Colyers Island: Polynesia's Southernmost Adze Manufacturing
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Colyers Island: Polynesia’s Southernmost Adze Manufacturing Complex Christopher Jennings, Marshall Weisler and Richard Walter CJ, MW: University of Queensland, Australia; RW: University of Otago, New Zealand Abstract Bluff Harbour in southern New Zealand (Murihiku) is the southernmost location of Polynesian adze production. Here an industry developed during the colonisation phase based on the exploitation of numerous sources of argillite—a fine-grained, homogeneous rock with conchoidal fracture properties. Argillite from the Bluff and Riverton sources was a major attractor during the earliest period of human occupation and Bluff argillite adzes were distributed widely throughout the lower South Island. The most extensive sources of Bluff argillite are on Colyers Island, where there is evidence of quarrying and preform production along much of the coast. The sites on Colyers Island were surveyed as the first part of an archaeological investigation of quarrying and adze production in Bluff Harbour. The quarried boulders, outcrops and artefact distributions at these sites indicated that the raw material was exploited by highly organised and skilled craft specialists. The initial stages of adze manufacture were undertaken at the quarry, then preforms were taken to multipurpose camp sites around the harbour for finishing. Adze blanks on Colyers Island were made from large flakes, tabular blocks and cobbles using imported hammerstones. This paper documents the significance of Colyers Island as an important adze production complex in New Zealand. This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/arco.5151. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Keywords: Polynesian Quarries, Adze Technology, New Zealand, Bluff Argillite Résumé Bluff Harbour, dans le sud de la Nouvelle-Zélande (Murihiku), est le plus méridional des sites de production d'herminettes polynésiennes. Une industrie basée sur l'exploitation de nombreuses sources d'argilite (une roche homogène à grains fins et à cassure conchoïdale) s'y est développée au cours de la période de colonisation. L'argilite provenant des sources situées à Bluff et à Riverton fut un facteur d'attractivité majeur pendant la première période d'occupation humaine et les herminettes en argilite de Bluff furent largement distribuées dans la partie sud de South Island. Les sources d'argilite de Bluff les plus importantes sont situées sur Colyers Island, où il existe des traces de l'exploitation de carrières et de la production de préformes le long d'une grande partie de la côte. Les sites de Colyers Island ont été étudiés dans le cadre de la première phase de recherches archéologiques sur l'exploitation de carrières et la production d'herminettes à Bluff Harbour. La distribution des blocs de roche de carrière, des affleurements et des artefacts sur ces sites indiquaient que la matière première était exploitée par des spécialistes de l'artisanat extrêmement organisés et compétents. Les premières étapes de la fabrication des herminettes étaient effectuées dans la carrière, puis les préformes étaient transportées jusqu'à des camps polyvalents aux environs du port, où les finitions étaient apportées. Les ébauches d'herminettes de Colyers Island étaient fabriquées à partir de gros éclats, de blocs à structure tabulaire et de pavés à l'aide de percuteurs en pierre importés. Cet article rend compte de l'importance de Colyers Island en tant que complexe majeur dédié à la production d'herminettes en Nouvelle-Zélande. Mots clés: Carrières de Polynésie, Technique de l'herminette, Nouvelle-Zélande, Argilite de Bluff This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 2 Introduction Stone adzes are ubiquitous throughout Polynesia which highlights their significance to Polynesian societies. Quarrying various sources of raw material for adze production presented technical challenges in extraction and manufacture, yet morphologically similar adze forms distributed throughout Polynesia imply long-established and standardised technologies for producing specific forms. Quarries and adzes in Polynesia have been studied to investigate procurement, production, organisation, use, technology and specialisation (Best 1977; Clarkson et al. 2014, 2015; Cleghorn 1982, 1984; Leach 1993; McCoy 1977; Shipton et al. 2016; Weisler 2011; Weisler et al. 2013). The spatial distribution of basalt quarries and adzes has been used to study interaction and mobility across Polynesia (Allen 2014; McAlister et al. 2013; Rolett et al. 2015; Sheppard et al. 1997; Walter and Sheppard 2001; Weisler 1997; Weisler 1998; Weisler