Stone use and avoidance on Easter Island: Red scoria from the topknot quarry at Puna Pau and other sources

The paper presents new observations on the use and avoidance of different red scoria rocks on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), made during fieldwork. It describes the different facies of the rock, their origins, their nature and their context of quarrying and use. From the latter, it is inferred that, for...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archaeology and physical anthropology in Oceania 2014-07, Vol.49 (2), p.95-109
Main Author: Seager Thomas, Mike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
building stone
Cinders
Easter
Easter Island
Ethnography
Excavations
Geological time
Geology
Melanesia, micronesia and polynesia
moai
Oceania
Outcrops
Prehistoric era
Prehistory
Prehistory and protohistory
Puna Pau
Quarries
Quarrying
red scoria
Rocks
Stone
Studies
topknot (pukao)
Tuff
Welding
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The paper presents new observations on the use and avoidance of different red scoria rocks on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), made during fieldwork. It describes the different facies of the rock, their origins, their nature and their context of quarrying and use. From the latter, it is inferred that, for the prehistoric Rapanui, the meaning of red scoria transcended practical utility. A combination of stone context and ethnographic analogy suggests what this meaning or these meanings might be. Stone use on the Island is presented as a model against which the stone use of other prehistoric cultures might be measured.
ISSN:0728-4896
0003-8121
1834-4453
DOI:10.1002/arco.5031