Sidestep: Orongotea revisited

This article from 1st March 2016 needs a revisit. Maybe with more comments in the Facebook post, we can learn more about it for it certainly is a very odd item. It is now my belief this item was carved by those expressing Melanesian influence and that could stretch back 500 years before any Polynesian immigration began. Melanesian features were very strong in certain areas of New Zealand when Europeans came yet all the books say Maori came from Polynesia. But even the Melanesians are not the race our skeletons belong to.

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A: Background

This item is in the Auckland Museum. here is the traditional information: This ancient carving was found in 1920 at the now drained Lake Tangonge, near Kaitaia. The angular forms, chevrons, decorative notching and the character of the central figure all suggest that it is an early development of Maori art from older Polynesian models. These features are also seen on early pendants. The design structure, with its central figure and outward facing manaia motifs at each end is like later pare or door lintels. In the Kaitaia carving, both sides are fully carved which suggests it may have stood over a gateway.

This unusual carving was found in 1920 by a Maori gentleman by the name of Muru Hori Walters while digging a government drain at Pukepoto, halfway between Ahipara and Kaitaia on the border of former Lake Tangonge. It was embedded in clay approximately one metre below the ground, and was almost completely intact and in a remarkable state of preservation. It was identified in 1920 as being made from a local wood called Manoao. This is also called silver pine and is a slow-growing evergreen 15 m in height, in shady, wet areas of New Zealand. Since then, official sources have said it is made from Totara. Which is it? It is a source of fine, straight and durable timber which must be impervious to water and silt, as there is no sign of decay, even on the finer parts. The design of the carving has a decided classical appearance. It is well carved and done by primitive native tools, and is all in one piece.

The style is delicate, therefore not early Maori. The style and genre of the sculpture reveals its ancient origins among the islands of East Polynesia. This is astounding when found among a Māori cultural and artistic tradition which is West Polynesian. The fine and fragile pieces he figure holds are unusual as in the 6 pointed carved chevron symbols. The creatures at the end also do not fit typical NZ native art except the prehistoric rock art in the South Island attributed to Waitaha. However, it is said to represent the Manaia which we will cover further down.

Some call it the Awanui lintel, but is it not, for it is 3 dimensional, nor was it found at Awanui, it was found in a swamp less than three miles west of Kaitaia. Sure it may precede the mirrored effect of some flatboard lintels that Maori later used, but that would be a common human practice to match patterns and this occurs all around the world. On general observation, even to an untrained person, the fact it is carved on the reverse also, it seems certain to be a figure that stood over or guarded a gateway to a village, house or holy place. Maori have given it the name Tangonge, which is not its original name but the name of the lake that was drained that contained it. Unlike the Korotangi bird where Tainui claim to know its origins, this carving has no one alive who knows it’s name nor meaning.

It is quite clear that in design it differs entirely from any Maori carving that has come to light heretofore, and nothing entirely like it has been found in Polynesia or Melanesia. But if it is not Maori — what is it? May be it is the remains of the art of the Melanesio-Polynesians that occupied this country shortly after its discovery by Kupe, the Eastern Polynesian navigator, whose voyage took place in the early tenth century. But we have no genuine specimens of the art of these people to help us to a decision. When the next expedition from Eastern Polynesia, under Toi-te-huatahi, arrived in the middle of the 12th century, Kaitaia, the place where the carving was found, was occupied by these tangata-toheiua people, who were eventually driven to the Chatham Islands, or absorbed in the several migrations of Eastern Polynesians- extending from the middle of the twelfth to the middle of the fourteenth century. We know the preservative properties of the silt and peat so it is unlikely if a Maori Picasso trying a new style.

Officially, this item is made of Totara - which is not what the original wood was said to be. It is dated between 14th to 16th century. First of all a two hundred year gap is not much of a professional dating and one needs to consider something first. The key to the age of this item is in the finding of the artefact. It was in solid clay over one metre deep under 3 metres of alluvial soil. Solid clay! Clay forms over a long period of time. It could have been in a secondary clay deposit due to water erosion but this would still be 800-1000 years of uninterrupted build up. This raises one of two possibilities. This artefact is not Maori, and was of a prior race here long before traditional migrations, or they dug a pit and buried it to protect it from invaders. Think about it, you are aware an enemy are on their way…would you dig a pit in solid clay, over a metre deep and three metres long to hide something you had little time to do so, with traditional Maori tools…and then hide the evidence of the clay spoil you dug up and placed over top? Unlikely in the extreme as items were hidden to prevent capture and an invading force who look for hiding places of such taonga. So it’s not impossible, but very unlikely.

