Connections with Hawaiki: the Evidence of a Shell Tool from Wairau Bar, Marlborough, New Zealand

Janet Davidson; Amy Findlater; Roger Fyfe; Judith MacDonald; Bruce Marshall

doi:10.70460/jpa.v2i2.54

Connections with Hawaiki: the Evidence of a Shell Tool from Wairau Bar, Marlborough, New Zealand

Authors

Janet Davidson Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Amy Findlater
Roger Fyfe The Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch 8013.
Judith MacDonald
Bruce Marshall

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70460/jpa.v2i2.54

Keywords:

Wairau Bar, Hawaiki, shell tool, Terebridae, Acus crenulatus, East Polynesian Archaic.

Abstract

A tool from the archaeological site at Wairau Bar, New Zealand, is identified as an import from the tropical Pacific. The tool was made by working a cutting edge on the apex of a spiral gastropod shell, identified as Acus crenulatus (formerly Terebra crenulata) (family Terebridae). Similar tools have been found in a number of sites in tropical East Polynesia, dating to the same general time period as Wairau Bar. The tool supports the view that the Wairau Bar site was a pioneering settlement close in time to the initial Polynesian arrival in New Zealand.

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Published

06-07-2011

How to Cite

Davidson, J., Findlater, A., Fyfe, R., MacDonald, J. and Marshall, B. (2011) “Connections with Hawaiki: the Evidence of a Shell Tool from Wairau Bar, Marlborough, New Zealand”, Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 2(2), pp. 93–102. doi: 10.70460/jpa.v2i2.54.