Catastrophic seismic-related events and their impact on prehistoric human occupation, coastal New Zealand

The catastrophic 1855 AD Wellington earthquake is used to predict likely en vironmental impacts of earlier seismic events (earthquake and tsunami) that have been reported for the Cook Strait region in the period following firs t human settlement 700 years ago. Environmental changes around Palliser Bay in prehistoric Maori times, inferred from archaeological research, paralle l those that occurred in 1855 AD. We consider that devastation caused by ea rthquake activity and subsequent tsunami, rather than climatic deterioratio n invoked previously, precipitated the rapid abandonment of the Palliser Ba y coast by human communities in the 15th century AD.