1893.78.72

Collection type

Object

Description

'U' shaped bone fish hook. [MJD 12/03/2009]

Geographical reference

New Zealand

Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > New Zealand

Chatham Islands [Rekohu, Wharekauri]

Cultural groups

Moriori

Person

Field collector Albert Clough

PRM source Henry C. Palmer

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1893

Date collected

By 1893

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1893

Materials and processes

Material Bone, Process Carved

Dimensions

Width: max 64 mm, Length: max 80 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1893.78.72 Other numbers: 66

Research and responses

This could be Abner Clough, 1840-1910, see biographies [AP 04/08/2009]

It seems likely that H.C. Palmer is actually Henry C. Palmer who was engaged to collect natural history specimens etc for Lionel Walter Rothschild, he was in the Chatham Islands around 1890 [AP 14/08/2009]

Examined by Chris Paulin (Natural Environment Projects Officer at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) during a visit to the PRM 24-26 June 2009. For an account of Paulin's project, see copy of his unpublished 'Research Report: Māori Fishhooks in European Museums - Winston Churchill Fellowship 2009' in RDF: Researchers: Paulin. See also: 'Māori Fishhooks in European Museums', by Chris D. Paulin, in Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, no. 21 (2010), pp. 13-41, esp. 27-29 (copy in RDF: Researchers: Paulin). NB Paulin does not list the item in his list of 'Hooks Examined' (see page 29 of his article), but the item is one of those made available for him to examine. [JC 12 8 2010]

Associated publications

See Balfour, H. (1918) Some specimens from the Chatham Islands. Man 18, 145-148. [AS 15/07/2010] Illustrated (at centre) in black and white in Plate II (opposite page 3) in Fish Hooks (Pacific Island Records), by Harry G. Beasley (London: Seeley, Service & Co., Ltd, 1928). Beasley writes under the heading 'Part I. Polynesia' and the sub-heading 'Chatham Islands' (page 3): 'Pl. II, is from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; all are made of whalbone. The central one [1893.78.72] shows to what extent some of these Chatham Island hooks have become decayed through age; it lacks the lug at the end of the shank. This measures 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm.), while that on the left [1893.78.71] is 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.).' (The image reproduced is a detail from PRM image 000081277.) [JC 24 6 2016]

Search terms: Fishing, Tool, Fishing Accessory, Hook