Post #729918 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Oct 19, 2014 4:55 AM

Looking forward to it too. An interesting subject, since from all my findings I have come to the conclusion that Tahitians themselves did not really carve Tikis. Their idols were more abstract objects, used as containers for the gods' spirits. The few fully carved Tiki figures that have survived all are from the Society Islands surrounding Tahiti, not the island of Tahiti itself.

In this famous print of Captain Cook attending a sacrifice we can make out carved boards/slabs used at temple sites in the background:

In this adaptation of it, the artist took the artistic license to add some idols because he felt that something was missing :) :

So even back in the early days people WANTED there to be Tahitian Tikis.

Cook observed gods made of sennit:

..all described in this thread:
http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_73_1964/Volume_73,_No._2/Ancient_Tahitian_God-figures,_by_Simon_Kooijman,_p_110_-_125/p1

The so-called "Tahitian style" Tikis of Polynesian Pop are all fashioned after Marquesan Tikis (two O.A. examples on the right):

..because Marquesan carvers came to Tahiti early to work for the tourist trade:

..so: all the "Tahitian" Tiki posts, Cannibal carvings and statues are really based on Marquesan style,

…as are the majority of tourist Tikis available in Tahiti:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2014-10-19 09:14 ]