This artefact could have remained there undisturbed for 1000 years and still be in as good a condition as it is now. Could this carving have belonged to a race here long before Melanesians even migrated east to Polynesia? Who knows? What we do now is that this carving matches nothing else in the world. It is unique. If the Kaitaia area was combed with ground penetrating radar it is likely other artefacts would be found at the same depth. The area has been riddled with ancient canals and so this is an old site of occupation. There is a story below of one who seems so much a superman one can easily see the man is a legend but his recorded nature reveals an clever man but one who lacks any depth of character in relation to family: “There is the story of Kahuangunu born in Ōrongotea (later named Kaitāia). He supervised the planning and building of entire villages, the irrigation and drainage of cultivations, the gathering of food, and the arts of carving, tattooing, weaving and canoe making. His people said of him: In one account of his life, Kahungunu was persuaded to organise the digging of a canal from Awanui to Kaitāia, to enable Ngāti Awa to take their fleet of canoes up to the fertile flats there. But the ambitious task proved too time consuming and wasteful of tools, which were broken on the many obstacles in the swampy ground. After this Kahungunu decided to head south, leaving behind his first wife and their children. Kahungunu met and married several other women, and had many children….”

B: Carved Figure Forms

The identity of the creature at each end is a mystery. Some say crocodile or lizard. Some have suggested a dog. I maintain it is a mythical being and represents a legend relating to man. What Pacific legend or Maori version could represent this carving? (more on this later).

Upon researching this it seems the figures may represent the Manaia. The Manaia is a mythological creature in Māori culture, and is usually depicted as having the head of a bird and the body of a man, though it is sometimes depicted as a bird, a serpent, or a human figure in profile. Other interpretations include a seahorse and a lizard. The Manaia is traditionally believed to be the messenger between the earthly world of mortals and the domain of the spirits, and its symbol is used as a guardian against evil, usually represented with the upper half culminating in a bird-like beak. Related Manaia-like symbols are also found in other Polynesian cultures, such as in Hawaii and Easter Island. However, in this case the mania as dominant as the only other figure representing a man. There are two manaia as if pulling hin two ways or he is preventing them escaping. The unusual shaped arrow chevron figures between the manaia and the central figure are something unseen anywhere else but an unusual item (below) found on a beach in 1885 at Whangamumu after a storm.

This is unique pendant shows the same type of human figure and the same type of arrow shaped carved chevrons although most of them and the top piece have been broken.

All along the Kaitaia carving are little nicks that are more in line with archaic items such as the disk pendant below.

This pendant is classed as early Maori. But why would Maori, fresh from say Tahiti, begin with a style of carving less than that already practiced. This is a question I’ve seen no one ask and no one answer. Would a European, who knows how to build a house, brings tool to another country yet build a thatch hut? No – and they didn’t. Either would Maori do anything less than what they did before the voyage. You don’t move backwards in culture after just a six week voyage. The idea is preposterous and almost insulting to those who came here from Polynesia. They brought with them the ideas, styles, culture, habits, and techniques they were already practicing. What they found here was an existing culture, backward in time as far as manufacture, with different tools and taonga. These disks above are not Maori unless one wants to suggest Maori regressed from the tie they left their homeland in 1280 until about the 15th century once they had begun to learn a few things. No, older archaic items of Polynesian design from existing occupants have been found along with Maori items because for a while the two lived side by side…well, in proximity anyway.

Back to the Kaitaia carving.

Some reports say it is from the Te Tipunga period (ca. 1200-1500). This contradicts what the museum says it age is. Also, there is no other carving in that manner in all of New Zeeland that we are aware of. Does this carving represent a progression of lintel carvings of Maori, in which case where did they get the idea from? Is it one of the best preserved items from those already here which Maori copied?

There are NO Pacific cultures with lintels let alone with a tiki in the middle and manaia at either end!

