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TUBUAI ARTIFACTS Adze Type 4E8, 453-271-4Ea-1f This fragment was recovered by Noema Tehoiri in his faapu (Parcelle 271 TEUMERE) where a great many artifacts have been recovered including adzes and adze fragments of a highly diversified nature, suggesting that this site was habited over a long period. The unusual form of this highly patinated specimen was at first a puzzle however it soon became apparent that it could only be another very early 4E, and indeed it proved to be very similar to the adze detailed in Volume 12 pages 34-41. In this fragment we see however some important differences, Firstly this fragment has been ground and is in a nearly finished or finished state the bevel and anterior blade tip surfaces have been ground but not completely, the scars evident near the cutting edge may indicate unfinished work or damage due to actual usage and perhaps an attempt to repair the broken edge. The considerable patination that is perhaps much augmented by the acid (red) soil conditions in which this artifact was found, has melted some of the surface features, making a clear diagnosis impossible. However an examination of the sides near the cutting edge shows that the front part of the implement has been broken and that the blade tip would have been originally somewhat longer the bevel becoming transversely concave but not exceptionally well ground, while the remaining ground anterior blade tip surfaces seem not to be flat but rather suggesting a sloping convex surface that would not have been very much longer. This is a very interesting problem as it may latterly turn out that the front of these tools is a rather blunted, semi-plano-convex type. This would give them a rather different appearance than Duff's Rarotongan 4E however the raised anterior blade tip surface is even more pronounced in this specimen. The diagnostic importance of these artifacts may be considerable, as they represent very early examples of this type of adze that is at the onset very rare and probably pre-Koma type. It must be stressed that these are not the beaked triangular adzes found in the early levels in the Marquesas but represent the same tradition that is probably descending from the Samoan Type VI. In the Comparative Diagram 13.41 | have shown the side profiles of the Tubuai examples, where the raised front of the above, latest example, can be seen as exceeding that of the earlier find. These may be specialized rare tools which were only required to fullfil a limited application such as gouging out the narrow confines of the inside of a canoe prow. |
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