The cave artists

Press, 16 August 1985, Page 23

The cave artists

It is not always possible to house all museum pieces within museum walls. Sometimes this is a matter of size, or cost, or availability. But there are some things which would lose their value almost completely were they to be removed from their natural context and placed within a museum, because it is that context, or environment, which is one of their most significant aspects. Falling squarely into this category are the thousands of prehistoric Maori rock drawings which occur in hundreds of rock shelters, mostly in limestone areas, throughout the South Island. The existence of these rock drawings (and they are drawings, not paintings) has been known since the 1850 s. For more than a century after their discovery arguments raged among interested parties, both archaeologists and artists, as to their significance and place within New Zealand prehistory. Who did them? When? What was their purpose? Why did the Maori people themselves have no knowledge of them? Why, in fact, were they so different from the familiar things of Maori culture such as wood carving? Concern was also expressed for their general condition and vulnerability to weathering, farming activities, and vandalism. One American visitor, ostensibly in the cause of conservation, went so far as to cut some of the better drawings from the rock, although fortunately he was not permitted to take them from the country. The fact that several New Zealand museums today hold these pieces is little consolation for the damage done. In the 19405, the then New Zealand Government employed an artist, Theo Schoon, to travel around the South Island making painted copies of the best drawings. This was the first real recognition of their artistic and cultural worth. These Schoon copies are on

display at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery. They are of considerable artistic interest and merit, although by modern archaeological standards they lack the necessary accuracy to be a perfect record. The two principal recording techniques used nowadays are photography and tracing. The latter involves the dot-by-dot transfer of the rock image on to an overlying sheet of plastic film, using special pencils. The process is time consuming, but if accurately done results in an excellent copy without damage to the original drawing. Archaeologists today have a much better understanding of New Zealand’s prehistoric rock drawings derived from factual evidence and modern scientific methods.

Almost all the drawings are now known to have been done in the culturally early period of our prehistory, mostly 500 or more years ago. The early Polynesian settlers travelled into the inland areas of the South Island which, at that period, were forested, on hunting expeditions. Where rock shelters were available they were used as temporary camps and it was during this time that they drew on the walls and roofs of the shelters, mainly using charcoal from their fires, but also using red ochre. Occasionally they scratched or bruised the rock surface. They drew the familiar things of their environment — people,

By

BEVERLEY McCULLOCH

fish, birds, and mammals — as well as designs and imaginary creature forms. When much of the forest was burnt off about 500 years ago and many bird species, including the moas, became extinct, use of the areas largely ceased and so, as a consequence, did rock drawing activity. Visit the McDougall Art Gallery if you have an opportunity before the end of September and enjoy the Schoon exhibition. It is well worth while. And then travel to one of the rock art reserves through Canterbury and appreciate in their original form these unique museum pieces from the past.