Cultural Distribution of Obsidian along the Waikato-King Country Coastline, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Analysis of obsidian artefact assemblages from fifteen ‘early’ (pre-AD 1500) Maori sites along an almost 150 kilometre long stretch of the Waikato-King Country coastline in the western North Island shows that while most are dominated by material from Mayor Island, they also contain a significant proportion of ‘grey’ obsidian (grey in transmitted light) from two main source areas – Taupo, and Cooks Beach-Hahei on Coromandel Peninsula. The presence of obsidian from these two source areas in a relatively large number of ‘early’ sites is suggestive of a well-developed exchange network, involving a continuing connection with the same sources over a considerable period of time, perhaps 50–100 years. Possible transportation routes for the obsidian are discussed.