The Caveman

Episode 33 - The Caveman (Based on a True Story) 

Caves are the ancient burial sites of our people and should be treated in exactly the same way as an Urupā. Because we have Western practices and are so used to burying our dead in the ground, most of us have forgotten the old practices of hiding bones in caves and among the rocks. The kupu of the old ways still remains... tūpāpaku. We use this for the "body" nowadays, but it really means to sit up in the smallest of ways, i.e., the fetal position, and this is how our people were positioned when they died. So, what happens if you walk into a cave and find a waka huia full of bones or a skeleton buried in the old fetal position? You moonwalk the heck out of there. Bones don't take kindly to being disturbed. This story is about a group of kūare tourists who find out what happens when you tutū with the dead. 

T.A. Whero