Cargando…

Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand

Archaeological evidence of people's choices regarding how they supply themselves with obsidian through direct access and different types of exchanges gives us insight in to mobility, social networks, and property rights in the distant past. Here we use collections of obsidian artefacts that dat...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: McCoy, Mark D., Carpenter, Jonathan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24416213
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084302
_version_ 1782298762439294976
author McCoy, Mark D.
Carpenter, Jonathan
author_facet McCoy, Mark D.
Carpenter, Jonathan
author_sort McCoy, Mark D.
collection PubMed
description Archaeological evidence of people's choices regarding how they supply themselves with obsidian through direct access and different types of exchanges gives us insight in to mobility, social networks, and property rights in the distant past. Here we use collections of obsidian artefacts that date to a period of endemic warfare among Maori during New Zealand's Late Period (1500–1769 A.D.) to determine what strategies people engaged in to obtain obsidian, namely (1) collecting raw material directly from a natural source, (2) informal trade and exchange, and (3) formal trade and exchange. These deposits represent a good cross-section of Late Period archaeology, including primary working of raw material at a natural source (Helena Bay), undefended sites where people discarded rubbish and worked obsidian (Bream Head), and a heavily fortified site (Mt. Wellington). We find that most of the obsidian described here was likely obtained directly from natural sources, especially those located on off-shore islands within about 60–70 km of sites. A smaller amount comes from blocks of material transported from an off-shore island a greater distance away, called Mayor Island, in a formal trade and exchange network. This study demonstrates the value of conducting tandem lithic technology and geochemical sourcing studies to understand how people create and maintain social networks during periods of warfare.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3885548
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38855482014-01-10 Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand McCoy, Mark D. Carpenter, Jonathan PLoS One Research Article Archaeological evidence of people's choices regarding how they supply themselves with obsidian through direct access and different types of exchanges gives us insight in to mobility, social networks, and property rights in the distant past. Here we use collections of obsidian artefacts that date to a period of endemic warfare among Maori during New Zealand's Late Period (1500–1769 A.D.) to determine what strategies people engaged in to obtain obsidian, namely (1) collecting raw material directly from a natural source, (2) informal trade and exchange, and (3) formal trade and exchange. These deposits represent a good cross-section of Late Period archaeology, including primary working of raw material at a natural source (Helena Bay), undefended sites where people discarded rubbish and worked obsidian (Bream Head), and a heavily fortified site (Mt. Wellington). We find that most of the obsidian described here was likely obtained directly from natural sources, especially those located on off-shore islands within about 60–70 km of sites. A smaller amount comes from blocks of material transported from an off-shore island a greater distance away, called Mayor Island, in a formal trade and exchange network. This study demonstrates the value of conducting tandem lithic technology and geochemical sourcing studies to understand how people create and maintain social networks during periods of warfare. Public Library of Science 2014-01-08 /pmc/articles/PMC3885548/ /pubmed/24416213 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084302 Text en © 2014 McCoy, Carpenter http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
McCoy, Mark D.
Carpenter, Jonathan
Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand
title Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand
title_full Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand
title_fullStr Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand
title_full_unstemmed Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand
title_short Strategies for Obtaining Obsidian in Pre-European Contact Era New Zealand
title_sort strategies for obtaining obsidian in pre-european contact era new zealand
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24416213
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084302
work_keys_str_mv AT mccoymarkd strategiesforobtainingobsidianinpreeuropeancontacteranewzealand
AT carpenterjonathan strategiesforobtainingobsidianinpreeuropeancontacteranewzealand