Kōrero: Hauraki–Coromandel region

This fishing lure shank, modelled in the shape of a fish, is made from the shell of an oyster found only in the tropics. The lure was found in an archaeological site at Tairua, and must have been brought to New Zealand by early Polynesian arrivals. It is a rare example of an object which corroborates theories of migration from islands in the Pacific to New Zealand around 1250–1300.