Adze blade
Place: Tahiti & Society Islands
Category: Tools
basalt, Tahiti and the Society Islands, l. 15 cm, w. 4 cm (blade), Inv. Oz 362
Humphrey No. 209: ‘An adze or hatchet made of hard black stone (a kind of Basaltes) from the Society Isles.’
The blade made of fine-grained black basalt is triangular in cross-section. Blade and cutting edge, as well as the sides, are smoothly polished. The tang fastening the blade to the ‘T-shaft’ is gradually stepped and roughly cut. The shape of the blade corresponds to that of the adzes Oz 360, Oz 361 and Hanover 1854, No. 3. On the basis of Augustin’s (1993: 72) detailed comparison with specimens in Wörlitz, Stockholm, Berne, and Vienna, it may be considered characteristic for a cross hafted tool (adze) from the Society Isles. Gundolf Krüger
Source
Augustin, Stephan, Kunstsachen von Cooks Reisen - Die Sammlung und ihre Geschichte im Völkerkundemuseum Herrnhut, Museum für Völkerkunde, Dresden, 1993.