The Taniwha Of Te Ana

The TANIWHA

Archaeologist Amanda Symon in the taniwha cave at Opihi.

WHA

Copperplate script reflects the arrival of the missionaries at one of the multiple rock art sites at Opihi.

PHOTOS / PETER MEECHAM

It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the shadows but then, one by one, three taniwha emerge from the limestone canvas. A shaft of light illuminates the largest figure, drawn in swirls of black pigment on the ceiling of this natural rock overhang that’s been sheltering travellers through this landscape for centuries.

The line of its tail curls around a second taniwha, which has no head. The third is stockier and intricately detailed. Settling into the moment, I let my gaze wander. As more and more images take shape, I realise almost every inch of the cavern is covered with them. Alongside me, archaeologist and kaitiaki Amanda Symon grins. “Welcome to rock art central.”

The origins of the taniwha and what they symbolise is a mystery that may never be solved, but you can find out how to make the black pigment Maori used to paint them at the Te Ana Ngai Tahu Rock Art Centre in Timaru.

Burn some green branches from the manoao tree and catch the smoke in a flax mat. Brush off the soot and then mix with tarata (lemonwood) gum, weka or shark-liver oil, and oil extracted from rautawhiri berries. In the 1920s, elders shared this traditional recipe with ethnologist Herries Beattie for “an ink that would stand forever”. While that may not be strictly true — in some cases, its traces have disappeared completely — hundreds of sites still exist around Aotearoa where you can see artworks created by some of the first Polynesians who arrived here more than 700 years ago.

So far, attempts to carbon-date New Zealand’s rock art have been foiled, largely due to the originals being overlaid with grease crayon in a misguided attempt to preserve them.

However, some depict moa and the giant Haast eagle (pouakai), which is believed to have become extinct by around 1400, while the coming of the Pakeha is reflected in drawings of sailing ships and, bizarrely, lettering in copperplate script.

This was no mere doodling to while away the hours on a rainy day. The time and care required to prepare the black and red ochre (kokowai) pigments suggest rock art was as

Joanna Wane of Te Ana steps back in time to hunt for hidden treasure cul for turally significant to ms, explains Rachel Maori as Solomon, other art who manages — and discovers it’s in Te Ana (te reo tours to Opihi for cave) where th and organises guided e taniwha dwell, a halfdanger of being lost hour drive inland “Sometimes you from Timaru. get these lovely big scenes, forever sometimes they’re says, showing me just small, linear pictures,” she some of the reproductions on display. Of all the South Island sites, only two are currently under Ngai Tahu control. “Most of the rock art is on private land, so the connection between the people and the art is broken, and the meaning has been lost. But we get in carvers and weavers [to share their knowledge] and draw on our own stories and legends. Ngai Tahu as a tribe has started to bring all that information together. We look at it as a jigsaw now.” It feels like one of New Zealand’s best-kept secrets that any rock art exists here at all. A total of 761 sites have been officially recorded in the South Island alone, although some have since been destroyed by slips, floods or erosion, or have simply faded away over time. Artist Theo Schoon, who made copies of many of the drawings in the 1940s (while being one of the worst culprits for “touching up” the artworks), described the limestone rock shelters

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Artist Theo Schoon described the limestone rock shelters in South Canterbury as “nature’s finest art galleries. Many sites are now on private farmland.”

PHOTOS / PETER MEECHAM

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‘It’s so tangible because you’re standing in the same place as the people who created the art.We’re so divorced from the natural world these days, but back then, there wasn’t that sharp line. They were embedded in nature.’

— Amanda Symon

in South Canterbury as “nature’s finest art galleries”.

While Maori rock art — ka tuhituhi o nehera — is most prolific on the limestone of South Canterbury and Otago, it’s also been found on greywacke, schist, sandstone and marble. In the Chatham Islands, images were incised into the bark of living trees.

The curator of the Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust, Symon is tasked with identifying and protecting these wahi tupuna. “Because there’s no means of analysing or delving deeper into it, from an archaeological perspective it’s fallen through the cracks,” she says.

Raising public awareness and engaging future generations play a significant part in countering that. A few kilometres down the road from the pihi site, Pleasant Point Primary has adopted the taniwha as the school logo.

Symon says the journals of previous recorders such as Schoon and fellow artist Tony Fomison have been invaluable, “but because limestone is fragile and vulnerable to wind and weather, a percentage of the sites are completely gone”. That deterioration is accelerated by changes in hydrology around the sites. “Intensive dairying and irrigation is not a good thing for rock art.”

At Opihi, a positive relationship with the local farmer built over two decades has given the trust open access to multiple rock art sites on his land. Thousands of native trees have been planted as part of a major restoration programme. A paleo archaeology expert has also been brought in to fossick for bird fossils in the limestone crevices and take core samples in the wetland for ancient DNA analysis.

For Symon, it’s not only about honouring the mana of the rock art and protecting the fragile limestone ecology but bringing life back into the valley. Already, birds are returning and eels have again been seen in the stream, which was once a degraded trickle choked with grass.

“It’s so tangible, isn’t it, because you’re standing in the same place as the people who created the art,” she says. “We’re so divorced from the natural world these days, but back then, there wasn’t that sharp line. They were embedded in nature. We’re kin to everything you can see here — and you should have more respectful relationships with your kin.”

The Te Ana Ngai Tahu Rock Art Centre in Timaru runs guided tours to the Opihi rock art sites from November to April. See teana.co.nz

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