The Fabulous Story Of The Mummified Maori Head Of Rosen Museum Flashcards
1875, what was the strange object donated to the museums administrators??
A Maori warrior head.
Which was a desirable collection piece with great value To contemporary ethological study.
In the 1990s this type of exhibition was deemed politically incorrect. What happened to the Maori head?
The Maori head was removed and put into storage.
Then in 1996, the museum close the stores for about 10 years for restoration work.
In 2006, Sebastian minchin the museum is Director. She and anthropologist Roger boulay discovered the head again.
Briefly describe the importance of the preservation of the heads for the Maori people
It was understood by the Pacific civilizations that the power of a person, their manner, to use a Polynesian term, is concentrated into his head and so it is considered as the most important part of someone’s personality.
The importance of this is further intensified by the act of decoration, the moko, which gives even more power and influence.
What happens to the head once a person dies?
Once the person dies, the head is capped within the family as other heads of enemy warriors of noble lineage is, which might be captured in battle.
Briefly describe how the emergence of the natural history Museum impacted the trade in Maori heads
It wasn’t enough to gather or collect people who are willing to give. This led to very unsavoury practices.
Such as choosing future museum pieces whilst they were still alive. This would be denounced and the dealer would still say, I’ll be back in a few weeks or two years and take delivery of my order.
What also happened once demand had reached such high levels, was the fabrication of forgeries. Some heads were even tattooed and decorated after death. 
Why were the museum curators digitalizing the Maori head
To send the most accurate possible model of the head to colleagues in New Zealand. The idea is to get down to a 10th of a millimetre so that we can discover straight away if we’re dealing with an authentic Maori head or not
This is important because they know there were copies and also with a huge volume of traffic that took place at the time, this could easily be the head of a non-Maori which was tattooed after death or in fact, even the head of a European.
It would be a shame to start in motion a plan to return the head only to discover that what they actually have is a European head tattooed with Maori designs.
Briefly describe the miserable story of the Hottentot Venus
What happened to her body in Europe after her death?
How did the return of the hottentot venus lead to the return of the Maori head?
This young woman became famous for having a very full, Curvacious body, as a woman from hottentot. As women from this place still have, very developed Buttocks With lots of subcutaneous fat, as well as large genitalia. 
She appeared on stage with cabaret acts in London, Then she was bought by a Frenchman, appearing on international shows creating a spectacle both sordid and naïve. She lived in squalid Conditions and died quite young.
She became the subject have a dissection performed by George Cuvier, a great naturalist, but not a doctor. Certain parts of her body were removed and preserved and she was still more or less on display at the Museum of man until the 1970s.
President Mitterrand met President Nelson Mandela where she asked France to return the remains of the body of Mrs. Saartjie Baartman, better known as the Hottentot Venus. The French president had no reason to refuse, but he also wasn’t aware that under French law, museum pieces cannot be returned and so it provoked reactions from conservationists in the administration. Because of this, a specific Bill had to be instigated so that a law could be passed with the help of the Senate. The Venus what is indeed returned in January, 2002. 
The criteria for performing a return where exactly the same. It dealt specifically with human remains for Saartjie Barrtman as for the Maori heads.
Briefly sum up the anthropological forensic expert’s conclusions about the Maori individual in his analysis of the head. 
What did the forensic expert examination of the tattoos reveal? How did you know?
He could feel hair on the head and the chin so he suggested it was a male. There’s a tooth that’s fake and most likely an animal tooth. The both ears have been double pierced. The one I hadn’t been damaged by just in sex but rodents as well
It is the head of a male adult, Young to middle-aged. This isn’t an elderly person as indicated by the condition of the teeth and the general appearance of the head overall. There was clean inside the mail to dry it out and stop decomposition After the head has been dried out and smoked.
What he was most interested to discover is what the examination would reveal about the tattoos.
Four bands on the left and right of the mouth are the only ones made while the head was still living. All the others were made after death, so there is no scarring. The edges to look very fresh, very abrupt, very visible but there is no scarring. 
During the repatriation of the modified head, why was the memorial chief shouting during the ceremony?
What will happen to the head now that it is returned?
The purpose is to awaken the soul of the warrior and to explain to him that he has come back to his homeland. He no longer knows how to speak Maori it has been so long since we last spoke it. He has more chance of understanding French, English, or even Swedish than Maori. The chief of the tribe needs to shout very loudly in Maori to tell his ancestor you’ve come back home and we are at your side. 
It’s placed in a sacred place called Wahi Tapu. They are also doing Research to figure out the location where moko came from. And the designs of the moko to see if their are regional designs.
Briefly describe why they did not use DNA testing
Because Maori DNA comes from the Pacific it’s a very common DNA, so all it will show is that they are from the Pacific There’s no specific lineage that identifies Maori tribal groups.
Briefly describe the Maori interpretations of the tattoos on the mummified head (I.e., what the Maori knowledge keepers interpretation say about the individual represented by the mummified head).
There are signs that he was born with rights of a chief. Other patterns show that he was a representative on the council of tribal Chiefs, And there’s only a few that sit on the council and make decisions and he was one of them. another pattern means that he graduated from the old university, the University of the house of learning, from that time.
Perhaps by the time he was killed, he may have only been quite young and the rest of the work had not been completed. Part of that is because around the mouth there’s nothing, what that could mean is that he hadn’t yet gained access to be the spokesperson for that tribe. Meaning his father was still alive, So his father did all the talking.
He had a symbol of war pattern, meaning that he was in battle and he went to war and he led a war party. So it’s a big warrior he commands the troops.
Also shows that he was a father to one child.
