A Stone Adze from Ponape, Eastern Caroline Islands

Athens, J. S. (1984). "A Stone Adze from Ponape, Eastern Caroline Islands". Asian Perspectives. 24 (1): 43–46. doi:10.2307/42928045. ISSN 1535-8283.

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Abstract: During the course of archaeological fieldwork undertaken on Ponape in 1979-1980, a basalt adze in the Museum Pohnpei collection was brought to this author's attention. This specimen is notable due to the fact that stone adzes (and/or stone axes) are very rare on Ponape, despite plentiful sources of basalt (Hambruch 1936:52-53; Schurig 1930:7). The situation is similar for other volcanic islands of central Micronesia, though stone adzes are not as rare in western Micronesia (Craib 1977). Bellwood (1979:295) summarizes information on Micronesian stone adzes as follows: 'Stone tools are not common, even on the volcanic islands, and Micronesian stone adzes are generally of the simple untanged oval or lenticular cross-sectioned forms characteristic of Melanesia (Duff types 2F and 2G). Tanging and waisting are virtually unrecorded.'