Toki poutangata (ceremonial nephrite adze blade)

item details

NameToki poutangata (ceremonial nephrite adze blade)

ProductionUnknown; carver; 1500-1820; New Zealand

Classificationadzes, toki, Toki poutangata, ceremonial objects

Materialspounamu

Techniquesgrinding

DimensionsOverall: 93mm (width), 440mm (length), 24mm (depth), 2055.3g (weight)

Registration NumberOL000117

Credit lineOldman Collection. Gift of the New Zealand Government, 1992

Overview

This large (44 centimetres in length), mid-green pounamu (New Zealand greenstone) toki (adze blade) has a rectangular cross-section and untangled design. There is no shaping to the proximal end where the adze would have been hafted and securely bound with fibre to a wooden handle. This particular type of quadrangular toki is represented in most early archaeological sites in New Zealand and is generally described as 'East Polynesian'.

Unusual feature
The blade is unusually large, considering that this toki is thought to be a toki poutangata (ceremonial adze), making it a rare example of the form. A large, pounamu adze blade fixed to an elaborately carved wooden handle would have served as a weapon, a tool, and a sign of rank.

Importance
Stone adzes were extremely important tools in Polynesia and New Zealand, and the early inhabitants of East Polynesia, who carried them to all parts of the Pacific, knew the full range of types. Notching ornamentation on reel necklaces and single pendant sperm-whale-tooth units and other objects also indicates how widely these objects were traded and used throughout the Pacific and New Zealand.