There will be tree works in the Gardens this week – please follow signs on site. The lift will be out of service until Friday 28 June while we work on a replacement.
Taiaha, spear club with a long tapering blade that flares to a rounded arc at one end and narrows to join a larger lanceolate head at the other. This is carved to represent a face with protruding tongue. Both the face and tongue are engraved with curvilinear motifs and the eye sockets are inlaid with Paua (Haliotis). Near the tip of the blade there is a circumferential band of hatched engraving.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
