of a ship missing in New Zealand waters during this period, which might have resulted in somebody being stranded there.'

In the meantime the skull will be kept in the Wairarapa Museum of Art and History until further research can come up with some possible answers.