Hosted by Distinguished Professor Dame Anne Salmond, ARTEFACT is a documentary series of time traveling encounters with Aotearoa’s remarkable taonga, produced by GreenstoneTV. Episode 1, 'Star Travel', explores the myths around Polynesian navigation and presents the legacies of skilled “star travellers” and their purposeful voyages to and from Aotearoa. Anchoring this narrative, Salmond accompanies whānau from Uawa (Tolaga Bay) as they are reunited with their ancestor Paikea, the whale rider, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and bestow upon him a significant gift. For his many descendants, Paikea is a key link to the ancient Hawaiki homeland, as well as to the marine stories and body of seafaring knowledge and to the tribal settlements on the eastern seaboard of both islands of Aotearoa. The episode also encounters Lisa Reihana's 'Emissaries', Captain James Cook's shipboard clock, the prime meridian at Greenwich, historic and contemporary waka hourua, and artefacts from the first Polynesian people who made Aotearoa their home. 55 mins
