Stone adzes and artefacts

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Unlike New Zealand Maori, Moriori did not work with Greenstone. Presumably this is because there is no naturally occurring greenstone on Rekohu.

Working with stone to create artefacts, tools and weapons and religious effigies may seem a difficult task to us today, and not something that we would do without the benefit of metal tools and electricity for grinders and sanders etc.

Moriori had been creating these tools and weapons for hundreds of years and were still making them as late as a mere 200 years ago. This ceremonial club (above) reflects the lines seen on cave carvings in Nunukus' cave and on some tree carvings, perhaps signifying the Hopo or the seal?

Unfortunately, the abundance of Moriori adzes and implements laying around on the Chathams and Pitt Islands, presumably where their owners were dispossessed of them, or where they had hid them, encouraged people to 'collect' them. Some of the best Moriori utensils collections are now in Britain and America, rather than on the Chathams, or grudgingly, in New Zealand.

As far back as the arrival of the first Europeans in 1791, Moriori 'artefacts have been prized collectibles and the amount of taonga (treasure) that disappeared from the Islands is staggering.

In E.R. Chudleighs' Diary, he even mentions one 80 yr old man, carrying a kit bag of stone adzes on his back and another carrying sacks of them on his horse to take into the ship, where they would presumably be sent to England as artefacts for sale.

Even today, it is not unusual for someone to stumble over an authentic item, as the broken adze below shows. It was found in the middle of a dirt road on Pitt Island, very recently.  At many place on the Chathams, evidence can be seen of areas where stone has been worked, with many stones having been discarded and occasionally, semi-complete, or finished items will be found.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Te Imi Moriori are undertaking a process with Te Papa and other organisations to repatriate some of the stolen taonga back to Rekohu and Moriori.

Showing respect for Moriori culture requires that items are either left as they are found, or presented to the staff at the marae.

What is not acceptable is the continued pillaging of the Islands' of Moriori treasures. These items are of significant historical and cultural importance to Moriori. These artifacts form a part of Moriori lore, hokopapa and history

So...how were adzes traditionally made?

Stone tools of the Moriori were shaped though; abrasion, by pecking, grinding, smoothing or polishing one stone against another. Pecking away with a harder hammerstone, stone pick or chisel the desired groove or form is chipped into a softer stone material. The stone tool, symbol or weapon would be roughly flaked to shape first and then systematically smoothed on a grindstone usually made of sandstone, until it has achieved the desired shape and or is highly polished.

Moriori had developed the art of stonework to a high degree and this is evidenced by the range of well finished adzes and artefacts that an be seen in museums and various collections.  Some adzes are rather large, with some being recorded as long as 305 mm.

At the opposite end of the scale are some of the smaller delicately and perfectly formed adzes, with some recorded as being as small as 30mm X 15mm. The purpose behind these smaller adzes is unclear, but by the number in which they occur, it must have been a common use.

Most stones are ground into shape, but the harder, or more brittle ones are chipped first. This removes the excess and provides a 'blank' shape to then work more closely.

The correct terms to use when describing making stone tools from flake stone.

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Read this.....

The following article was published in 1922 in the New Zealand Herald and was written by W.B. Otorohanga, who lived for some 70 years on the Chathams and spoke fluent Moriori with the elders (proper Moriori without the corruption of the Maori dialect/language) and participated in rituals and traditional activities:

Making an Axe

One day in the twilight of the long ago, a whaling captain shooting ducks, and I his guide, arrived at a Moriori Village, where lay a slab of sandstone slightly hollow on its face. Bribed by sundry tupeka, a patriarch contracted – I interpreting – by verbal and manual illustration, to show the use of that slab, and how a stone axe was made. Pointing to an ovoid pumpkin-sized boulder, he said: “I am a grown man and desire an axe. Where do I get that axe? I get me a stone like this. I lay a lump of flint on the fire – pow! A shard flies off. With its sharp edge I score a deep groove around the stone the size I want my axe. I lay the stone on the fire, Pow! Here too a piece flies off. If my reading of the grain were true, and the gods have heard my words that ask, the piece (blown off) has now two faces. The sides and ends I snap off chip by chip till the shape is liked. But it is rough, with many points and hollows, so now I labour to make the surface smooth. I now search for a water-rounded lump of flint the size of that (clenched fist), and lightly tap each point on the nose of it. A second, a third, a many times, I search for highest points till I have a coarse, but even matt. My axe is ready to be polished, honed, and cutting edged. So I lay down this slab where water flows, and beside it lay a heap of sand, not seashore sand, that is rounded, but white inland K'yere-pak' (quartz sand), which is hard and square of grain. I dip my tool in the water, I dip it in the sand, and rub it to and fro; days follow days, still I rub, but with finer and finer sand, till behold, my axe is ready to be helved. But wherewith to helve it? Thus: I search for  a tree which has a light branch growing at right angles from the bole. With a sharp flint shard I cut around it, leaving a block the width and shape of my finished axe attached; this I pare and I scrape till it snugly beds my axe; then I plait a sinnet, and with it bind them into one for use. Behold me then; a finished man! For these were our to ‘tehat' (signs of manhood), to make a finished axe, and dive, and bring up three crayfish, one in each hand, and one held by the mouth.

Editors note:

While the language may be archaic, the description of how to make an axe from stone is clear and concise.

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Stone adzes and artefacts

 

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