page_title: Jade
section_title: Māori
hierarchical_section_title: Jade / History / Others / Māori
caption_attribution_description: English: Ear pendant (peka peka), Maori people, New Zealand, 19th century, carved greenstone and red sealing wax, Honolulu Museum of Art, accession 3351
context_page_description: Jade refers to an ornamental mineral, mostly known for its green varieties. It can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite, or jadeite.
  Jade is featured prominently in East Asian, South Asian and Southeast Asian art, but also has an important place in many other cultures.
context_section_description: Nephrite jade in New Zealand is known as pounamu in the Māori language (often called "greenstone" in New Zealand English), and plays an important role in Māori culture. It is considered a taonga, or treasure, and therefore protected under the Treaty of Waitangi, and the exploitation of it is restricted and closely monitored. It is found only in the South Island of New Zealand, known as Te Wai Pounamu in Māori—"The [land of] Greenstone Water", or Te Wahi Pounamu—"The Place of Greenstone".
  Pounamu taonga increase in mana (prestige) as they pass from one generation to another. The most prized taonga are those with known histories going back many generations. These are believed to have their own mana and were often given as gifts to seal important agreements.
  Tools, weapons and ornaments were made of it; in particular adzes, the 'mere' (short club), and the hei-tiki (neck pendant). Nephrite jewellery of Maori design is widely popular with locals and tourists, although some of the jade used for these is now imported from British Columbia and elsewhere.
  Pounamu taonga include tools such as toki (adzes), whao (chisels), whao whakakōka (gouges), ripi pounamu (knives), scrapers, awls, hammer stones, and drill points. Hunting tools include matau (fishing hooks) and lures, spear points, and kākā poria (leg rings for fastening captive birds); weapons such as mere (short handled clubs); and ornaments such as pendants (hei-tiki, hei matau and pekapeka), ear pendants (kuru and kapeu), and cloak pins.
  Functional pounamu tools were widely worn for both practical and ornamental reasons, and continued to be worn as purely ornamental pendants (hei kakï) even after they were no longer used as tools.
caption: Māori greenstone double-headed pendant (pekapeka) from New Zealand
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