{{short description|Māori-language term for a carved human form}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2024}} [[File:Wakarewarewa maori village 3.JPG|thumb|A pātaka with a tekoteko on top]] [[File:Gable Peak Figure (teko teko) LACMA M.2008.66.18 (2 of 2).jpg|thumbnail|A tekoteko dating from around 1800 held at LACMA]] A '''tekoteko''' is a Māori carved human figure that is mounted as a finial, usually above the gable of a Māori building, most commonly a wharenui (meeting house) or a pātaka (food storehouse).<ref>{{Cite web |title= Tekoteko |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/category/710 |website= Collections |publisher=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |access-date=2021-05-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gable figure (Tekoteko) |url= https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313626 |website= Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=2021-05-23}}</ref> It usually stands above the koruru, a carved head mounted where the bargeboards meet at the apex of the gable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Koruru (gable mask) |url= https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/197222 |website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz |publisher=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |access-date=14 November 2024}}</ref> The tekoteko is carved as the embodiment of the one who takes a tree as material for their house and owns said house, as all things in the environment were believed as related to mankind from the union of Ranginui and Papatūānuku.<ref>{{cite journal |pages=119-20 |first=Nigel |last=Prickett|title=An archaeologists' guide to the Maori Dwelling |journal=NZ Journal of Archaeology|volume=4|date=1982 |url=https://nzarchaeology.org/download/an-archaeologists-guide-to-the-maori-dwelling |language=en-NZ}}</ref>
The word ''tekoteko'' has also been used of freestanding carvings of human figures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The story behind the tekoteko of Whakarewarewa Village |url= https://whakarewarewa.com/the-story-behind-the-tekoteko-of-whakarewarewa-village/ |website=Whakarewarewa, The Living Māori Village |date= 31 October 2019 |publisher=Whakarewarewa Thermal Village Tours |access-date=2021-05-23}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Māori}} {{Commons category|Tekoteko}}
Category:Māori art Category:New Zealand sculpture Category:Ornaments (architecture) Category:Indigenous peoples and sculpture
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