The Origin of Polynesian Forms

The ancestors of the Polynesians must have made various forms of adzes before they left Indonesia on their eastward movement through Micronesia. On the volcanic islands such as Truk, Ponape, and Kusaie, they had basalt with which to reproduce the forms they were already acquainted with. However, the Marshalls and the Gilberts at the eastern end of Micronesia were atolls without any basalt. It may be assumed that the Polynesian ancestors spent some time in the eastern atolls before they moved further east. The stone adzes they carried with them from the last volcanic island must have worn out, thus forcing them to make adzes of shell. The shell material made it difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce the various forms of the basaltic adzes which they had previously made. Thus the lack of raw material created a gap in the direct transmission of ancestral forms of basaltic adzes from Indonesia. When the Polynesian ancestors reached Samoa and the Society Islands, the abundant supply of basalt enabled them to discard shell in the manufacture of adzes. The abundance of suitable material, however, could not revive the memory of forms they had never seen, let alone made. It would seem that they had to start all over again with the making of basalt adzes after they reached Polynesia. This may be partly the reason for the divergence of the popular forms of adzes made in the different groups of islands.

A quadrangular form was established early as indicated by its wide marginal distribution. The haft with a long toe could have been carried through Micronesia, for hafts had to be made for the shell adzes and the toe haft has a wide distribution throughout the Pacific (99, p. 442). The triangular form with the base to the back, termed "hog-backed" or "hoof-page 182shaped" (Fig. 36d), must have been a fairly early form for it is widely distributed. From its narrow curved cutting edge and heavy weight, it evidently served a widely spread need such as cutting out parallel grooves

Fig. 36. Adze subgroups.
a, quadrangular, untanged; b, quadrangular, tanged; c, triangular, untanged; d, triangular, tanged; e, inverted triangular, untanged; f, inverted triangular, tanged.

to be followed with the removal of the intervening wood by the quadrangular adze. Another form of triangular adze (toki kouma) was popular in the Marquesas. The triangular form with the base to the front (Fig. 36e, f) became popular in central Polynesia and evidently replaced page 183the older quadrangular form. The three groups of quadrangular, triangular, and inverted-triangular adzes were present probably in central Polynesia at the time of dispersal. Emigrants to other islands carried away some forms and developed others in their new homes.