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A new look at Maori carved burial chests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Aileen Fox
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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

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