Dendroglyphs of the Chatham Islands

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History

The dendroglyphs (tree carvings) of the Chatham Islands were first cataloged in depth by Christina Jefferson between 1947 and 1956 at the urging of her advisor at the Canterbury Museum. Jefferson attempted the first complete record of these dwindling artifacts of Morioriculture.

The Moriori were a Polynesian people who migrated to the Chatham Islands sometime before 1500 and adapted a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and a culture unique to the island chain. Part of their culture included the art of momori rakau, or tree-carving, where human or other natural features were portrayed via incisions into the trunks of live kopi (karaka) trees. The purpose of these carvings is unknown, but a popular speculation is that the carvings were a medium to communicate with ancestors and otherworldly spirits. File:Http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Chatham-Islands map topo en.svg

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