Toki (Polynesian polished stone adze)
Toki (azuela de piedra pulida polinesia)
- Date
- c. 1300 · confidence medium
- Place
- Wairau Bar, Marlborough, New Zealand
- Credited to
- Polynesian and Māori peoples
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A polished stone adze, of argillite or pounamu (jade), with the edge set transversely on a bent haft. The first settlers of Aotearoa used it to fell trees and carve canoes and houses, and its typology is used to date and trace Polynesian migrations.
Lapita adzes date to about 1000 BC; the c. 1300 date corresponds to the settlement of New Zealand (Wairau Bar), with East Polynesian-style adzes.
What it led to
- ocean-going canoes and carved timber houses
- trade in adze stone across the Pacific
- greenstone toki as Māori objects of power and prestige