Maori bird spears & snares

Once when Maori were rulers of New Zealand ,they were also great hunters & we will now show you two of their most lethal weapons.

1.Bird spears:

The bird spear was usually made from a sharp, serrated bone attached lightly to a long , straight piece of wood. Spear points were made of whale bone, bird bone, hardwood, or human bone. A cord was attached to the spear point & ran down to the hunters hand. When the bird was speared & struggled to escape, the bone with the line attached would break off the stick, & the hunter would pull in the bird.

2. Snares:

Although few examples of these exist,there are written accounts from old Maori & early Europeanexplorers showing how these snares could have been made & used.

One explorer,Charles Heaphy,described how his guide Kehu caught the inquisitive weka by using a long stick with a running noose attached. He would also have a shorter stick with a bright or unusual object attached to it and wave this around trying to attract the birds attention.

In room 6 we have been making bird spears & snares of our own design. Here are some photos of them.