The end creatures may be linked to those seen in South Canterbury rocks drawings. After all, Waitaha were a united people that travelled all over NZ as a untied band of tribes, Ngati Hotu included, and similar designs would have been noted is an example of the Canterbury cave drawings. Therefore why would Maori suddenly produce them and then go from three dimensional as this one is, to one dimensional ones hundreds of years later? Because it isn’t a lintel. Why do Maori not have carvings like this one over gateways elsewhere in NZ history? Because it wasn’t Maori, they maybe they never saw it to copy it as it was buried for protection.

It is mysterious in other ways. With the detail on this carving it is odd the ‘teeth’ are only four on one side and five on the other. Some say it’s a lizard. The figures at the terminating ends are thought to be manaia, sea figures, but there is debate about what the creatures are; some suggest they're dogs. Close inspection shows subtleties. Different views of a human-like figure with upraised arms at the centre front give away small secrets.

From a front view it appears to be gripping the carving, but from the top the hands are pointed in different directions - no one knows what that means. It was once thought Tangonge was a lintel or pare which may have hung over a doorway, but the museum now believes because it is carved on both sides it could have been placed over a gate. It also has a carved spine, no other carving in NZ has that, but in eatser Island they have spines.

C: Similarities to other cultures

The images from the Society Islands have been well recorded and display a squat rugged naturalism in a somewhat stiff pose. The head is large, shoulders square, the arms thin, and the hands are located on the abdomen. The legs are usually stout and slightly bent with the thigh slightly shorter than the shank. There are considerable variety of these figures but on the whole they maintain the general style indicated above which provide us with the basis for readily recognizing tribal heart from the Society Group. Is the figure holding a creature when angled legs like the angled pieces of the Ōrongotea carving from Kaitaia.

Below is a picture of a rongorongo tablet from Rapanui (Easter Island). There is one called the 'tahua' tablet. Many have been interpreted. This one has. Below is a photo of a rongorongo tablet from Rapanui, a B&W pic of the 'tahua' tablet and some detail on line four and then one particular symbol.

The above line has been translated as the personages Moko ('The Lizard') and Rutu. The parallel ideas are presented in the Rapanui legend "Te Moko-arangi-roa and the Helping Spirit" Ko Hiro te Rangi '(The rain god) Hiro on the sky'. Perhaps, this man is evoking control over the rain gods of the sky? Note the figure I have highlighted. Does it slightly represent the figure in the Orongotea carving with the carved chevron points leading to the figures at the end. It could mean nothing…or..?

D: Another clue to the artefacts possible origin

One of the keys to the origin of this artefact is the ancient name of area which Maori renamed Kaitaia. Why did they rename it? It’s original name is Ōrongotea. Orongo is a place in Rapanui (Easter Island). Tea means dawn in the Rapanui language. So this name means the new dawn of Orongo. This is a place were those from Rapanui first landed. Orongo is the closest edge of Rapanui to New Zealand. Orongo is a place of old rock carvings before Moai were produced but also became the centre of the famous birdman cult that began around 1750 The birdmen in Rapanui were called ‘tangata manu’. Tangata? Yes…the same name found all through New Zealand as reference to man. ‘manu’ means bird – Birdman. Is the man in the carving representing an ancient connection to what was a practice of preference that eventually became a cult in Rapanui? Does it all seem to paint a clearer picture now? This carving could be from Ōrongotea and of ancient Rapanui origin and it could show that the ones that carved it were here long before those back on Rapanui began carving their Moai as a form of ancestor worship.

E: Conclusion

What does it represent? No one alive knows, but it is not Maori in origin nor design, because it doesn’t even fit the lands they were supposed to come from and I don’t see Maori arriving and designing something as unusual and as finely detailed as this carving for no good reason, especially when they didn’t have anything like it at home - nor anything like it since. Even more than the design, the fact of it's depth and time taken to build up over solid clay in which it was embedded tells the real story. I believe this item belongs to those that were here before. Can I prove it? No. but there is far more evidence to suggest it is pre-Maori than say it is Maori can ever prove.

But regardless...it is a national treasure and I am glad no one had claimed it as happened to the Korotangi. And none can claim it for it fits no obvious Maori lore, legend or story.