Maori greenstone pendants in the Australian Museum, Sydney
Abstract
This paper examines a collection of 93 Maori greens tone pendants in the Australian Museum. Only straight kuru are abundant enough for quantitative analysis, but this is first preceded by an examination of the spatial-chronological distribution of the population of this type, changes in it numerically through time, and the characteristics of a random sample. The randomness of the Australian Museum sample of 58 pendants is questioned. A random sample of 70 straight kuru in the Auckland Institute and Museum is employed for comparative purposes, and an investigation made of the nature of and interrelationships between various pendant parameters, for the two samples. Other pendant types considered, in addition to straight kuru and anomalous forms, are the kuru kapeu (5 examples), hei matau (1), koropepe (4), pekapeka (4), poria (2), rei puta (1), and Triangular Pendant (6). Since none of these types is abundantly represented quantitative studies are impossible, and the spatial-chronological attributes of each are merely examined, and the Australian Museum specimens compared and contrasted with those in other museums.
