As soon as Pakeha contact became more regular through whaling and sealing gangs, M膩ori quickly saw the value in new technology. In particular, whaling boats soon replaced the traditional waka as a means of travel and transportation. New trade routes developed replacing coastal tracks and inland tribes relocated to coastal areas. Often colonisation is seen as having a negative impact on traditional knowledge systems, yet this is a passive view that denies M膩ori the intellectual capacity to engage.聽 From the 1860s, tribal elders were pursuing new knowledge and technologies while simultaneously recording and preserving traditional beliefs for their descendants.
From Planets to Gods
05 November 2023
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Page demonstrating an awareness of the Ancient Greek Mathematician Eratosthenes.
Tom Green鈥檚 notebook.
Christchurch, 蜜桃儿直播, Macmillan Brown 蜜桃儿直播, Ng膩i Tahu Archives, M 22 (c. 1860s)
The 蜜桃儿直播 is well known for its links to famous figures such as Ernest, Lord Rutherford and Sir Karl Popper. Of equal importance, but much less known, are its links to indigenous knowledge systems. These are preserved in the Ng膩i Tahu Archives and exemplified in the work of Tame Eutahi Kirini (known as Tom Green). Green鈥檚 notebook, compiled in the 1860s, is striking not only for its author鈥檚 efforts to explore Ancient Greek ideas and the latest discoveries of western science, but for his attempts to relate them to M膩ori knowledge systems. In this particular example, Green considers the implications of the Ancient Greek mathematician Eratosthenes鈥 thought on planetary distances.
Whakapakoko atua (godsticks) were employed by聽迟辞丑耻苍驳补,听(learned experts), as mediums of communication with particular聽atua, (traditional gods).聽Tohunga聽would invoke an聽atua聽to abide within the聽whakapakoko atua聽for the duration of whichever ritual he was performing. Tribal records tell us that the聽whakapakoko atua聽were invoked during rituals that saw them smeared with the blood of a sacrificed animal or victim, giving it its own 鈥榣ife鈥 or 鈥mauri鈥. When not in use these artefacts were still regarded as聽tapu聽and were kept in an area known as the 鈥Mua鈥 which we now call,聽waahi tapu聽鈥 鈥榮acred sites鈥.
Want to know more?
Te Maire Tau 'Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Tom Green's Notebook', in聽Treasures of the 蜜桃儿直播 蜜桃儿直播, ed. by Chris Jones & Bronwyn Matthews with Jennifer Clement (Christchurch: CUP, 2011)
Taumata atua or god stick, iwi as yet unknown
Canterbury Museum, E149.171
