Exponent to shine light on Ma¯ori rock art
A public lecture by one of New Zealand’s leading authorities on Ma¯ori rock art will take place at Taupo¯ ’s Suncourt Hotel on July 5 at 7.30pm.
Dr Gerard O’Regan (Nga¯ i Tahu) will present the free lecture as part of the New Zealand Archaeological Association’s annual conference, which takes place July 4 to 7.
Over 170 people are expected to attend the conference, which is held at different places nationwide every year.
The objective of the conference is to further the advancement of archaeological knowledge and practice, and the public lecture will provide an opportunity for knowledge to be shared with the community.
“The best-known and most-visited Ma¯ori rock art may be Nga¯toroirangi carved on the edge of Lake Taupo¯ by Matahi Brightwell in the 1970s, but there are many other places with older, often prehistoric engravings and paintings found throughout New Zealand,” says NZ Archaeological Association president Lynda Walter.
“Examples of rock art in the North Island are found across the Central Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taupo¯ and Taranaki regions, and in the South Island mainly on the East Coast. ”
Questions about how old the rock art is, how they relate to each other and what they might have meant to tu¯ puna who created them persist, and the public talk provides an opportunity to hear from Dr O’Regan, who has spent several years researching Ma¯ori rock art.
Dr O’Regan, who is the curator of Ma¯ori Otago Museum and research fellow at the James Henare Ma¯ori Research Centre at the University of Auckland, will share what is known archaeologically about these taonga – and also what isn’t known.
Places for the Rock Art public talk are limited – please contact the Lower Northern office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (Tauranga) to make a booking infolowernorthern@heritage. org.nz.