Stone Adzes Research Articles

A morphometric reassessment of Roger Duff's Polynesian adze typology

Stone adzes are found throughout the Pacific islands and documenting their diversity is critical to understanding relationships between past human populations. The adze typology devised by Roger Duff half a century ago is the standard across New Zealand and the rest of Polynesia. Here we describe the different types in the Duff system and analyse 148 adzes from the Wairau Bar site, which has a high diversity of complete adzes and is the assemblage that Duff used as the basis of his system. We use Principal Components Analysis of morphometric variables to test the empirical basis of the Duff system — an analytical exercise that should have applicability to typological systems elsewhere. Our results show different Duff types clustering separately to an extent, but there are issues of ambiguity in assigning types. Duff emphasized cross-section shape and the elaboration of the tang. We propose a new classification system that emphasizes technological and functional features of the adzes. There is considerable agreement between Duff's system and ours, as different manufacturing methods create different cross-section shapes, and functional modifications are often related to the adze tang. We describe four main manufacturing methods with functional elaborations, resulting in nine different adze types that are represented by at least 3 specimens each at Wairau Bar. Examples of each of these adze types are illustrated. We also note the presence of ‘stitched’ edges on some adzes likely resulting from fine punch work. The Wairau Bar adzes are some of the finest examples of knapping skill known anywhere in the world and suggest a high level of craft specialization.

TEMUAN BELIUNG DI KAWASAN DANAU: STUDI KASUS DI KAWASAN BEBERAPA RANU DI JAWA TIMUR

The stone adze, both rectangular adze or pick adze, is one of the Neolithic tools’s characteristics. In the Asia-Pacific region, stone adze is contemporaneous with the spreading of Austronesian speakers. In East Java province two types of stone tools were found in the lakes region, that assumed as a past settlement. Stone adzes found in the lakes region sites are new data that can complement the data related to the distribution of stone adze in Java, particularly in East Java. Is it true that the findings of the stone adze has a connection with the humans that inhabitants the lake area? Based of these research questions, this research need to be conducted. To answer the research question, spatial archaeological approach issued and also a petrographic analysis of several stone adze samples and stone adze’s rocks material from these research need to be conducted.

Petrographic and geochemical investigation of a stone adze made of nephrite from the Balatonőszöd – Temetői dűlő site (Hungary), with a review of the nephrite occurrences in Europe (especially in Switzerland and in the Bohemian Massif)

The present study reports on results of petrographic and geochemical analyses on a stone adze from the archaeological Balatonőszöd – Temetői dűlő site (SW-Hungary, on the southern side of Lake Balaton). This is the largest excavated site of the Baden Culture in Hungary (more than 200,000 m 2 ) and has the longest continuous settlement history. At the site, features of the Balaton-Lasinja Culture (Middle Copper Age) and the Boleraz Culture have also been found. Altogether 500 stone artefacts were found and registered. The present study reports on the results of the investigation of a unique nephrite adze, found on the site. This adze is the first nephrite artefact with an established archaeological context in Hungarian prehistory. By applying detailed petrographic, geochemical and petrophysical methods as well as comparing with published data we have located the origin of the raw material of this nephrite adze. Its most probable source is the northern part of the Bohemian Massif, Lower Silesia, a geological site near Jordanów (Poland).

ANALISIS ”RANGKAIAN TAHAPAN OPERASIONAL” PEMBUATAN BELIUNG BATU DARI PERBENGKELAN NEOLITIK DI BANYUWANGI SELATAN

Prehistoric research in South Banyuwangi by the National Center of Archaeology of Yogyakarta Regional Office between 2008-2011 have found artifact assemblage which indicating stone tool workshop activities. The typology of artifacts which reflecting workshop activities, including; nucleus, percutor, debitage, rough adze, and polishing stone. This paper uses chaîne opératoire approach to reconstruct the producing process and technological aspects related to the manufacturing process of stone adze from neolithic workshop sites in the region. This study is expected to increasing our understanding on technological perspective in the manufacture of Neolithic stone tools, and to give some idea about the social aspects of life of Austronesian speaking people in Indonesia.

Community differentiation and kinship among Europe’s first farmers

Community differentiation is a fundamental topic of the social sciences, and its prehistoric origins in Europe are typically assumed to lie among the complex, densely populated societies that developed millennia after their Neolithic predecessors. Here we present the earliest, statistically significant evidence for such differentiation among the first farmers of Neolithic Europe. By using strontium isotopic data from more than 300 early Neolithic human skeletons, we find significantly less variance in geographic signatures among males than we find among females, and less variance among burials with ground stone adzes than burials without such adzes. From this, in context with other available evidence, we infer differential land use in early Neolithic central Europe within a patrilocal kinship system.

