Dendroglyphs in the Chatham Islands

When in New Zealand

I read of the dendroglyphs

found on the Chatham Islands

a part of New Zealand,

The Chathams are called
Rekohu in Moriori

and Wharekauri in Maori

the Chatham Islands

are a remote group

of ten small islands

lying 800km 

from the east coast of New Zealand

They have been a part of New Zealand 

since 1842

The dendroglyphs are ancient tree carvings

made by the first inhabitants of the Chathams,

Polynesians who were called the Moriori

Moriori survivors of the Maori Invasion

At that time
the Moriori lived by a code of non violence

and passive resistance

so that when boat loads of the Maori arrived 

in 1835 from New Zealand

to claim the land
and take it's inhabitants as slaves

they were almost made extinct

The Chathams are rather an inhospitable land

different from the warmer islands 

previously known to the Moriori

and to maintain their cultural 

and spiritual heritage

the Moriori carved spiritual images

on the native Karaka trees

there being no suitable substance 

such as the greenstone

in New Zealand which the Maori

utilised for carving implements 

weapons, fishhooks, jewellery

and items of spiritual value

New 3D laser technology

is being used to preserve clear images

of the dendroglyphs

which are fading from the trees

because of time
and wind erosion 

and a beetle peril

currently only

609 people

live on the Chatham Islands

*