Ancient stone carving

[taniwha]

Tihei Mauri Ora (I am alive)

Tena koutou katoa (greetings to us all)

How did the ancient people's carve such hard stone? For what purpose?

Pre 1700 AD New Zealand was inhabited by the Maori, a truly stone-age people who carved pounamu (greenstone) a much valued and

incredibly hard stone, said to be imbued with magical power into practical tools and highly polished ornamentations (taonga).

Yet there was no electricity, power tools, steel or diamond tipped technologies at work. This beautiful ancient stone-craft, pre-historic in it's methodology, was handed down by generations, the knowledge, technique and tradition of which is survived to this day by but a handful of master carvers.

Maori Whakapapa (genealogy) as with many cultures evokes a time and time's beyond when the Sky Father, God like in ability, united with the Earth Mother and thus the Children of Mankind were conceived. As a result all of humanities traits, good, bad and common can be traced directly back to the supernatural forces of the many entities and their attributes which shaped the known omniverse.

My profile picture depicts an ancestral pounamu Hei-tiki, a totem worn around the neck for good luck and fertility. It is symbolic of human origin, an embodied reminder of who we are and where we come from. To me it,s embryonic form is mystical and otherworldly, yet somehow familiar and natural.

Sadly, like sand in a desert storm knowledge is eroded with time, but to you my friends I say, listen carefully and diligently when the wind blows.

" He toi whakaairo, He mana tangata"

" Where there is artistic excellence, there is human dignity"

Ancestral Proverb of the Maori.

[tri-lobe]

Hello Taniwha,

Warm greetings from across the Tasman.....

Unfortunatly you are asking on the the wrong forum....I have not come across one SO-CALLED expert on this forum that can even make a timber bowl....let alown a stone item...

They will quote some-one's.. book or sketch but never their own handy-work ....they love to ride on other peoples coat tails....no books of their own on the subject...but that is their safe world....

If I was in you're country I would be asking an old hands on maori craftsman....his opinion.....if he had none I would look for another.....until I found an answer....some-one will have a clue.....

but sorry....no bookworm on this forum will have the first hand experience to help you....it does'nt matter how many degrees they have.....they are just followers and not trail-blazers.....

If you find an old craftsman who answers your questions .....please let us know...

Taniwha....best of luck matey......

[Banksy Boy]

Totally agree with Tri-lobe there

I've asked and challenged the so called experts on here to make a Egyptian granite vase......I'm yet to get a straight answer without being fobbed off, tables turned or ridiculed.

By the way, my Ol' man is a time served expert of 50 years but apparently he has no idea what he's talking about .......Good luck with your quest in reaching an answer, I'm sure the time served keyboard tappers on here will conjure you up a plausible explanation.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Banksy Boy

[Oniomancer]

First off, since it's generally established that the Maori only migrated to New Zealand during the common era, their work hardly qualifies as "ancient," disregarding that some would have you believe all their stone work are heirlooms looted from previous inhabitants.

Contrary also to what others in in this thread say, if the ethnographers of a hundred years ago had difficulty finding natives working in the tradional style, I doubt you'll find any today. It becomes neccesary then to get it more of less from the horse's mouth by way of the much-maligned academia and the scorned printed word:

http://rsnz.natlib.g..._00_003950.html

Starting at 497.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Oniomancer

[Abramelin]

Hello Taniwha,

Warm greetings from across the Tasman.....

Unfortunatly you are asking on the the wrong forum....I have not come across one SO-CALLED expert on this forum that can even make a timber bowl....let alown a stone item...

They will quote some-one's.. book or sketch but never their own handy-work ....they love to ride on other peoples coat tails....no books of their own on the subject...but that is their safe world....

If I was in you're country I would be asking an old hands on maori craftsman....his opinion.....if he had none I would look for another.....until I found an answer....some-one will have a clue.....

but sorry....no bookworm on this forum will have the first hand experience to help you....it does'nt matter how many degrees they have.....they are just followers and not trail-blazers.....

If you find an old craftsman who answers your questions .....please let us know...

Taniwha....best of luck matey......

And what insightful info do you have to offer, aside from snide remarks?

Nothing at all.

Oniomancer did.

.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Abramelin

[taniwha]

thank you Tri-Lobe and Banksy Boy for your input and i totally understand your comments and have to say they cheered me up i had a great laugh. Thanks to you Oniomancer for the real feeling of time-travel i experienced in your link...and yes it answers much of my query... Kia ora koutou. thanks to all.