Tāhei tohorā (necklace)

This ancient necklace consists of two large reel-like beads and fourteen shaped pendant units. These are drilled at the back so that they can be attached to a fibre cord (long-since disintegrated). Severely weathered by their burial in a sand dune, the pendant units appear to have been made from sea mammal teeth. They were found near the village of Porangahau on the east coast of southern Hawke's Bay, in an area now occupied by Ngāti Kere and Ngāti Te Rino. Such a necklace might have been worn by an ariki nui (principal chief).

Origin and ancestry
Necklaces such as these have been found in early archaeological sites throughout New Zealand. They are among the clues showing that the people who first settled New Zealand came from islands in the Eastern Pacific. Very similar pieces have been found at sites such as Hane in the Marquesas, and Vaito'otia and Maupiti in the Society Islands. A shaped pendant unit from Raoul Island in the Kermadec group reinforces the view that early voyaging canoes may have stopped at these islands.