Dendroglyph

See arborglyph for tree carvings left by Basque shepherds.

In the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, the indigenous Moriori people practised the art of momori rakau, or tree carving.

The carvings depict Moriori karapuna (ancestors) and symbols of the natural world, such as patiki (flounder) and the hopo (albatross). During the late 1998 review 82 trees were found with carvings. Numbers of momori rakau have been steadily declining due to the age of the host trees, stock grazing, wind and in earlier years, people removing the carvings as souvenirs.