Urgent plea to save Moriori tree carvings

University of Otago archaeologist Dr Ian Barber examines a figurative image carved into a living tree by Moriori up to 350 years ago. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

A University of Otago archaeologist is calling for urgent action to save Moriori tree carvings on the Chatham Islands, warning their rapid destruction was "an international conservation crisis".

The kopi trees on which they were carved were dying so quickly of natural causes a "worst-case scenario" could see most of them gone within 20 years, Dr Ian Barber said.

He and student Justin Maxwell visited the Chatham Islands in January last year and February this year to digitally scan carvings for a project supported by the Department of Conservation and the Hokotehi Moriori Trust.

Dr Barber said he was amazed at the deterioration of the trees and carvings from one year to the next.

"The tragedy is we are losing these trees as sacred sites in context ... Something needs to be done yesterday to to save at least some of them."

The carvings, known to Moriori as raukau momori, are believed to have been done 200-350 years ago. Most are only bark deep, meaning they disappear when the tree dies.

Describing the carvings as "taonga of national significance and archaeological expressions of international significance on a par with Maori rock art drawings", Dr Barber said he would write to the Ministers of Culture and Heritage and Conservation urging a plan to save the trees be agreed on and funded as soon as possible.

One suggestion was to feed individual trees with fertiliser to improve their immediate health. Another was to plant fast-growing flaxes and trees around the edge of kopi thickets to protect them from further wind damage.

More than 1140 carvings were documented in the 1940s, but it was not known how many of the trees remained, Dr Barber said.

One of the main concentrations is at the Hapupu National Historic Reserve, one of only two Doc-administered national historic reserves in New Zealand (the other is Captain James Cook's landing point at Gisborne).

About 300 carvings were recorded on about 200 trees in the reserve area in 1964, with the number of carved trees dropping to 82 in 1998 and 63 this year.

Dr Barber said he had known about the trees for decades, but it was not until he visited them and saw how quickly they were disappearing he felt compelled to take action.

"In my opinion, we have had a pretty good steer since the 1970s that the trees were dying because of wind damage.

"It breaks my heart that people who could have done more about it, including myself, did not ... We're all guilty of not paying the trees enough attention. We've all overlooked them as critical treasures. It's pretty shameful really."

Doc historic sites technical support officer Richard Nester said a conservation plan had been written for the Hapupu reserve in 2000.

Mr Nester, who looks after sites in the lower North Island and the Chatham Islands, said work at the reserve since then had concentrated on eradicating pests and keeping stock out.

But the speed of the trees' demise appeared to have accelerated over the past two or three years, surprising everyone, he said.

The trees could be reaching the end of their natural lifespan, he said.

"They are living things which are already old. One day, they are going to be lost anyway."

Given the more rapid decline of the trees, it was time to prioritise their future, Mr Nester said.

A multi-agency approach was needed to decide whether it was best to try to prolong the life of the trees or to remove the carvings and preserve them using specialised treatments, he said.

The Hokotehi trust had been given permission recently to fell seven trees which were dead or dying and preserve the carvings. Preservation advice was being provided by a Te Papa staff member.

Moriori tree carvings
• Figurative images, birds, animals and geometric patterns carved by Moriori people into the bark of kopi trees.
• Considered of international archaeological significance as Moriori believed to be only Polynesian people who carved live trees.
• Thousands of carvings located and documented on Chatham Island and Pitt Island in the early to mid-20th century.
• Examples rapidly disappearing as trees die.

- allison.rudd@odt.co.nz