Museum Display and the Practice of Archaeology: Taonga Māori at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Abstract

Analysis of studies undertaken in the United States and the United Kingdom shows that the practice of archaeology is not commonly visible in museums. Aotearoa New Zealand is a country where much of its archaeology concerns its occupation and utilisation by Māori. Hence, the display of archaeology is deeply implicated with the display of taonga Māori (treasures). This study investigates the relationship between the two, at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. The research explores how much information is communicated to the public about the archaeological practices used to discover, record, interpret, and preserve, taonga in the museum. In mātauranga Māori (Māori epistemology), taonga are informed by kōrero (history, biography). This is not dissimilar to the theory of object biography: that a museum object has passed through many contexts. With this in mind, the thesis suggests that the practice of archaeology could be a source of new display content in the exhibition of taonga Māori; that using aspects of archaeological investigation could make a significant contribution to the kōrero.