Maori Tekoteko wood carving

"though Europeans might guess that carvings represented gods, they had almost no idea who Maori gods were.  Nor did they realize that local ancestors, rather than gods, were often the most consequential figures...in all likelyhood they were the ones embodied in the houses...ingeniously carved."

exerpt from Cook: The extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook - Nicholas Thomas




Maori Tekoteko carving as a protector to ward off evil.