Sidestep: Another Carved Stone Figure

The elaborately-carved stone figure shown below was found in a drainage excavation in Onewa Road, North-cote, Auckland, around 1925 by a Maori workman. His Supervisor immediately recognised its importance, and notified the Museum of the discovery of the figure, which was at once acquired by the Museum.

The figure was discovered at a depth of 4 feet 6 inches below the original level of the ground. It stood upright in the stiff red clay, which, in this district, underlies about nine inches of loam and extends to a depth of at least 10 feet from the surface. If, therefore, it was purposely placed here, as is likely, the owner must have been at considerable pains to conceal it.

It is composed of a soft weathered decite, a rock found at Whangarei Heads. Its relative softness and even texture would make it a tolerably easy material to cut, which may account for the whole surface of the figure having been carved in greater detail than is usual with figures fashioned from stone.

The picture shows it's front, side and rear. The figure itself is a short cylinder, 95 mm. high and 85 mm. in diameter, surmounted by a head 60 mm. high, making a total height of 155 mm. The deep groove, shown in “B,” is present on both sides, a connecting groove crossing the base. Every aspect of the figure is carved. The base has what may have been intended to represent one single spiral, seared across by the groove above mentioned; but the width of the groove does not permit one to follow out the artist's design. In any case he may have had no more idea than that of filling up the space, for the carving was done after the groove was cut.

The carving of both faces agrees roughly as to eyes, nose, mouth, and tongue, the slightly wider-opened mouth and longer tongue of the “front” being apparently only accidental variations. The band immediately surrounding the mouth, however, consists of a row of ten roughly square projections on the “front,” and a band of simple rectilinear carving on the “back.” On the body the 3-fingered hands are placed one above the other on the “front,” while the finger-tips meet on the “back,” and the differences in space thus made available on the chest probably account for the straight lines filling this space on the front, and the pair of spirals similarly placed on the “back.”The spirals on this carving are unusual in that they are single instead of double, or interlocking, spirals. The spirals (double) of this carving are interesting also from the fact that one whorl is plain and the other notched. Each end of this bowl has a triangular face with crude features.

As to the purpose of the Northcote figure, the deep grooves at the sides and base suggest a place for a cord for a ceremonial sinker, but the lack of a suitable place for a tie around the neck or over the head, while not negativing this suggestion, renders its correctness doubtful. Its general shape, with flat base, is unusual for a sinker. Possibly it was a taumata, that is as resting places or abiding places for the gods. They served as symbols, visible representations of the gods of agriculture, such as Rongo. Such a stone image would be kept at the tapu place of the village at ordinary times, and, when the crops were planted, it would be taken to the field and placed at the upoko or head thereof.…”