"This publication by Dr. Janet Davidson is very timely as we approach 250 years since James Cook first sighted Aotearoa, New Zealand, in October 1769. The three voyages of Cook in the Pacific were part of an intense period of European voyaging that continues to hold fascination and intrigue for many people. For Māori, Pacific and other indigenous peoples, however, the first encounters were also fraught with tension, apprehension, misunderstanding and conflict. This publication has immense value for Māori and the Pacific peoples whose treasures were acquired and taken on these voyages of exploration. Although often described as 'artificial curiosities', the treasures collected on the voyages continue to have enduring significance and deep meaning to their descendant kin communities. The treasures convey and represent ancestors and their mana and mauri or life-force. Unfortunately many taonga have minimal or very little information associated with them and often their trajectories have taken them from landscape to landscape, traversing through time and place and often ending up scattered in auctions, museums and in private collections throughout the world. To reconnect these ancestral treasures with their source communities is something that museums should be doing, and we hope that this can be only the start of this reactivation and reaffirmation process. Although there are notable examples of publications that document the treasures collected on the three voyages of exploration by Cook and his crew, there hasn't been a publication that has significantly highlighted the collections of the Cook voyages held in the care of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The research and provenance information associated with the Māori and Pacific treasures in this publication is to be commended as it brings to light in one authoritative source an invaluable treasure."--taken from Foreword, page 9.

Includes bibliographical references and index.