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Vaka Moana – Voyages of the Ancestors
Vaka Moana - voyages of the ancestorsPast exhibition |
The discovery and settlement of the islands of the Pacific is the last and greatest story of human migration. The daring explorers who crossed the vast ocean that covers a third of the earth's surface were the world's first deep sea sailors and navigators.
Rare carvings and canoes are among 200 artefacts displayed from the unsurpassed Maori and Pacific collections of Auckland Museum and the exhibition incorporates the most recent scientific research in genetics and linguistics with computer modeling.
The Pacific began to be explored 3-4000 years ago by the ancestors of today's Pacific people. They developed vessels and a means of navigating - called 'way-finding' - based on the observations of the sea and sky. The islands of Polynesia were the last regions on earth to be settled by humans. The themes of the exhibition look at the island people, the search for their origins, navigation and Vaka, (outrigger vessels), the world's first blue-water technology, developed by the world's first maritime culture.
Exhibition shown at Australian National Maritime Museum 6 December 2008 - 15 February 2009.
Useful Links
Exhibition organised by Auckland Museum - Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland New Zealand.
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