Images of gods and ancestors are prevalent in the sculpture of eastern and central Polynesia. Staff gods were first collected by the Reverend John Williams of the London Missionary Society in Rarotonga 1823, 1827-28. Few have survived due to the activities of Williams and fellow British missionaries who burned many of these objects in their zealous efforts to convert the people to Christianity. They produced engravings that showed scenes of the idols” being surrendered to them. Even fewer complete staff gods are known as many were cut in sections with the lower half declared obscene. Various interpretations of staff gods exist. They are gender specific objects, defined by a phallus, and are thought to represent the hierarchical line of descent of male ancestors, similar in concept to genealogy staffs produced by the Maori. An alternative view is that they depict a famous historical figure named Tangiia and that the staff represents his deified ancestry. Materials sacred to the gods such as barkcloth, sennit and feathers are thought to have activated the object.” (Kaeppler et.al and Phelps 1976)
