Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 2, Issue 2, June 1967

[introduction]

page 5

With the arrival in New Zealand of European whalers, traders and settlers, the Maori, within the short span of a few years drastically changed his manner of living—readily adopting to his use European tools and weapons and sometimes leaving his former place of habitation to be closer to the coastal vantage points where the Pakeha congregated. Stone adzes were flung away in preference for steel tomahawks, jack plane blades or pieces of hoop iron. Wooden, bone and shell fish hooks were rapidly replaced by bent nails, forged spikes or real iron hooks, while European garments quickly cramped the movements of bodies used to the freedom afforded by Maori clothing. And so, in a relatively short space of time the material things of the old time Maori had become obsolete and of no further use to him. There were of course, notable exceptions to this, in the form of ornaments such as hei-tikis, and certain weapons which possessed "mana," but the frequency with which even these notable artifacts turn up in collections of Maori craftsmanship made in the early 1800's, indicates that their value to the Maori was fading.

The ever increasing tempo of inter-tribal warfare in the 18th and early 19th centuries did much also to force the abandonment of numerous pas and villages previously occupied. Sites where tribes or hapus may have lived for centuries, were abandoned for the less vulnerable positions of islands, peninsulas or hill tops.

Nature quickly covers the areas scarred by man's occupation and many sites occupied in the past by sizeable Maori populations, are no longer recognisable as such. The five sites which I wish to speak about tonight (all of them vitally important in the pre-history of Nelson) are ones which bear absolutely no superficial sign of the intense activity which must have taken place there hundreds of years ago. A walk across the famed Wairau Moa-hunter site near Blenheim is almost like walking across any stony Marlborough paddock in summer. A visit to the Heaphy River mouth on the West Coast Nikau palms, a few lupins and golden granite sand belie the presence of an Archaic Maori site beneath. The back lawn of a Tahunanui residence 30 yards from the Nelson-Richmond highway—between the fruit trees and the vegetable garden there is little to suggest the presence of one of Nelson's earliest settlements.

page 6

Before examining the five sites under consideration, let's consider some of the cultural changes which are known to have taken place in New Zealand's pre-history.

Two definite cultural phases have evolved in the course of archaeological investigations throughout New Zealand, the Moa-hunter or Archaic Maori phase and the late Maori or Classic Maori phase, the latter represented by the natives observed by the early European explorers to New Zealand. The preferred technical designations are New Zealand Eastern Polynesian I for the early culture and New Zealand Eastern Polynesian II for the later culture. But for convenience it is easier to refer to the first as the Archaic Maori and the second as Classic Maori.

Our most extensive picture of the earliest Polynesians in New Zealand is obtained from the Moa-hunter or Archaic site discovered by Jim Eyles some 25 years ago at the mouth of the Wairau River. Museum work over a period of years has substantiated the collection of material originally made by Mr. Eyles and although it would be presumptious to say the artifactual representation is complete, it is certainly the most extensive in the country. Because of the durability of stone and bone artifacts, these alone have survived to give us a picture of this early culture. Stone adzes from Wairau show that the Moa-hunters had a comprehensive and varied tool kit. Large quadrangular sectioned adzes with a definite provision at the butt end for lashing to a handle, adzes of triangular cross section and the side-hafted adze are typical. Because of their close association with the moa, these people made extensive use of the bird for food and for raw material for tools, fishing gear, ornaments and clothing. There is little evidence to suggest that the Archaic Maori cultivated the kumara and the lack of weapons in Archaic sites seems to indicate that population pressures had not yet developed sufficiently to cause inter-tribal fighting.

The Classic Maori culture is typified by the simplification of the adze form, adzes often being much smaller and lacking observable provision for lashing, the type 2B adze in Duff's classification being the predominant form. Greenstone was used more extensively and the development of ornaments was climaxed with such forms as the hei-tiki and hei-matau. Fishing gear had altered considerably with the emergence of a paua faced lure shank and bait hooks were predominantly of the composite type, with wooden shank and barbed bone point. Shell fish were consumed in large quantities, the exotic kumara was cultivated and elaborate defences and earthworks were thrown up around inaccessible vantage points to protect the tribe from ever increasing enemy attacks. The decorative arts, particularly wood carving had reached a high standard of development.