The Beginning of my Master's Thesis

For the next while I'll be blogging pieces of my thesis, so I figured that I would start at the beginning.

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Mythological Toki Ritual: Using Legends and Burial Artifacts from Around the World to Explain the Appearance of Adzes in New Zealand Burials

by Renée (Rey) Whitehouse

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirement for Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Otago.

7 June 2019

Abstract

This dissertation examines the archaeological and mythological evidence of adzes (toki) in Māori burials in New Zealand. It contains a description of what grave goods are, and an examination of archaeological hypotheses of why artifacts, such as toki, are placed in burials. It then builds a model based on world mythology to explain the use of toki in Maori burials. I first show that tools (including adzes) are used in many cultures to symbolize control over the environment. They represent the ability of gods and humans to transform the natural world into the cultural. This forms the basis for my model which I then apply to the New Zealand setting. I show that Māori legends and their use of grave goods matches patterns observed in many other cultures. I make the argument that toki are used in New Zealand to signify the separation of land manipulated by humans with the external chaos of nature before it is returned to nature to complete its own mana cycle. This thesis is brought to a close with widening the focus to match Māori ritual with human acknowledgement of the power of death in context of community rituals.

Acknowledgments

This paper is dedicated to my late grandfather. The inspiration and encouragement he gave me since before I can remember, will never be forgotten. He will always be my hero.

This work wouldn't have been completed without the guidance of my supervisor Dr. Richard Walter. He helped me through the entire process with academic support. My thanks also go to my mother and father, who other than their general support, flew to the opposite end of the world to make sure I was ok during and after my time in the hospital. Finally, to the university department and the friends I made over the past year, most notably John, Amber, Edward, Dani, Katie and Patrick. They never took no for an answer when it came to asking whether I needed help, and visited me almost every day while I was out of commission. I can never thank them enough for their kindness.