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Ngā Tohuwhenua Mai Te Rangi: A New Zealand Archeology in Aerial Photographs
Hunting and gathering
Hunting and gathering
It is impossible here usefully to illustrate a full range of Māori hunting practice. An important aspect of it, however, can be shown in aerial photographs. All hunting for subsistence purposes balances the minimisation of effort in the chase with maximising the result from a single kill. Infant animals or fledgling birds offer a good opportunity to strike this balance satisfactorily. Just be-
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fore they begin to fly, fledgling seabirds have reserves of fat and much muscle meat but are easily caught. Muttonbirds (the young of sooty shearwaters, a small petrel) are an obvious contemporary example. Albatrosses are another example. In the Chathams, the taking of albatross fledglings was a well-refined form of hunting. They were typically taken from remote rocky islets, such as the Little Sister illustrated here, where Doug Sutton was able to demonstrate seasonal visits by Moriori presumably for the purpose of taking these birds.
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Umu tī, Otago Peninsula near Ōtākou
The umu tī are two distinct circular depressions (one with a rim), each about 3 m in diameter, in the centre of the photograph. The other smaller depressions are from tree-throw, the root plate having been forced out of the ground by the wind and the tree long rotted away. The view is to the north-east, down the slope of a hill.
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Northern Royal albatross (toroa) breeding ground on the Little Sister, north-western Chatham Islands
The juvenile albatrosses show as white blobs. The eggs hatched in February; the photograph was taken in May; and the fledglings would be taken in August or September when they weighed as much as 8 kg. People who visited the island seasonally lived in caves to the east of the prominent rock knob, which is also adjacent to a permanent water supply. The landing place was on the northern rock ledges.