Pounamu is several types of hard, durable and highly valued nephrite jade, bowenite

Bowenite

Bowenite is a hard, compact variety of the serpentinite species antigorite, . Classed as semi-precious gem stone it has been used for tools, weapons and jewellery by the Māori in New Zealand, and for jewellery by Fabergé. Deposits are found in several places around the world including Afghanistan,...

, or serpentinite

Serpentinite

Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...

 found in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Pounamu is the Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

 name. The rocks are also generically known as "greenstone" in New Zealand English

New Zealand English

New Zealand English is the dialect of the English language used in New Zealand.The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and...

.

There are two systems for classifying pounamu. Geologically the rock falls into the three categories named above, but Māori classify pounamu by appearance. The main classifications are kawakawa, kahurangi, īnanga, and tangiwai. The first three are nephrite jade, while tangiwai is a form of bowenite..

• Īnanga pounamu takes its name from a native freshwater fish (Galaxias maculatus) and is pearly-white or grey-green in colour and varies from translucent to opaque.
• Kahurangi pounamu is highly translucent and a vivid shade of green. It is named after the clearness of the sky and is the rarest variety of pounamu.
• Kawakawa pounamu comes in many shades, often with flecks or inclusions, and is named after the leaves of the native kawakawa tree (Macropiper excelsum). It is the most common variety of pounamu.
• Tangiwai pounamu is clear like glass but in a wide range of shades. The name comes from the word for the tears that come from great sorrow.

In modern usage pounamu almost always refers to nephrite jade. Pounamu is generally found in rivers in specific parts of the South Island as nondescript boulders and stones. These are difficult to identify as pounamu without cutting them open.

Significance to Māori

Pounamu plays a very important role in Māori culture. It is considered a taonga

Taonga

A taonga in Māori culture is a treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible. Tangible examples are all sorts of heirlooms and artefacts, land, fisheries, natural resources such as geothermal springs and access to natural resources, such as riparian water rights and access to the riparian zone of...

(treasure). Pounamu taonga increase in mana (prestigue) as they pass from one generation to another. The most prized taonga are those with known histories going back many generations. These are believed to have their own mana

Mana

Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....

and were often given as gifts to seal important agreements. Pounamu taonga include tools such as chisels (whao) and adzes (toki), fishing hooks and lures, and bird leg rings (kaka poria); weapons such as mere (short handled clubs); and ornaments such as pendants (hei tiki, hei matau and pekapeka), ear pendents, and cloak pins.

It is found only in the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 of New Zealand, known in Māori as Te Wai Pounamu ("The [land of] Greenstone Water") or Te Wahi Pounamu ("The Place of Greenstone"). In 1997 the Crown handed back the ownership of all naturally occurring pounamu to the South Island tribe Ngāi Tahu

Ngāi Tahu

Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...

, as part of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement.

Modern use

Jewellery and other decorative items made from gold and pounamu was particularly fashionable in New Zealand in the Victorian and Edwardian eras in the late 19th and early 20th century. It continues to be popular among New Zealanders and is often presented as gifts to visitors and to New Zealanders moving overseas. Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...

, an actor in The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

, took to wearing a hei matau

Hei matau

A hei matau is a bone or greenstone carving in the shape of a highly stylized fish hook typical of the Māori people of New Zealand.They represent strength, good luck and safe travel across water.-Meaning:...

around his neck. Michael Hurst

Michael Hurst

Michael Eric Hurst, ONZM is a New Zealand actor, director and writer, mostly on stage and television. He is probably best known internationally for playing Iolaus in the television programs Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and companion series Xena: Warrior Princess...

 of the television program Hercules

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles...

was given a large and heavy pounamu pendant necklace which he wore on the program. During a particularly energetic action scene the pendant bumped his teeth. The producers felt the ornament suited the nature of the program yet considered it a safety risk, and had it replaced with a latex replica.

External links

• Pounamu, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
• "Pounamu – jade or greenstone" in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Term.aspx?irn=48Examples of pounamu taonga (Māori treasures) from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
  
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• First over the Alps: The epic of Raureka and the Greenstone by James Cowan (eText)
• Photo of woman wearing a greenstone neck pendant
• Photo of greenstone tiki
• Photo of greenstone mere