Maori mere (war club) stolen from tomb recovered

When I first saw the news alert about this theft of a mere, I thought someone who had tried to translate a foreign news release into English had simply misspelled mirror but when I checked the article I learned that a "mere" is a Maori war club:

"A priceless greenstone mere stolen from the tomb of one of the founders of Parihaka Pa in Taranaki has been recovered.

The mere, which belonged to the revered Maori peace prophet Te Whiti O Rongomai, was stolen last week after thieves smashed through a glass casing which protected the mere within the tomb. A mere is a traditional Maori hand club." - New Zealand Herald

I found this very interesting and informative site about Maori weapons that further describes the weapon and its ritual symbolism:

"A short flat club usually made from wood, bone, or greenstone. Also know as a Patu or Waihaka. Used in hand to hand combat. Typical strike zones for warriors included the temple, the jaw and the ribs. The greenstone mere was particularly highly prized as it requires an incredible amount of work to make one. Warriors who carried a greenstone mere were considered to posses great strength and honor. Today the mere represents the facing and overcoming the challenges life presents." - Maori Source

I was surprised to see that the Maori seemed to prefer clubs of various types rather than bladed weapons even though their typical strategy was to kill all enemies in an engagement to prevent revenge attacks.  The single weapon illustrated on the web site that included a greenstone blade was said to be for ceremonial purposes only. 

I found another very good summary of Maori warfare that mentioned they did, at times, use a thrusting spear but never developed the bow and arrow and typically did not throw spears.  Killing at close range appeared to be preferred to impart the appropriate honor on successful warriors.

The summary also described cannibalism that was a common practice during Maori warfare:

Cannibalism was the regular practice in Maori wars. Human flesh was an important part of the food supply of war parties. The bodies were cut up with obsidian flakes and then cooked on heated stones which were laid in pits in the ground. Sometimes, flesh was kept as a supply for the journey. Such meat would first be boned, then dried and packed in flax baskets; alternatively, it was potted in fat in gourds. Prisoners were sometimes taken alive, tied together with flax ropes and kept on the hoof for future slaughter and use...

Mortality in Maori wars must have been considerable in spite of the small forces usually engaged. No quarter was given in battle so that life could only be saved by flight, but it was during flight that the pursuers killed most of their enemies. Not many war parties were completely exterminated but more than a few lost a very large percentage of their members. Most captives were killed and eaten; some—especially women and children—were enslaved. But often these also were eaten.

Some of the bones of the slain were saved, as further indignity, for making flutes, heads of bird spears, fish hooks, rings for captive parrots, pins and needles. Heads were sometimes thrown on a heap in a grisly ball game, occasionally they were impaled on the stockades of a pa. Heads of both friend or enemy, if belonging to great chiefs, were at times taken home and preserved. - National Library of New Zealand

Maori warrior photographed at the
Polynesian Culture Center on the
island of Oahu, Hawaii by Mary Harrsch

This made me wonder if the brain disease "kuru" (similar in symptoms to mad cow disease) was ever a recorded problem among the Maori but I could not find any definitive references.  I did find a post that said researchers are now questioning cannibalism as the cause of kuru in the Fore culture in Papua New Guinea anyway.  It seems that further research indicates kuru was apparently not present before contact with Europeans even though the Fore had practiced mortuary cannibalism for centuries. However, scientists point out that after the kuru epidemic reached a high point in the 1960s, kuru among the Kore pretty much vanished after cannibalism was eliminated.  So there appears to be at least some connection although the two factors may have been a simple coincidence. 

I had the opportunity to meet a Maori warrior when I visited the Polynesian Culture Center on Oahu, Hawaii in 1982.  Maybe someday I'll be able to visit New Zealand to learn more about this fascinating culture.



*Image of mere war club courtesy of the Maori Source

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Sahara chronicles last stand of a Berber warrior queen

I watched a very interesting two-hour program about the Sahara and the history in that region on History Channel International yesterday. I was particularly interested in the segment about a Berber warrior queen that arose during the late 7th century to lead her people against invading Arabs in 669 CE. It's been many years ago that I read a book entitled "Warrior Queens" by celebrated historian Lady Antonia Fraser. I learned about several female warrior leaders in that book that I had never encountered before but even Lady Fraser seems to have overlooked Al Kahena.

[Image - Berber Woman, Emile Vernet-Lecomte, French, 1870]

I was able to find this interesting article about Dahia Al Kahena on the web though. An abstract:

"According to Arab chroniclers of the time, Kahena was half queen and half sorceress with dark skin, a mass of hair and huge eyes. When she was angry or possessed by her demons, her eyes would turn red and her hair would stand up on end. The chroniclers may have had an interest in painting a fiendish image of this woman. Yet such propaganda may have done more to contribute to her reputation as a fearsome opponent. Kahena amply demonstrated her fiery mettle when, in 696, she led a Berber force which routed an Arab army in the plains below the Atlas mountains spanning modern-day Algeria and Tunisia. So numerous were the Arab casualties that Arab chroniclers renamed the wadi where the battle took place as the `Valley of Disaster'. Like a latter-day Boadicea, or a precursor to Joan of Arc, this female warrior this female warrior was proving a troublesome enemy to the invaders.

Legend may have grown around Kahena, but she was an all-too-real opponent for the caliphs forces. She proved utterly ruthless in conducting a guerrilla war of harassment. She adopted a scorched earth policy by having all the standing crops destroyed in order to deprive the Arab army of any sustenance from the land. This act, however, aroused resentment among settled tribes, who sent emissaries to the Arab commander asking him to come to their assistance.

In 699 the caliph, tired of the interminable struggle, decided to strike a decisive blow. He sent into North Africa the largest army ever seen in the region. The force was made up of Arab troops reinforced by thousands of Berbers who had turned against Kahena."

Like Boudicca, Al Kahena's revolt ended in a slaughter although her final battlefield was the huge colosseum built by the Roman emperor Gordian at the trading crossroads of Al Jem. However, she did not take her sons with her into death but ordered them to go to the Arab commander and offer their service. They were accepted into the caliph's service and later became outstanding leaders in their own right.

According to Wikipedia, her sons' acceptance was accomplished by an Arab officer that Al Kahena had captured early in her career and adopted.

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Saxon mass burial unearthed in Oxford

"Archaeologists now believe a dozen skeletons discovered in a mass grave in the centre of Oxford may have belonged to executed criminals from Saxon times.

A team of three archaeologists have been digging in the quadrangle of St John's College in Blackhall Road, off St Giles, for nearly two weeks since the discovery was made.

The bones of 12 or 13 bodies have gradually been uncovered after a body part was discovered 80cm below ground level by diggers excavating the plot before a new quadrangle is built.

"They look as if they were all young men in their late teens, and we are looking at Saxon times.

"We originally thought they could be Roman but now we think it could be more recent, based on the condition of the bodies, which survived very well.

"We have no idea how many we will find - they are still popping up."

The archaeologists' job has been made more difficult by the fact the bodies have been thrown on top of one another, rather than laid out neatly like a Christian burial.

"The idea that they might be battle victims is possible, but I think we will only know that if we start finding war wounds on them as they remove them. They are all males of fighting age so it makes sense."

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