Dating South Island Māori rock art: Pigment and pitfalls

Abstract New Zealand was first settled by Māori soon after 1200 CE, however the age, and so the social and environmental contexts of the rock art they made remains uncertain. We report the first attempts at the direct dating of New Zealand rock art through radiocarbon analysis focusing on the return of an unexpectedly early date. Historical information and pigment testing indicates that the particular figures that returned the early date were retouched with modern crayons. We report the use of portable X-ray fluorescence to identify rock art figures that have been retouched in this way. Results emphasise the need to consider historical information in future assessments of material for dating Māori rock art.