Precious Maori artefacts on show

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 11

Precious Maori artefacts on show

Examples of Maori artistry and craftsmanship considered too precious to be sent to Te Maori exhibition will be displayed in an exhibition at the Canterbury Museum.

The museum will run an exhibition of South Island Maori displays to coincide with Te Maori exhibition coming to Christchurch. Both exhibitions will open on March 14.

The director of the Canterbury Museum, Mr Michael Trotter, says the museum’s exhibition is the biggest of its kind that he can remember. It will

be called Nga Taonga 0 Te Waipounamu — Treasures of the South Island.

It includes pieces from throughout the South Island, with an emphasis on Canterbury.

Two especially precious objects on display will be a fragile carved crescent recovered from a swamp near Temuka which is considered unique because of its carving style and individuality, and a carved Maori dog found at Moncks Cave at Sumner.

Among the moa hunter artefacts on display is a 900-year-old harpoon point carved from moa bone. There are many examples of stone adzeheads used by moa hunters about 500 years ago for working wood.

Greenstone adze-heads and a collection of greenstone tikis dated about 200 years old will also be on display.

The museum’s feather cloak collection has been brought out for exhibition. This includes the cloaks of many important Maori families.