Jade gouge from Emirau Island, Papua New Guinea (Early Lapita context, 3300 BP): a unique jadeitite

A small stone artifact fashioned as a wood-carving gouge, discovered during an archaeological excavation on Emirau Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, has been determined to consist of jadeitite – jadeite jade. It is very unusual with respect to both pyroxene composition and minor mineral constituents. Pyroxene compositions lie essentially along the jadeite–aegirine join: Jd 94 Ae 6 to Jd 63 Ae 36 , and without any coexisting omphacite. This contrasts with Jd-Di or Jd-Aug compositional trends commonly observed in jadeitites worldwide. Paragonite and albite occur in veins and cavities with minor titanite, epidote-allanite, and zircon, an assemblage seen in a few jadeitites. Surprisingly, some titanite contains up to 6 wt% Nb 2 O 5 with only trace Ta and a single grain of a Y-Nb phase (interpreted as fergusonite) is present; these are unique for jadeitite. A possible source is along the Torare River in northeast Papua, Indonesia, from which samples of “chloromelanite” (actually jadeitite) were collected by C.E.A. Wichmann in 1903 near Humboldt Bay along with stone adzes fashioned from the same material.

New Direction In Human Colonisation of The Pacific: Lapita Settlement of South Coast New Guinea

Expansion of Austronesianspeaking peoples from the Bismarck Archipelago out into the Pacific commencing c.3300 cal BP represents the last great chapter of human global colonisation. Bismarck Indonesia Archipelago Papua New Guinea Torres Strait Caution Bay The earliest migrants were bearers of finelymade dentate-stamped Lapita pottery, hitherto found only across Island Melanesia and western Polynesia. We document the first known occurrence of Lapita peoples on the New Guinea mainland. The new Lapita sites date from 2900 to 2500 cal BP and represent a newly-discovered migratory arm of Lapita expansions that moved westwards along the southern New Guinea coast towards Australia. These marine specialists ate shellfish, fish and marine turtles along the Papua New Guinea mainland coast, reflecting subsistence continuities with local pre-Lapita peoples dating back to 4200 cal BP. Lapita artefacts include characteristic ceramics, shell armbands, stone adzes and obsidian tools. Our Lapita discoveries support hypotheses for the migration of pottery-bearing Melanesian marine specialists into Torres Strait of northeast Australia c.2500 cal BP.

A quarried landscape in the Hawaiian Islands

Polynesian stone adze quarries anchor the system of tool production, distribution and consumption and are critical for examining changing social organization, symbolic values attributed to particular stone sources, economic intensification and ancient interaction. Although major adze quarries are known from most Polynesian archipelagos, a geologically informed archaeological survey was designed for discovering the variability in stone-tool-quality rock sources. Thirteen quarries and sources within the ∼20,000 hectare traditional land unit of Kaluako‘i (literally, the adze pit) on Moloka‘i, Hawaiian Islands, vary considerably in size, production output and settlement context, suggesting that individual adze quarries were accorded different roles across the social landscape. Some sixty-four radiocarbon age determinations and U-series dates from quarries and habitation sites with artefacts originating from quarries, document the temporal sequence of use beginning in the Late Expansion Period (ad 1400–1650), at least two centuries after settlement of the island. Further studies will report on adze technology and on-going geochemical sourcing analyses.

A Study of the Stone-Covered Tombs in Liaodong Province

초록·키워드 목차 오류제보하기 One of the bronze age tomb structures in Liaodong Province and Korean Peninsula was the stone-covered tomb. Al the bronze age, this type of tomb ".'as widely distributed in North East Asia. Chinese archaeologists tend to regard the stone-covered tombs as a different tomb tradition of the dolmen in Korean Peninsula. So that in this article, I try to review and summarize the stone-covered tombs surveyed in Liaodong Province lo understand how the stone-covered tomb differ from the dolmen in Korean Peninsula. The results of the study arc at; follow; First, the location of the stone-covered tombs was related with big river. Geomorphologically, most of the stone-covered tombs were built on lull lop, mountain slope, the foot of a mountain, the top of a mountain, the ridge of a mountain, and so on, But 74,6% of the stone-covered tombs were constructed on the near top of the mountain. Second, the inside structure of the stone-covered tombs were prepared under the ground. There are three types of the stone-covered tombs. First type of the tomb was prepared the inside of grave by only digged the soil. Second type of the tombs was constructed the inside of grave by piled up the wall. Third type was created the inside of grave by digging out the bedrock. Third, many grave goods inside of burials of the stone-covered tombs were uncovered. Bronze artifacts unearthed from the burials were Bipa style bronze dagger and narrow style bronze dagger. Stone artifacts such as polished stone dagger, polished stone adze, semi-lunar knife, jade dagger, and jade ornaments are excavated from the burials. Potteries like Misongni style pottery, Gongguiri style pottery, long necked jar, and short necked jar 'were unearthed. Fourth, the dates of the stone-covered tombs were defined by the remains unearthed from the inside of the grave. The earliest constructions of the stone-covered tombs arc related with the remains of potteries like Misongni style pottery and Gongguiri style pottery. However, the last constructions were associated with the remains like narrow style bronze and iron dagger. Lastly, the stone-covered tombs in Liaodong Province are almost equal structure in typology lo the capstone type dolmen in Korean Peninsula. In addition to this, the lists of grave goods of the stone-covered tombs are similar to those of the capstone type dolmen. Therefore, the stone-covered tombs in Liaodong Province seem to be regarded as a capstone type of the dolmen in Korean Peninsula. #大石蓋菓 #支石菓 #蓋石式 #비파형동검 #세형동검 #마제석부 #미송리형토기 #The stone-covered tombs #Liaodong Province #dolmen #Misongni style pottery #Korean Peninsula Ⅰ. 序論Ⅱ. 大石蓋墓의 分布와 立地 Ⅲ. 大石蓋墓의 構造와 型式Ⅳ. 출토유물의 종류와 성격Ⅴ. 대석개묘의 성격과 편년Ⅵ. 結論<참고문헌>Abstract

