Tracings Made Of Rock Drawings By Maoris

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30230, 7 September 1963, Page 18

Tracings Made Of Rock Drawings By Maoris

Tracings of Maoiri rock drawings in shelters at Monkey Face, on the inland road to Kaikoura, have been made by Mr T. Fomison. He is compiling a bulletin on rock drawings tor toe Historic Places Trust.

Mr Fomison spent a few days at Monkey Face. With him was Mir J. Sherrard, who is writing a regional history for the Kaikoura Counity Council.

Monkey Face, an outcrop at limestone, was a traditional Maori burial area. One of its names was Te Wheua, meaning the bones, and it was tapu to this day, said Mr Fomison.

The drawings all were black, probably done in charcoal, and were late Maori drawings, he said. They were very stylised symbols for a limited range of subjects which were important to the Maoris. The lizard was a frequent subject, and this was particularly interesting because it was toe death symbol.

The drawing® were in two rock shelters, which could havd. been habitable, and were the most inaccessible he had had to look at. They were well preserved, and had not been retouched, and there had been no vandalism. Mr Fomison said he would be interested to see whether they would still be

respected now they were becoming better known. These rock drawings had been known locally for a long time, but Mr Theo Schoon was the first specialist to investigate them. Mr Schaan made scale copies which are now in the Canterbury (Museum. Mr Schoon left no record of where they were, the view being that the best way to protect them was not to pinpoint the locality. Mr Fomison was shown the drawings by Mr A. Scott, a local farmer.

Mr Fomison has been to see various rock drawings in Canterbury and Otago,' and is hoping to hear of some in Marlborough, Nelson, and Westland. He understands there are some near Clinton.