New Acquisitions

Complete pounamu hei tiki. Light green inanga variety. Profile is unusual concave shape. Head turned to left with shallow markings outlining mouth. Red sealing wax in eyes and nose clearly indicated. Large suspension hole drilled above one eye. Four notches on forehead. Arms on hips but no hands or fingers. Feather crack on rear situated at shoulder blades and another at left rear side of forehead.

Complete adze. Cross-section is rectangular. Surface is ground, except for areas of natural roughness Undifferentiated between butt and blade. Poll end is shaped to a point on proper right Very small bevel, cutting edge is blunt and curved

Broken adze (missing fragment from lower blade). Pounamu. Dark green, mid green, silver. Cross-section is rectangular. Surface is mostly ground, with areas of bruising on front and back. Large and deep sawing mark down front and back. Undifferentiated between butt and blade, sides taper towards poll. Bevel is continuous with blade, cutting edge is sharp and mostly straight, curving at edges. Large fragment of proper left cutting edge missing. "Waikouaiti" written on back.

Broken adze (proper left side of butt not present). Pounamu. Mid green, light green. Cross-section is rectangular. Surface is ground, with some bruising on proper left side. Sawing mark down proper right side. Undifferentiated between butt and blade, proper left side of butt not present. Bevel is demarcated by a line, cutting edge is sharp and curved. "Murdering Beach" written on front.

Complete adze. Black stone. Surface is ground on blade and bruised on butt. Major differentiation between butt and blade with front and sides reduced to form shoulders. Bevel is demarcated by a line. Cutting edge is straight and sharp but flaked. "Dunedin?" inscription.

Complete adze. Black stone. Cross-section is rectangular. Surface is ground on front and back and bruised on sides. Sides are slightly reduced and taper toward the poll. Bevel is continuous with the blade. Cutting edge is oblique and sharp but flaked.

Pounamu/nephrite hei tiki. Dark green with low translucency. Saw mark on back surface, running from proximal end to proper right arm. Head inclined to proper left shoulder. Suspension hole drilled from both sides above one eye; additional incomplete drill mark on front. Eyebrows, nose, mouth and tongue indicated. Arms akimbo with elbows accentuated and arms positioned towards rear of thighs. Three fingered hands indistinctly visible on thighs. Legs joined together with three toes indicated on each side.

Piece of worked bone. One side has an incised anthropomorphic figure incised on it, with drilled eyes. Proximal edges outlines the head and body of the figure. Other side has a small half-circular shape in one corner. Side edges are flattened. Distal end has sawing marks in an upside down V-shape and is broken off in the centre. Surface has been ground smooth.

Complete light green pounamu pendant. Surface is ground and bruised. Sawing mark on both sides of the proximal end, sawn through to create a suspension hole. Distal end has a bevel on one side and an edge resembling the cutting edge of an adze, indicating that this may have been reworked from an adze.

Complete pounamu pendant. Mid-green, mid-blue, and black in colour with low transparency. Inanga variety, Westland source. Adze-shaped, with a broken and reworked proximal end. Proximal edge is rounded and reduced with shoulders. Complete suspension hole drilled from both sides, as well as a drill mark on one side indicating another incomplete suspension hole. One side edge has a small sawing mark and serrations running along the lower end, possibly an indicator of the number of generations of use. Distal end is oblique and sharp.