Post #737618 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Feb 18, 2015 7:52 AM

Wow, again thank you for such an extensive and educational thread. Really makes you feel like you've been there. I wish TC members would express their gratitude more for you taking all the time to load and text all these wonderful images. Nuku Hiva! - we are talking about the birthplace of Tiki art here!

Some of the old Tikis in your post bring up the recurring question for classic also also "urban" archeology: Should one leave all artifacts in their original location, if that location is deserted, and the Tikis are doomed to disintegrate? Is it not the duty of the art lover to preserve these for future generations of mankind?

Case in point is the giant Tiki head of chief Manuiotaa…

…collected by Karl von den Steinen..

…in 1899, and now on view in the Berlin Ethnographic museum

So this is how the sculpture looks in the museum now…

…and this is how I found his brother at the Marae Lipona in the jungles of Hiva Oa in 2002:

Unfortunately, a lot of the original Tikis I encountered still in situ in the Marquesas were reduced to faceless lumps by rain and moisture:

One could argue that just recording the art could have been sufficient..

…I am undecided, but grateful that some of it get preserved