Toki Manufacture

Toki Manufacture

Toki are typically found in archaeological sites in various stages of manufacture or repair, rarely discoverable as complete, unused objects. Instead, unmodified and fully finished Toki are mainly found in caches or burial sites. The frequent repairs and modifications made to Toki, evidenced in archeological record, highlight the value of the stone and the effort dedicated to their crafting: an investment not lightly thrown away.   

^{Dante Bonica flaking stone. Turner Archive, Anthropology, University of Auckland. All rights reserved.}

Archaeologists sometimes find toki in archaeological sites within Aotearoa New Zealand. Archaeologists more commonly find stone toki without the haft (handle). Due to formation processes, toki handles and lashing do not commonly survive in the archaeological record. When they do, they are found in caves or wetland sites, which provide conditions to preserve wood and fibre. This means that while we have the toki, we do not have the haft and lashing, so it sometimes makes it difficult to discuss how the toki was used. 

Toki are usually found in archaeological sites in varying states of manufacture or repair rather than as a completed, unused object. Most of the finished toki that archaeologists find are modified. They have been repaired (e.g., reground to fix a chipped surface) or reworked (changed into a new, usually smaller toki shape than the original form with a different use due to breakage). Unmodified finished toki are rare in the archaeological record. They are usually found in cache (i.e., storage) or burial contexts (Turner 2005).

Museums, individuals and families may hold completed toki that never entered the archaeological record. It is likely that abraided, reworked and repaired toki are common in archaeological sites because toki were not discarded if damaged or broken due to the time spent on manufacture and their importance to daily life. 

Unfinished, broken, repaired and reworked toki can tell us about the following processes: 

- Unfinished toki can tell us how toki were made, what skills Māori used manufacture, and why or how certain materials failed 

- Broken toki and toki blanks can tell us about material weakness, task performance, manufacturing techniques 

- Repaired toki can tell us about the types of activities that may have caused damage to a toki. The number of repaired toki can tell us about the intensity of activities. 

- The number of reworked toki can tell us about the intensity of activities and about the value of toki stone 

Tools for making a toki 

Toki stone selection: 

- Suitable stone for creating a toki was selected from source locations, such as large flakes or tabular pieces removed from outcrops and spalls, water-rolled cobbles and pebbles from coastlines and rivers.  

- Stone was selected for manufacture for properties of regular proportions suitable for producing a toki, known good qualities of flakeability, hardness and toughness.  

- The stone sometimes needed to be extracted or modified from the source using a large hammer stone before it could be worked. 

- Archaeologists call stones selected for toki manufacture blanks.  

- Some blanks may be partly or completely covered in a weathered outer surface, known as cortex. The surface is cortical. 

- Hammerstones are rounded stones used for tasks that include the extraction of blanks, flaking and hammer dressing.  

- Hammer stones used for extraction and breaking up blanks were large (some up to 20kg) and could be spherical. These large hammers were used to break toki blanks away from spalls and outcrops at the source, and to split large flakes and cobbles into smaller, more manageable blanks.  

- Hammer stones used for shaping a toki using flaking (whāwhā) or hammer dressing (paopao) techniques were usually smaller and could be held in one hand. Depending on the shaping task, their shapes ranged from spherical to ovoid or discoid.  

- Archaeologists have found worn and broken discarded hammerstones at toki manufacture sites, indicating that the hammers were often worn out and a new one selected. 

- Hammerstones could be chosen from locations near to the toki source (e.g., Tahanga water rolled andesite and basalt from the coast), however in some locations, stone especially good for toki manufacture was extensively moved and brought to locations for toki working (e.g., limestone garnet in Marlborough) 

- Hoanga (grindstones) were coarse-grained rocks used to abrade and grind (orooro) the surface of an toki. Sandstone was particularly favoured for use as hoanga. Water and sand could be added to the hoanga to assist with grinding (Turner 2000:47). Abrasion could be used for finishing surfaces after hammerstone techniques or to shape a toki entirely. 