et al. 2016a; 2016b; Weisler & Walter 2017). Originally from oceanic islands composed primarily of basalt, the Polynesian colonists arriving in New Zealand encountered the unique continental geology of New Zealand and its diverse range of rock types. During the colonisation process they soon discovered the major sources of raw materials for adze production (Walter et al. 2010, Walter et al. 2017). Morphological variations of existing Polynesian adze forms were developed as the colonists adapted their technology to master new raw materials during the New Zealand Archaic Period (~1300-1500 AD) (Golson 1959). Distributions of artefacts show that three major adze sources were exploited during the Archaic period: (1) Tahanga basalt in Coromandel, (2) argillite from the Nelson-Marlborough region and (3) Southland argillite (Figure 1). Tahanga basalt, in Coromandel, has perhaps the best understood system of lithic production (Turner & Bonica 1994). Large preforms were produced for transport at the Tahanga quarry and then finished at habitations on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Nelson-Marlborough argillite (known locally as ‘pakohe’) (Johnston 2011) is the most widely This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 3 distributed adze material throughout early New Zealand archaeological sites (Walter et al. 2010). Numerous argillite quarries occur throughout the Nelson-Marlborough region and only a few have been systematically investigated (Jones 1984; Witter 1985). No region-wide synthesis for lithic production has been attempted for argillite and due to the large number of quarries and variation of raw material form (e.g., outcrops, loose cobbles), various extraction and reduction methods may have been used. Argillite adze blanks were transported long distances to habitation sites elsewhere in the South Island such as Kawatiri (Walter et al. 2011) and Wairau Bar (Figure 1) where they were then finished and, in the case of Wairau Bar, redistributed (Walter et al. 2017). Along Foveaux Strait, one of the harshest environments in New Zealand, if not Polynesia, earliest human activity was driven by the acquisition of stone for adzes (Jacomb et al. 2010). The region was unlikely to have been permanently settled prior to European arrival (1770 in Foveaux Strait) but was visited intermittently as part of a resource network exploited by settlers residing along the Otago coast. The major sources of stone in the Foveaux Strait region were metasedimentary rocks occurring in the Bluff Harbour area and near Riverton (Figure 1). These rocks are collectively known as Southland argillite and were predominantly used to produce adzes at sites restricted to the mainland coast of Foveaux Strait (Jennings 2009). The greater Bluff Harbour area is the southernmost region of Polynesian quarrying and adze production (Figure 2). Colyers Island, in the north of the harbour, exhibits the largest source of Bluff argillite and is the most extensively quarried. Although Colyers Island is recognised as one of the important locations driving mobility in Foveaux Strait (Jacomb et al. 2010), very little is known about the nature and timing of island occupation and how quarrying and adze production were organised. The greater Bluff Harbour area exhibits numerous argillite sources and working areas, and while most were likely part of a contemporaneous adze industry, the specific activities and chronology at each site are unknown. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 4 Raw material on Colyers Island occurs as small cobbles and ventifacts (rocks distinctively shaped by wind-borne particle abrasion), large boulders and dykes with eroding tabular pieces. These raw material forms are similar to those found at other Polynesian quarries (Leach & Witter 1990; Rolett et al. 2015; Weisler 2011; Weisler et al. 2013). No middens, ovens or structural features have been identified on Colyers Island, and the spatial extent of the island’s largest and densest adze production area is unknown. The Colyers Island stone working sites are well preserved and have the potential to contribute significant information on technological adaptation, the organisation of resource acquisition, and regional lithic production systems during the Archaic period. Prior archaeological research is limited to a survey (Bristow et al. 1985) and periodic monitoring of the shoreline archaeological sites around the island (Jacomb & Walter 2005). Colyers Island is a major adze production centre that anchored an extensive regional distribution network (Jacomb et al. 2010; Jennings 2009). This paper provides new data on the spatial extent and variability of the quarry complex, including