Abstract:
Nephrite jade is known as pounamu by New Zealand Māori and was an important material used in the manufacture of ornaments and tools and retains significant cultural value today. The only known pounamu sources are in New Zealand’s South Island; however, the presence of pounamu artefacts are prevalent in sites all over New Zealand. For this reason, the ability to determine the original source of pounamu artefacts would provide archaeologists with valuable information regarding prehistoric trade networks in New Zealand. A review of the existing methods for sourcing this material reveals that there is a lack of non-destructive approaches; non-destructive approaches that do exist are based on the identification of visual properties. Though there has been some success attributing source on the basis of visual properties, this method requires the experience of a specialist familiar with New Zealand pounamu sources. Alternative methods, which have a destructive component, are not ideal in an archaeological context. This thesis explores the application of non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) in an effort to discriminate between different pounamu source regions in the South Island of New Zealand. Specimens from different known pounamu sources were analysed using a Bruker Tracer III-SD portable Xray fluorescence (PXRF) analyser. The geochemical data of each specimen was recorded with its known source information. Another component of this thesis looks at pounamu artefacts from the Oruarangi site. Artefacts from the Oruarangi collection at the Auckland Museum were analysed using PXRF. The source of the artefacts was then predicted using multivariate statistics and the geochemical data obtained from the pounamu specimens of known source.