Pounamu (Greenstone) is a beautiful,strong jade like stone which is only found in our amazing country Aotearoa. There are 5 main types of Pounamu - Kawakawa, Kahurangi, Inanga, Kokopu and Tangiwai. Each type has their own looks and features. Pounamu are used as gifts, weapons, taonga and many more accessories. It can only be found in the south island where its kaitiaki (Guardian) the people of Ngai tahu take care and look after all the pounamu that is there. Mere Pounamu (Greenstone weapons) are a sign of leadership and high status which was normally gifted to chiefs or was gifted as a symbol of peace. Kai whakairo (Master carvers) use diamond tip tools to cut and shape the stone, which will be made into necklaces, earrings, tiki, rings, patu etc. A really sad story is that the worlds biggest greenstone found was cut up into hundreds of little accessory pounamu.
Kia ora Eugene my names Eva I’m a year 8 and I attend Kawakawa
ReplyDeleteI really like how you explain to others what is a green stone and what other types there are.
It’s very likely to be used as other accessories and they really do come in other shapes to.
Maybe next time you can put other photos of the different green stones there are and say more thing about the history of every type of green stone.
Kia ora ��