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Overview
The shallow relief and softer look of this pare (lintel), which once surmounted a doorway, strongly suggests that it was carved using stone tools. It is an unusual example of the Taranaki style of carved lintel because the composition consists of a centrally located face flanked on both sides by manaia (stylised beaked figures). Passing horizontally through the middle (between the face and the manaia) is a double groove decorated with ritorito ('V' decorative pattern like the shoots of a flax plant) and notching. Ritorito and pākati (dog tooth pattern) notches cover the remainder of the board, which is broken midway with double spiral patterns. The figure on each end of the pare has a full face and two crescent design units decorated with pākati notches and haehae (parallel grooves), between which can be seen arms with three-fingered hands. Also, between these units is a type of matakupenga (fishing net) design.
History
This lintel was part of a cache of carvings recovered from Manukorihi Swamp near Waitara in north Taranaki in 1928. The carvings were buried in the swamp during the Taranaki Land Wars (about 1860) to preserve and conceal them from invaders until they could be recovered at a later date. However, they were forgotten and not found again until the 1930s.