Pounamu

Pounamu is several types of hard, durable and highly valued nephrite jade and bowenite found in New Zealand. Pounamu is the Māori name; the rocks are also known as “greenstone” in New Zealand English.

The main varieties are kawakawa, kahurangi, īnanga and tangiwai. The first three are nephrite jade, while tangiwai is a form of bowenite. In modern usage pounamu almost always refers to nephrite jade.

Pounamu is generally found in rivers as nondescript boulders and stones which are difficult to identify without cutting them open.

Significance to Māori

Pounamu plays a very important role in Māori culture. It is considered a taonga (treasure). Tools, ornaments and weapons were made of it; in particular adzes, mere (short clubs) and hei-tiki (neck pendants). These were believed to have their own mana, were handed down as valued heirlooms and were often given as gifts to seal important agreements.

It is found only in the South Island, known in Māori as Te Wai Pounamu (“The [land of] Greenstone Water”) or Te Wahi Pounamu (“The Place of Greenstone”), and in 1997 the Crown handed back the ownership of all naturally occurring pounamu to the South Island tribe Ngāi Tahu, as part of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement.

Types of Greenstone

• Greenstone is a term peculiar to New Zealand to describe nephrite, with sometimes the inclusion of bowenite. It was called pounamu by the Māori people. Exports of raw greenstone have been illegal since 1947, because of its limited supplies.
• Bowenite (tangiwai) is a very translucent, olive-green to bluish-green type of serpentine, found mainly near the entrance to Milford Sound in the South Island. The word tangiwai came from the Māori legend relating to the petrification of the tears of a lamenting woman. Sometimes it is referred to as koko-tangiwai, koko meaning ear pendant, and this signifies its predominant use.
• Jade is the name given to two types of silicate minerals which come in a variety of colors, though the most valued is green. The finest jade is jadeite (which does not occur in New Zealand) and nephrite. Both are very hard and tough. The intensity of green in jade depends on the amount of iron present.
• Inanga (whitebait) is pearly-whitish, grey-green colored pounamu which can be translucent and with a fine texture.
• Kahurangi is a highly translucent, lightish green pounamu with lighter streaks (which look like clouds) and free from dark spots or any flaws. It is one of the rarest varieties of pounamu.
• Kakotea is a streaky dark green pounamu with black spots.
• Kawakawa is a strong dark green pounamu with varying intermediate shades and is named because its color resembles that of the leaf of the kawakawa or lofty pepper tree (macropiper excelsum).

Nephrite is a European name for kahurangi, kawakawa and inanga. It is the only jade mineral found in this country. A very tough mineral and in New Zealand, sources of nephrite are confined to the South Island. The districts surrounding the Taramakau and Arahura Rivers in Westland and the Lake Wakatipu area of Otago are where the main deposits have been found.
With its ability to retain a very hard, sharp cutting edge, nephrite was very well suited as a wood-cutting tool and the most common early Māori use was for adzes[?] (toki) and chisels (whao). These were fitted into carved wooden handles and lashed together with plaited flax fibre cords.

Pounamu is also known as greenstone, is the Māori group term for both nephrite and bowenite. The Māori classified pounamu according to color and named many varieties. There are four (4) main types:

• kawakawa
• kahurangi
• inanga
• tangiwai

The first three are nephrite and the fourth – tangiwai – is bowenite. Although the Māori placed tangiwai as a variety of pounamu, they knew of its difference and limitations. Three others are kakotea, kohuwa and totoweka.
Pounamu will benefit from the addition of light, scented oil and if it is not be be worn very regularly, is best stored in a felt or leather pouch. A very light smear of oil in the pouch will enhance the carved pounamu with a beautiful warm gloss

Pounamu was normally suspended from thin leather or plaited flax; metal chains do not harmonise with the stone. It was traditional for a piece to be worn level with the cavity where the two collarbones meet above the chest.