MAORI RELICS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 134, 9 June 1942, Page 6

MAORI RELICS

MARLBOROUGH FINDS

NOT OF ANCIENT ORIGIN

An article which aroused special interest among all who ha\ e any interest in the Maori and his history was published recently from the pen of Mr. F. R. Bodle, describing a number of interesting relics found in Marlborough, artifacts which it was believed pre-dated the coming of the Maori to New Zealand. Mr. George Graham, a life-long student of Maori history, arts and crafts, does not accept this view. He writes: I read Mr. Bodies article with keen interest, and with the desire of obtaining the best of available Maori opinion of to-day I delayed my criticism. I now offer the result "of my inquiries, confirming, in the main, generally accepted Maori opinion. From this there is nothing to warrant a "pre-Maori" theory, and certainly the Maori ethnological finds at Marlborough in no way support such a theory. The illustration accompanying Mr. Bodle's article shows a series of artifacts such as the Maori formed even in quite recent times, and. indeed, until the early decades of the 19th century, if not later. Adze Used in Heavy Work The adze (probably a poke) was such as was used in heavy work, like tree felling. The string of human teeth (actually such or models of same) was known and worn as a maioha—a token of memorial of the dead. The necklet (mau-kake) of dog's (or seal?) teeth is similar to such found (as are also all the above) in recent interments. The so-called "cotton reels" (also called spools), and made of moa bone, are known as whatu-porotaka. They are close models of their Polynesian prototypes and have been found in various places throughout New Zealand. Their use. utilitarian or ornamental, is not now clearly understood. But as conventionalised models of bones of the human spinal column (iwi tuara) they are associated with the genealogical ceremonial as the faint traditional statement so defines them. The "iwi tuara" is a term symbolic of famiiv lineal descent, and seems to confirm tradition connecting these "cotton reels" with genealogy. However, all the above described objects are such as are still foundin Maori possession and known to be heirlooms handed down from not very remote ancestors, certainlv of no antiquit\\ That some of these objects were fashioned from moa bone does not demonsti ate that those birds were therefore contemporary with the Maori artists who so formed them but (if scientifically verified) the moa remains associated with cooking places do so prove. This opens up the controversy as to the period of the moa. and as to when it finallj- " dout >t the moa was Plentiful m the land at the earliest dates ascribed to Maori settlement in New Zealand (about 750 A D f and it was for at least several' centuries thereafter. Moa Lingered On Maori tradition. proverb and nomenclature imply that the moa and that °it greasing numbers, ancl that it finally survived <;nli tary individuals in but a few secluded locahties, and did not in fact finally disappear until the early decades of rnwta , cer l tury - Lieut.-Colonel article s re cent outstanding article on the moa has, in Alanri opinion, unduly stressed the period a a verv^V" 31 as Drior tn i r ?' U *7 e — even Pi'Obablv of aLut nin A r n T, 1 immigrations or aoout 1300 A.D. Moa remains in necessariK- nf enS are < herefor e Vo" necessary of any undue antiquity, ivfo il? think, therefore, that the Marlborough discoveries can be when Pre dat,i , d 1350 lr,, SOme - of the Maori (i.e., immigrants are known hav , e settled in the Marlborough - a b° u t that time and with which immigrants Mr. Bodle seems A^lhV 1 ? 6 rel £ s he describes ' not think fhi t m Pre-Maori." Ido not trunk the term is justified for . it is now conceded that no other race , of mankind, other than Polvne-fian • ever occupied this country 'Nor do . the ethnological relics "concerned • indicate other than a Maori culture ' Si r y «'i,h the cutare - still lingering to-day. The tvne i from M£]£*!> P e, ' s6nal rewrt E t are similar in all New Zealand Th • ° Ul } d throughout truth of Man J s . mdlcat es also the are nn 1 opinion that there : S\SeT d bl ' the