Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Dante Bonica, an expert in stone tools, demonstrates the shaping and polishing of pounamu.
Pounamu was often found as boulders or large slabs, which Māori sawed into workable-sized pieces. Stone tools were used to saw, rasp, and grind the pounamu into shape.
Here, you can see the stages involved in carving hei tiki – some from old toki pounamu.
Pounamu possesses a superb combination of qualities – extraordinary strength, durability, and beauty. Māori recognised the value and versatility of pounamu upon first arriving here, for tools, weapons, symbols of chiefly status, and adornments enhanced the mana (prestige) of the wearer.
Dante Bonica, an expert in stone tools, demonstrates the effectiveness of pounamu tools.
Mātauranga Māori Curator Dougal Austin reflects on some of his research into hei tiki (greenstone pendants in human form), including looking at how styles of hei tiki appear to ahere to, or are worked away from, original rectangular or wedge-shaped pieces of cut pounamu.
