There are over 700 sites of Māori rock art in Te Waipounamu / the South Island – most of it in the limestone-rich areas of North Otago and South Canterbury.
Archaeologist Amanda Symon is on a mission to protect these ka tuhituhi o nehera (drawings of ancient times).
Westerners tend to think of art as having primarily an aesthetic purpose but for early Māori, it was a form of communication, Symon tells Kim Hill.
Unfortunately, over the centuries, the tribal knowledge of its function has been lost.
"Perhaps it's [about] staking a claim to a place. It may be transmitting tribal knowledge, whakapapa, an indicator of resources perhaps."
Rather than being "idle doodling", Māori art-making was very deliberate, Symon says.
One recipe for black paint – collected by ethnologist James Herries Beattie from kaumatua in the early 19th century – reveals its production was very systematic.
"That recipe involves burning a particular type of wood - manoao - which is a really resinous pine that can be burnt green, collecting the rising soot from burning that wood and then putting it in a bowl, mixing it with gum from tarata, crushing berries... putting them in flax kete overnight by the fire and letting the juice drip out and adding shark liver oil or weka oil. That's paint that has many components and each component has a function. It's mixed together and applied to the limestone."
Amanda Symon Photo: supplied / Caroline Davies
Limestone presented an "excellent, creamy white canvas" for the art, and as it is porous, gave the paintings more longevity, Symond says.
Yet limestone is still susceptible to wind and weather and easily eroded. Most Māori rock art is found on operating farms and can be dampened by intensive irrigation nearby, causing its surface – and the artwork on it – to flake off.
The main issue with protecting this invaluable rock art, though, is that people simply don't know it exists, Symon says.
Of the 700-plus rock art sites in Te Waipounamu, only 20 are publicly accessible and caged – the rest are on private land.
Symon's pick of rock art sites is Opihi Taniwha, which can be visited on a Ngāi Tahu guided tour.
"There's a huge limestone outcrop which contains maybe 40-odd rock art sites ... When you get to the property, you're walking on to what looks like normal farmland. Then you drop down into a gully and you see fabulous limestone outcrops and in the outcrops is art. The further you walk, the more art you see."
Amanda Symon is a member of Te Ana Ngāi Tahu Rock Art Trust and general manager of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin.
