Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T16:46:55.958Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new look at Maori carved burial chests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Aileen Fox
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Carved wooden chests to contain the bones of the dead are peculiar to New Zealand and constitute a fine artistic achievement of the Maori people; they are little known or appreciated outside their country of origin. They include some macabre and disturbing imagery, consisting of a variety of divine or heroic figures both male and female, which are decoratively patterned in either incised or relief style. Some 60 examples are known, mostly in the museum collections at Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, with a few more in small museums in New Zealand and a few in museums overseas, including one in the British Museum (Museum of Mankind) (Cranstone, 1953, 58). They have not hitherto been the subject of a special study and an archaeological appraisal is overdue.

Type
Articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 210 , March 1980 , pp. 7 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Archey, G. 1977.Whaovihia: Maori art and its artists (Auckland, N.Z.).Google Scholar
Barrow, T.T. 1969.Maori wood sculpture (Wellington, N.Z.).Google Scholar
Barrow, T.T. 1972.Art and life in Polynesia (Wellington, N.Z.).Google Scholar
Beaglehole, J.C. (ed.). 1962.The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768—71. 2 vols. (Sydney).Google Scholar
Bellwood, P. 1978. The Polynesians (London).Google Scholar
Cassels, R. 1979.Wooden artefacts from Waitore Swamp, New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, 1, 85—108.Google Scholar
Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Notes on certain Maori carved burial chests in the Auckland Museum, Trans. New Zealand Institute, XXXIX, 451—56.Google Scholar
Cranstone, B. 1953. British Museum Quarterly, 17, 58—9.Google Scholar
Duff, R. 1977. The Moa Hunter period of Maori culture (Wellington, N.Z.).Google Scholar
Earle, A. 1832. Narrative of a residence in New Zealand (ed. E.H., McCormick, Oxford, 1966).Google Scholar
Leach, B.F. & H.M. 1979. Prehistoric Man in Palliser Bay (National Museum, Wellington, N.Z.).Google Scholar
Oppenheim, R.S. 1971. The burial system at Ruarangi burial ground, Records Auckland Institute and Museum 8, 23—8.Google Scholar
Oppenheim, R.S. 1973. Maori Death Customs (Wellington, N.Z.).Google Scholar