Obsidian Access and Procurement During New Zealand’s Early Colonisation Period

Abstract

This thesis examines strategies for the access and procurement of stone resources, which were applied in two distinct pre-European Māori assemblages in New Zealand: Houhora, in Northland, and Waitapu, on Ahuahu (Great Mercury Island). To investigate these strategies, a comprehensive stone artefact analysis is undertaken, as stone artefacts are both durable in the archaeological record and exceedingly informative. The research outlined in this study focuses on a combination of geochemical sourcing and technological analysis. Through the identification of obsidian source locations, and a comprehensive reduction intensity analysis, a detailed understanding of applied access and procurement strategies, within their broader environmental, economic, social and temporal contexts, is interpreted. The results of this analysis suggest that populations at both Houhora and Waitapu were exploiting obsidian from a number of source locations. Mayor Island obsidian is identified as the dominant source location present in the two assemblages, however, it was not deemed to have been selected for or treated differently when compared to other exploited obsidian sources. Furthermore, reduction intensity analysis revealed that a modest level of reduction intensity was applied to both assemblages, suggesting that similar mechanisms of access and procurement were applied at both sites. Direct access and procurement of obsidian is advocated for at Houhora, with the population either obtaining these resources as they moved through their immediate landscape, or for Mayor Island obsidian, through ‘social connection’ formed with populations from the Bay of Plenty and/or the Coromandel Peninsula. Direct access and procurement is also advocated for at Waitapu, with populations again identified to have accessed and exploited obsidian resources as they moved through the landscape.