metal weapons and tools in the pacific

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by fearn

Hi Ausjulius,

In an old publication from the Bishop Museum, there was the story of the Hawaiians cold-forging nails from driftwood and using these for spikes, weaponry, and tools. This was before they were contacted, although I have no idea whose ships were being wrecked and washing up on Hawaii.

Don't know if this is true, but I do know that the Eskimos treated meteoric iron the same way, so it's possible.

What I'd say, then, is if anyone can produce a cold forged bit of iron, it actually might be part of an indigenous tradition.

F

inuit and indians on the west of canada and alaska had a well developed inderstanding of working with metals before contact.. ive a good collection of images,,, sime items or a good deal of antiquity..
the inuit has quite large copper weapons , long daggers and knives some over a foot in blade lenght..
but they had access to these metals,,...

the people of the pacific did not... so it means little that they could use a nail to make a hook,, in papua new guine gold for exsample was known,,,,,,, but nothing was made of it.. but they had access to it,
the pacific islanders knew of metals for shure , they have in their languages words for these items,, and understood iron and copper at first contact... but they had no way of obtaining it on demand..
unlike the inuit who woudl as it exsisted in his area of habitation,,
and the new guinean,,
the inuit put copper and iron to use but the new guinean did not put gold to use.. ( in most languages in PNG and the solomons there is some work for gold.. ans it occours in these areas in nugget form)

so the thing is
1,, to have a desire for and knowledge of the material,
2 , to be able to procure it on demand,
in the pacific the 1st is true , aspecialy in the polonesian areas , and secound is not......

so i wounder what was the weapons of iron th produced in larger islands , fiji,, for exsample. .. did they make iron weapons of their own.. and new zealand,i wounder, as the maori had alot of contact.. did they develop and iron knives or tools unique to them.. or did they just take the european weapons and produce the in the same syle. i know that most pa's would maintain at least one more skilled europeans even before the new zealand colonial period, and these individuials were a prized possession by a tribe and almost required to maintain any prestiege ,
much of these men were traders ,carpenters or blacksmiths.. ect ect... and shurly as with the slow supplie of trade goods and the limited range these folk manifactured to order items they thought the maori woudl desire or were requested to make.. and no doubt their skills were partialy passed on to the natives..

i wounder was there any specific maori iron works then???





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[Tim Simmons]

Why not? especially in the later part of the 19th century? Some of the Anerican indian metal weapons are the most plain beautiful you are every likely to see.

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Why not? especially in the later part of the 19th century? Some of the Anerican indian metal weapons are the most plain beautiful you are every likely to see.

indeed .. aspecialy the tlingit daggers,, they are realy quite attractive items...

so , aside from samoa.. is there any other known pacific iron weapons of native design????......

[Tim Simmons]

It is possible that the knife I have may be associated with rather unpleasant pracitises. Which gives an added fresson.

[Tim Simmons]

I do not want to over cook the meat here, and I know this info is concerned with Fiji but we do know that some special tools and implements are associated with these activities. The new materials and technology spread through the region. This is rather wordy but well worth the effort. Scroll to page 13 subtitle cutmarks, read metal implements. .

http://www.stanford.edu/~degusta/Hom...%201999.pdfnts.

the first link did not seem to work

http://www.stanford.edu/~degusta/Hom...sta%201999.pdf

[VANDOO]

MOST OF WHAT WE CONSIDER OCEANIC SOCIETYS WERE STONE AGE IN THE PRECONTACT DAYS. THE HIGH ISLANDS HAD STONE ( VARIOUS FORMS OF LAVA, BASALT BEING THE ONE HEAVY ENOUGH AND STRONG ENOUGH TO FORM A HAMMER OR ADZ, THE OTHER FORMS WERE SUITABLE FOR GRINDING SOFT FOODS, ECT OR AS ABRASIVES FOR SHAPEING OR FINISHING WOOD, SHELL OR BONE. THE LOW ISLANDS HAD NO ROCK AND LIMITED TYPES OF PLANT MATERIALS. HERE BONE, CORAL AND SHELL WAS USED IN PLACE OF ROCK SOME ROCK MAY HAVE BEEN OBTAINED FROM HIGH ISLANDS DURING VOYAGES OR TRADE.
THIS WOULD HAVE MADE IRON WORKING VERY DIFFICULT EVEN IF IRON ORE WAS AVAILABLE. A PIECE OF FOUND IRON COULD HAVE BEEN POUNDED WITH ROCKS AND WORN DOWN BY HAND GRINDING ON A ROCK TO MAKE SOMETHING. MOST OF THE IRON TOOLS CAME TO THE ISLANDS THRU TRADERS ONE OF THE MOST FAVORED BEING A HATCHET OR SMALL AX HEAD. THE AX HEADS DID NOT TAKE UP MUCH ROOM AND WERE IN BIG DEMAND AS THEY COULD BE USED AS A TOOL MAKEING TREE CHOPPING A LOT EASIER AND ALSO MADE A DANDY WEAPON. THEY WERE MOSTLY OUTFITTED WITH HANDLES BY THE TRIBESMAN AND WERE USED ON MOST ISLANDS AS WELL AS IN THE AMERICAS WHERE THEY WERE CALLED TOMMAHAWKS. OFTEN LATER EXAMPLES BECAME MORE ORNATE AS THEY WERE DESIRABLE AS A PRESTIEGE ITEM NOT JUST A TOOL.
THE SAMOAN KNIFE WAS PATTERENED AFTER A WOODEN CLUB DISTINTIVE TO SAMOA IT MAY HAVE BEEN SPECIFICALLY MADE FOR TRADE TO THOSE ISLANDS AND SHAPED ACCORDINGLY BECAUSE THAT FORM HAD CEREMONIAL OR PRESTIGE MEANING. I CAN'T THINK OF ANY OTHER WOODEN CLUB THAT WAS REPLICATED IN STEEL FOR TRADE PURPOSES SO PERHAPS THE SAMOAN CLUB/KNIFE IS UNIQUE IN THAT REGARD.
SEE EXAMPLE OF A COMMON OCEANIC TRADE AX FORM

[Tim Simmons]

This book is well worth getting { Pacific Encounters, art & divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860, available from amazon pbk} as it mentions the use of metal from the very first European and whaler visits to Polynesia. Mention is made that many of the finest pieces of sculpture collected by these early voyages were carved with metal trade tools. There are weapons in this book but all made of wood as the focus is on the earliest period. Other publications do highlight the observances of the use of the forge in Polynesia and further afield. Cpt Cook had to issuse an order of no iron trade because ships nails were in great demand. In the coming years the Islanders were able to demand what trade items they wanted. I see no reason to not believe that between visits the necessity to forge metal did not arise especially as these ports of call were so important for resupply and repairs? It is most curious that publications on the arts of Polynesia do not include metalwork. I might suggest this is because it is not what the buying public expect. Compared to the standard ideas of discovering Polynesia with its wonderful sculpture, and following colonisation, metalwork is too advanced and a little dull.