A re-assessment of the early Māori use of silicified tuff (palla) in the Canterbury region

Previous work has shown that a distinctive green silicified tuff, termed palla by Julius von Haast, was utilised by early Māori in the Canterbury region to manufacture small numbers of adzes. This paper presents new information on the source, composition and visual characteristics of this lithic material, along with a re-assessment of the evidence for its utilisation. A re-examination of museum collections indicates that palla artefacts were not as widely distributed as previously thought, but are largely confined to the coastal mid Canterbury area. More recent radiocarbon dating of archaeological sites near the mouth of the Rakaia River, and at Wakanui, suggest that palla was being utilised in the fourteenth century.