Greywacke gravels and adze manufacture in the inland Taranaki area, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Stone adzes (toki) made from greywacke are a characteristic feature of late ‘Classic Maori’ material culture in Aotearoa/New Zealand, particularly in the North Island, but despite the widespread natural distribution of this sedimentary rock type few archaeological source sites have been identified. The pre-European production of adzes from alluvial greywacke-dominated gravels in the inland Taranaki area, south-western North Island, was first reported in 1971. We present new information on the nature, extent, and composition of these gravels, on the geochemistry of the greywacke, and on adzes previously collected from the area. X-ray fluorescence analyses of greywacke cobbles indicates they originated from at least two of New Zealand’s Permian to Early Cretaceous tectonostratigraphic ‘basement’ terranes, which has implications for the future sourcing of greywacke adzes from Taranaki and elsewhere.