Sourcing the interaction networks in Neolithic coastal China: a geochemical study of the Tianluoshan stone adzes

Using geochemical techniques such as XRF, ICP-MS, and Sr–Nd isotope analysis, we conducted a sourcing study of the stone adzes of Tianluoshan (ca. 5000–7000 BP), an early Neolithic waterlogged site in Zhejiang Province, eastern China. The result demonstrates that about one-third of the lithic raw materials came from places of at least 50 km away, suggesting the existence of a long distance interaction network. Because Tianluoshan was located on the ancient coast, this result also has implications for studying the early Neolithic seafaring in China.

Neue Methode der Metrischen und Typologischen Klassifikation von Steinernen Äxten und Pickeln des Neolithikums

New method for a metrical and typological classification of stone adzes and picks of the Neolithic Age . For the stone adzes of the Danubian Neolithic, which are marked by an unsymmetrical structure in the front view, the starting points for building a typology are absent so far. The described method considers the unsymmetry of the perforated implements for instance adzes and picks, and can also be applied to the symmetrically formed implements. The body of the adze gets divided into a neckpart and a cutting part with the help of circle-arcs. The designation of the adzes and picks occurs by two correlated figures, the neck- and cutting part, as well as by the information about the cutting part length. With the help of this new graphical method, the perforated stone implements of the Danubian Neolithic and the following cultures can be typologically recorded.

Continuities in stone flaking technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia

This study examines trends in stone tool reduction technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia, where excavations have revealed a stratified artifact sequence spanning 95 k.yr. The reduction sequence practiced throughout the Pleistocene was straightforward and unchanging. Large flakes were produced off-site and carried into the cave where they were reduced centripetally and bifacially by four techniques: freehand, burination, truncation, and bipolar. The locus of technological complexity at Liang Bua was not in knapping products, but in the way techniques were integrated. This reduction sequence persisted across the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary with a minor shift favoring unifacial flaking after 11 ka. Other stone-related changes occurred at the same time, including the first appearance of edge-glossed flakes, a change in raw material selection, and more frequent fire-induced damage to stone artifacts. Later in the Holocene, technological complexity was generated by “adding-on” rectangular-sectioned stone adzes to the reduction sequence. The Pleistocene pattern is directly associated with Homo floresiensis skeletal remains and the Holocene changes correlate with the appearance of Homo sapiens. The one reduction sequence continues across this hominin replacement.

New exploration on the types and forms of stone needle

The basic use of stone needles in curing disease is cutting the carbuncles and purulences and pricking and draining off the sores. As a result, the forms of stone needle need to have a sharp cutting edge or slender point. Combining with corresponding unearthed material objects of archeology, the microlithic stone needle of mainly consists of a scraper, tip-like device and stone arrowheads. The stone needle of polished stone implements can be divided into three categories according to different forms and functions, that is conical-tip stone needles for pricking, e. g. lithostyle, coup de poing and stone arrowhead etc. ; sickle-shaped needle stone for cutting, e. g. stone knife, stone sickle, stone adze and stone chisel etc; spear-shaped stone needle for both cutting and pricking, e. g. stone spear, stone sword, jade (stone) spear etc. From the usage cases recorded in the ancient literature, the conical-tip stone needle for pricking ought to be the most used of the ancient stone needles. Use of the stone needle for hot stroking, massage and knocking at the body surface, which was raised by some related scholars, does not belong to the domain of ancient stone needles.

