- IJ
35: The notched adzes
Notched Adze from Cape Reinga
Only 7 of these type of adzes are known in NZ, all of argillite and all in Northland close to the location of the notched Kaitaia carving (Orongotea - post no. 31). The type of adze is attributed to a very early Maori style. In fact, it belongs to an early style of the inhabitants that arrived in the Kaitaia area long before the traditional migration canoes. This is why the Kaitaia carving was hidden as we have already explained in that article. This also explains why traditional Maori hold no relics with notching, they were unfamiliar with it by the time they arrived (styles change). Most of these significant items were hidden. But why was the style lost? Where did it come from? Who else notched their adzes? The answer is no one did.
All the notched adzes are dated to the 14th century, are larger (probably for ceremonial purposes) and as with the scant amount of notching elsewhere in the Pacific - attributed to tapu. The condition, size, rarity and notching suggests the notching gave the adzes special prominence. The fact that they are specific to an area with the most unusual and un-Maori like notched wooden carving ever found - 'Orongotea', suggests the practice was not a wide spread Maori one and considering all Maori were to have come from the same place, this seems very strange. Also the fact that this practice never extended to Pounamu once Maori discovered Waitaha already using it in the Southern Island. The only other visable items of notching has been found on are two discs (Hei Rakai) found in the Nelson region and are in the Auckland Museum. They are unlike any other ‘Maori’ form of pendant. Everything ever found with notching, is unlike any other Maori item found in NZ. Other very old examples of notching have been found in the South Island. So we have always maintained the South being the longtime homeland of the first ones and Northland seems to be also. Yet around the rest of country this does not occur. This is because the canoes left places where inhabitants already existed until finally encroaching their territory after a period of time.
The notches could mean time, genealogy or the counting of the special uses they had and as some of these adzes have more notches than others, it seems the pattern wasn’t universal in its application which seems to suggests the notches were progressive or reflective of a number of events, people, or generations. They are dated to the 1400's (I believe they are older and should be retested becuase no NZ archaeologist is ever going to adnit they are older, even if they know they are!) However, if you look at the adzes below, they are of better quality than many Maori adzes from the 1600's - that's 200 years later. We maintain this is for one of two reasons. They were special, ceremonial, and therefore more attention made to their manufacture, or they were the first real carvers in NZ and Maori learned much from these first ones but it took hundreds of years to perfect even better examples.
If you compare the 3 examples below to the Maori produced one found in Rangiora (right) dated to about 1500 you can easily see the quality of carving from those who did notching who were not traditional Maori in any of the migration canoes. As far as I can see, nothing from Tahiti or the Marquesas Islands come anywhere close to this type of effect.
Click to enlarge
There were definately people already in Aotearoa before the migration canoes arrived. Many Maori will tell you their forefathers confrimed this. Their styles were similar because they were also of Pacific origin - but they were not ‘Maori’ as we know them. They were the real tangata Whenua, the ones who could work stone and who were small in number without any pressure over over population of lack of resources. These ones had the definitive notching, and only these ones.
