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Sidestep: The Kaiangaroa Carvings
It seems that when the overhang with it's carvings was first discovered, local Maori knew nothing about them. As with many unusual discoveries, this seems the oddest factor - that local natives knew nothing of certain discoveries prior to them being exposed. This is even stranger considering Maori pride themselves on the accuracy of their oral history and traditions! How could this happen?
The following is excerpts of a report by H. Hamilton of the Dominion Museum. The colour photos below are obviously more recent ones.
An important addition to the number of questions requiring to be solved in New Zealand archaeology has lately been made by the finding of a series of rock carvings in a cave-shelter on the Kaingaroa Plains near Rotorua. On a brief departmental visit of inspection the following notes were recorded, and a series of measurements were made, and photographs obtained, and in view of the general interest that these carvings have aroused, the following particulars are published for the information of those interested.
DISCOVERY AND LOCATION.—The Kaingaroa Plains consist of an elevated plateau stretching southwards for forty miles from the thermal lakes of Rotorua to Taupo, and bounded by the Rangitaiki and Waikato Rivers. On their eastern side the plains break down into long spurs and gulches running to the Rangitaiki River. These gulches are often narrow, and some of them remarkable on account of the canyon-like formation at certain parts. Vertical cliffs of no great height, and composed of soft volcanic rock, rise on one or both sides of the gully. The gullies are sometimes of considerable length, the one down which the old road to Fort Galatea passes being seven miles in length. Much of the plateau area has been afforested during recent years by the State Forest Service, and large plantations are gradually extending southwards. One of the preliminary acts in afforestation in this area is the burning off of the heavy growth of bracken fern to make way for the young seedling trees. On 9th September of this year the Forestry employees were burning off an area immediately to the south of the 35-mile peg from the main road across the plains from Waiotapu to Murupara. After the burn, two of the employees, Charlie Kereopa and Ronald Jansen, discovered the rock shelter containing the carvings, on the northern slope of one of the small gullies or gulches above referred to and trending toward the Rangitaiki River. The news of the find was communicated to the Rotorua officials of the Forestry Department, and eventually I visited the spot on behalf of the Dominion Museum.
PHYSIOGRAPHY.—The rock shelter containing the carvings is formed by a “butte” of rhyolite out-cropping on the slopes of a small stream-fed gully. (See Plates 1 and 2). This rhyolite forms a bed from 12 to 16 feet thick overlying a softer rhyolite tuff that has either been weathered out naturally or under-cut artificially by Maori occupants. The under-cutting varies from 4 to 10 feet in depth, and the back wall, about 8ft 6in in height, is practically vertical. The floor of the shelter, into which I had no opportunity for digging in order to examine the nature of its contents, consists of several feet of humus, probably derived from the decay of accumulated bedding materials, such as grass and bracken fern. The vertical wall under the over-hanging roof is about 80 feet long, but at the time of my visit the mouth was to some extent obscured by plant growth, and it was not possible to obtain a panoramic view of the carvings. By means of a series of measurements and sketches, however, the accompanying diagrammatic plan of the carvings was made, and wherever possible photographs were taken of the groups and of individual carvings.
THE CARVINGS.—It will be seen that the great majority of the carvings have a conventionalized Maori canoe as the motif. Certain other elements, such as chevrons, detached spirals, and unidentified markings, are subsidiary to the canoe motif. Apart from the actual design of the canoes, several interesting points will be noted. It can be said with some degree of certainty that the sixteen canoes from right to left are the work of the one carver, and probably were started- 358 and finished within a short period of time. They all stand out from the rock in raised relief, and have many features in common, one being that they are all heading the same way—to the left. Like Maori canoe-models made at the present day, the carvings are evidently not to scale. The date of the carvings in the group to the left of the shelter is probably subsequent to that of the main group, and this later work is not in relief, the outlines being incised lines up to one inch in depth. Here again the work is evidently that of one individual, and it looks as if opposition had caused the artist to head his canoes to the right, directing them toward the other fleet; though it may equally well be that he drew his canoes in the way that came easiest to him, since it is a well known fact that unless a person has been trained to become ambidextrous it is easier, or more convenient, to sketch in one direction than in the other. If any fact of historical value is likely to be derived from the study of these carvings, I am of the opinion that it will come from the main group on the right of the shelter. There is a suggestive fleet-like formation of the canoes, as if a war-like expedition were being depicted, with scouts in front and the larger canoes in the rear.
STRUCTURAL DETAILS.—The majority of the canoes have a curiously exaggerated bow ornamentation. Either the sculptor was not well acquainted with the types of canoe ornamentation as we know them, or he was depicting a type of which we have no record. Before condemning his artistic ability, it would seem that we must extend our comparative researches into canoe types of other Polynesian islands. It may first be permissible, however, to suggest that the ordinary waka taua (war canoe) of the Maori is depicted. For the purpose of comparison I have prepared silhouettes of three accepted types of Maori canoe-prows—(1) the Northern or Nga Puhi type; (2) the general type ofwaka taua; (3) the fishing-canoe type. It will be seen that the prow carvings of the rock-shelter canoes more closely approach the silhouette of the waka taua type. The fishing-canoe prow is less likely to be perpetuated, and, to my mind, cannot be paralleled to the designs of the rock carvings. Likewise, it is improbable that the northern or Nga Puhi type of canoe prow is intended to be represented, as the silhouette of this type shews great dissimilarity with the Kaingaroa type.
In the above photo there is an old abandoned canoe (since removed). This rock shelter is 18km from the nearest major body of water (a lake), and 10km to the nearest navigable river.
