About this item
- Title
- Pūtātara (shell trumpet)
- Content partner
- Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
- Collection
- Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- Description
Pūtātara were used to communicate over distances and were treasured as heirlooms by chiefly families. They were made from conch or triton shells, and made a loud sound which carried long distances when blown. The tip of the shell was cut off and replaced by a wooden, usually carved, mouthpiece.
- Format
- Image
- Date created
- 13 April 2010
- Contributing partner
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- URL
- https://teara.govt.nz/en/object/21997/putatara-shell-trumpet
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Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has this to say about the rights status of this item:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/copyright, Crown Copyright administered through the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. All text licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence unless otherwise stated. Commercial re-use may be allowed on request. All non-text content is subject to specific conditions. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Reference: ME003937 Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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What can I do with this item?
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If you believe this item breaches our terms of use please report this item
Report this itemDigitalNZ brings together more than 30 million items from institutions so that they are easy to find and use. This information is the best information we could find on this item. This item was added on 30 April 2013, and updated 28 November 2025.
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