Elsdon Best�s 1925 work Maori Agriculture has been influential in New Zealand archaeology impacting on the terminology and assumed functions applied to so called �horticultural� implements retrieved in excavations, as well as those in museums and private collections. This thesis critically examines Best�s horticultural tool classification and the decisions he made with regards to tool function. Ethnographic accounts are investigated in an effort to understand how and why Best selected the terms and functions that he did. The literature review reveals anomalies in the conclusions that Best drew and the morphology of the tools that he described, highlighting the lack of order and confusion surrounding horticultural tool function, terminology and morphology, and prompting a much needed reassessment of horticultural implements.
A study of artefacts from New Zealand museums was undertaken with the aim of generating two typologies for so called �horticultural� tools. The artefacts are classified to specific types using specified attributes, and following the classification process, are investigated for metric and non-metric variables that are indicative of the tool�s function. Graphical and basic statistical analyses revealed largely unimodal distributions for the metric attributes recorded for each tool type. Non-metric qualities also displayed a uniformity to their occurrence within the individual types.
The data for each type is discussed with regards to tool function, combining the results of the attribute analyses with comparable tool morphologies from other Pacific cultures. The distribution of tool types in prehistoric New Zealand is also investigated in an effort to elucidate tool function.
This investigation highlights the artefacts as earth-working implements, disestablishing the restricted horticultural context which for so long has been associated with such tools.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217616 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Jones, Brenda M, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Anthropology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Brenda M Jones |
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