- Sawing was necessary for some materials, such as Pounamu, do not flake well and instead require sawing and grinding into a toki. Stones such as greywacke or hard sandstone were used to cut the material, which could be snapped when a deep enough groove had been formed. A hoanga was then used to polish the surface. 

Toki flaking and grinding methods 

https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/8884/making-an-adze
 

Flaking involved the controlled removal of stone flakes to create a toki shape from a stone blank using free-hand percussion with a hammerstone.  

- This technique required fine-grained rock. 

A hammerstone was used to strike the toki stone and remove stone flakes to form the shape of the toki, such as the margins, bevel or cutting edge. We call the surface that was struck by the hammerstone a flaking platform.  

- The flaking platform could be prepared to make it easier to remove flakes by making it flatter. This might be achieved by hammer dressing, flake removals, or minor grinding. 

- Striking the flaking platform with force initiated a conchoidal fracture plane through the stone surface which removed the flake.  

- Removing the flakes as a conchoidal fracture left a smooth, curved flake scar on the blank surface similar to an imprint from a pipi shell. 

- Stone flakes have a platform (remnant from the flaking platform on the blank), ventral surface (which faced the black), dorsal surface (which was the previous exterior surface of the blank) and termination. - - The termination is the bottom end of the flake where the force of the hammer blow transmitted through the flaking platform and removed the flake from the blank. Stone flakes also have margins (sides), where they were detached from the blank. 

- Stone flakes are of interest to archaeologists because they can tell us about the processes of manufacture. They are often the only evidence of toki manufacture found at an archaeological site because the completed toki were removed and used by Māori. 

- Flaking was a process that required high skill. The edge angles required for finished toki required highly precise flaking, particularly during late stages. The toki also became more vulnerable to breakage as the flaking progressed because its proportions were thinner and high angled blows were required. 

- Flaked stone toki are more likely to have angular contours achieved by high-angled flaking than toki made by hammer dressing and grinding techniques. 

- Quadrangular cross-sectioned flaked stone toki were usually finished with grinding.  

- Other flaked stone toki were partially flaked to remove excess stone and then finished with hammer dressing and grinding. This is because the stone was coarser, and it was easier to reach a symmetrical toki by hammer dressing techniques rather than a fully flaked process. 
 

Hammer dressing 

Hammer dressing techniques were used to create symmetry on flaked stone toki. Hammer dressing replaced late-stage flaking by using bruising or pecking blows to remove high and asymmetrical points on the toki form and provide symmetry. This method was lower risk than flaking the toki to the point of grinding, as it did not require high-angle flaking, which may cause transverse fracture. It also caused less wastage. In some cases, only hammer dressing and grinding methods were utilised. After hammer dressing, grinding was used to finalise the cutting edge and finish the toki. This method could be faster than flaking. 

Hammer-dressed toki are more likely to have rounded edges as there was a danger of damaging or chipping the edges or cutting edge of the blade if bruising the edges to achieve high edge angles (Turner 2000: 33).  
 

Grinding 

Grinding entailed shaping a toki blank using a grinding stone (hoanga). Sand and water could be added to the hoanga to add grit. During late stages, grinding could be used to finish the bevel and cutting edge of the toki after flaking or hammer dressing grinding techniques. It was used to create symmetry and even surfaces. It could also be used to shape a toki from start to finish.  

Location of working: 

The toki was shaped into roughouts and preforms for transport at the source. Weight was removed to make it easier to move the stone, while refinement that required high skill was conducted at residential locations. 

^{[Unidentified carving a kakau toki poutangata], PH-1958-1-15393. Collection of Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Cultural Permissions apply.} 

Bibliography

[1] Turner, M. 2005 Functional and Technological Explanations for the Variation Among Early New Zealand Adzes. New Zealand Journal of ArchaeologyVol. 26 (2004), pp. 57–101.

[2] Turner, M., 2000. The Function, Design and Distribution of New Zealand Adzes. Unpublished PhD thesis, Anthropology, University of Auckland