Reduction, raw materials and form: ground stone adzes from Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand

Reduction, raw materials and form: ground stone adzes from Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand

ARCHAEOLOGY IN ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA] A sourcing study of Taiwan stone adzes

ARCHAEOLOGY IN ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA] A sourcing study of Taiwan stone adzes

Stone Adze Compositions and the Extent of Ancient Polynesian Voyaging and Trade

The last region on Earth settled by humans during prehistory was East Polynesia. Hawaiian oral histories mention voyaging from Hawai'i to Tahiti and back via the Tuamotus, an open ocean journey of several thousands of kilometers. The trace element and isotope chemistries of a stone adze recovered from the Tuamotu Archipelago are unlike those of sources in central Polynesia but are similar to the Kaho'olawe Island hawaiite, in the Hawaiian Islands, supporting the oral histories. Other adzes collected from the low coral islands of the northwest Tuamotus have sources in the Marquesas, Austral and Society Islands, and the Pitcairn Group, confirming that trade was widespread within East Polynesia.

IDEOLOGY, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AFTER AD 1778

Interpretations of European and American contact with Oceania often highlight the rapid changes that took place in the technologies and practices of its traditional societies. In the Hawaiian Islands, for example, many scholars have assumed that stone adzes were quickly replaced with metal adzes, and that such change was an inevitable consequence of a more efficient western technology. The timing and pace of this particular change is put into a comparative perspective by reviewing published information on the rate at which indigenous Hawaiians selectively modified their clothing and pole-and-thatch hale (buildings) in the context of Euro-American colonialism. The study reveals that although Hawaiian women quickly adopted selected styles of western clothing, indigenous stone adze technology and vernacular architecture persisted about a century after contact in AD 1778. These findings confirm that archaeological studies of colonialism must consider a variety of social and economic factors to document and explain technological change.

Geological Sourcing of Volcanic Stone Adzes from Neolithic Sites in Southeast China

This study uses XRF (X-ray fluorescence) and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) analyses to determine the chemical composition of raw material used in stone tool production. The goal is to identify where stone adzes, which are common in Neolithic sites on the coast of Mainland China, were produced and if they were transported from the production areas to other places. Our study focuses on adzes from three Neolithic sites located on the Fujian coast of Mainland China, opposite Taiwan. The sites date to between 6500 and 3500 b.p. All of the adzes we sampled are made of volcanic rock. A diverse selection of raw materials, including basalts, andesites, and dacites, was used in manufacturing the adzes, indicating that they are made of rock deriving from many di¤erent geological formations. None of the adzes have identical chemical signatures. There is no evidence of specialized centers for adze production. Some of the adzes were probably produced locally, while others were obtained through exchange. This project sets the stage for future research to trace the development and the extent of southeast China Neolithic exchange networks.

Tracking neolithic interactions in southeast China: Evidence from stone adze geochemistry

AbstractThe authors conducted a sourcing study of stone adzes recently excavated from the Damaoshan site on Dongshan Island, Fujian province, China. They used XRF, ICP‐MS, and petrographic thin‐section techniques for geochemical and petrographic analysis of six stone adzes from the site and three geological samples from Dongshan Island. The chemical data of these samples compared with other lavas in Fujian, Zhejiang, Penghu, and Taiwan suggest that the Damaoshan people imported stone raw materials either from the Penghu Archipelago in the Taiwan Strait or from the Niutoushan area on the Fujian coast. This indicates that exchange networks along the southeast coast of China, and possibly spanning the Taiwan Strait, had developed as early as 4300–5000 yr B. P. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Diversity in mastic-mounted stone adzes and the use of mastic in precolonial South Africa: evidence from Steenbokfontein Cave

Composite tools and hafted tools were used world-wide over the last 35,000 years, and possibly earlier than that (Boëda et al. 1996; Holdaway 1996). Evidence for the use of composite tools in South Africa is provided by a small number of arrows from ethnohistorical and archaeological collections (Binneman 1994; Deacon &amp; Deacon 1999: 158–9), a handful of mounted stone artefacts, and a significant number of mastic stained stone artefacts from archaeological sites (Deacon &amp; Deacon 1999). On the basis of the limited sample of near intact mounted artefacts found in South Africa, it appears that small scrapers were side-mounted (at almost 90° to the axis of the handle) and fixed asymmetrically by surrounding resin (Deacon &amp; Deacon 1980: 31–2). Adzes, on the other hand, were end-mounted (on one extreme, and along the same plane, of the handle) and held by a large ovoid lump of mastic (Hewitt 1921; Goodwin &amp; Van Riet Lowe 1929: plate 42; Sampson 1974: figure 105). From their analysis of the available material two decades ago, Deacon &amp; Deacon (1980: 37) concluded that the size and form of the insert was determined largely by the mode of hafting.