Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1916.36.121

Stone tool, mata'a, made of obsidian.

1916.36.121

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Stone tool, mata'a, made of obsidian.
Long description
Stone tool, flake. 1 of 29 implements including wasters, tanged obsidian spearheads and hammer-stones together in a clear fronted old museum display box. [ZM 28/4/2004]
Geographical reference
Rapa Nui
Oceania > Polynesia > Rapa Nui
Date / Period
Date made: Before 18/08/1915
Date collected
Between 29 March 1914 and 18 August 1915
Acquisition information
Donated: 1916
Materials and processes
Material Obsidian Stone, Process Flaked
Dimensions
Width: max 20 mm, Length: max 87 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1916.36.121
Research and responses

Please note that the Routledge's published account of their journey includes many specific object references, drawings, maps and photographs. Please refer to: Routledge, Mrs. [Katherine] Scoresby Routledge (1919) The Mystery of Easter Island: The Story of an Expedition. London: Sifton, Praed & Co. Ltd. [L.Ph 29/4/2004]

Please note that the unpublished field notes relating to this expedition are at the Royal Geographical Society. This information was found on p. 334 of the biography of Katherine Routledge (Pease): van Tilburg, Jo Anne (2003) Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island. London: Scribner. [L.Ph 29/4/2004]

Associated publications
One of twenty objects from the Pitt Rivers Museum included in the exhibition catalogue Making Monuments on Rapa Nui: The Statues from Easter Island, by Colin Richards and Bryan Sitch (Manchester: The University of Manchester, Manchester Museum, 2015). On page 39 in the section 'The End of an Era' this particular object is one of a group described as follows: 'Hoard of obsidian implements or weapons called mata'a. Mata'a appear much more frequently and in greater numbers in more recent archaeological contexts on Rapa Nui. This has been interpreted as evidence that the islanders' traditional way of life descended into civil strife and open warfare. This seems to be supported by oral history testimony and by the discovery of skeletons showing trauma but researchers differ in how to interpret the evidence (see below). Loan courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum, 1916.36.118-128, 130, 132, 134 and 135'. [ZM 9/9/2015]

Search terms: Tool, Technique, Weapon, Flake, Spear-head, Hammer-stone, Debitage

Further items to explore