A southern stone tool specialist will be in the Catlins next week to work on a pre-Maori research project at the Owaka Museum.
Russell Beck, the former director of Southland Museum, is a pounamu specialist, author and stone tool researcher. He is continuing the Lockerbie pre-Maori stone tool research project at the museum.
Owaka Museum director Kaaren Mitcalfe said the museum had a "very significant" collection, thanks to Les Lockerbie and his archaeological excavations.
She said the addition of Les Lockerbie archaeological material to the taonga collection had created a need to catalogue a substantial amount of newly acquired material. At present, the collection was stored in numerous boxes and drawers with minimal cataloguing carried out.
Taonga is the Maori term for possessions, tools, treasure, or something that is prized.
The project is funded by Te Papa National Services Te Paerangi. Te Paerangi works in partnership with museums, galleries and iwi in New Zealand, offering a range of practical and strategic programmes aimed at strengthening the sector.
After discussions with local iwi representatives, the family of Les Lockerbie and experienced archaeologists, it was agreed to take the next step with cataloguing. This will involve digitisation, research and the compilation of a taonga database.
The project started in 2009, with Mr Beck's first visit to the museum in July that year, working through 30 boxes making up about half a tonne of surface-collected stone and bone material.
"Fortunately all material has the location of where it was found," Ms Mitcalfe said.
She said the Lockerbie collection was the key taonga in the Owaka Museum.
Les Lockerbie was born in Maclennan, the Catlins, in 1911 and grew up in the area where he later collected taonga from 1924 to 1936. He was also the education officer at the Otago Museum from 1947 to 1976. Mr Lockerbie died 1996, and the main taonga collection was transferred to the museum in December 2007 by Mr Lockerbie's daughter Frances White and her husband Stephen.
A small amount of the material has been in the museum a long time, possibly given in the 1970s.
Mr Beck will hold a public talk next Saturday about the importance of the Lockerbie Collection and the way it is being catalogued and stored.
He will also show examples of the different artefacts and the sources of the stones, giving a practical demonstration of how these tools were made and how efficient they were at working.
• Russell Beck talk, Saturday, July 21, 2pm, Owaka Museum.
