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PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
"KIDNEY SHAPED" MATAA
SPEAR POINT
EASTER ISLAND
At least a thousand years of peaceful coexistence on Easter Island ended
with the mass production of these obsidian spear points called Mataa.
These crudely made points are the most commonly found surface collected
artifacts discovered during the Thor Heyerdahl archaeological investigations in
the 1950's. He describes the style in this picture, from hundreds recorded
during their survey, as kidney shaped.
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IMAGE
OBSIDIAN QUARRY AREA
EASTER ISLAND
PICTURE CREDIT GEORGE
FRISON
Obsidian is abundant on Easter Island which is unique. On most Polynesian islands in the
Pacific it's fairly rare. It covers the ground in some
places and was easy to collect for spear point making.
OFF SHORE ISLAND
EASTER ISLAND
PICTURE CREDIT GEORGE
FRISON
This small offshore island is made almost entirely of obsidian.
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MATAA SPEAR POINT
EASTER ISLAND
The earliest reference to the Mataa as a sharp cutting weapon is by the
Spanish in 1770. In 1774 British visitors identified them as sharp
triangular pieces of black glassy lava hafted to spears on thin ill-shapen
sticks. In 1868 an early observer named Palmer was the first to record
that these artifacts were attached to wooden shafts and used as pikes for
thrusting and for javelins for throwing. He noted that they were thrown
underhanded and aimed mostly at the legs and arms.
In 1883 another
observer named Geiseler recorded that the tangs of the spear points were
hafted to wooden shafts with bark-cloth and fibre cord. He also observed
that two small wooden wedges were inserted at the sides of the tang to
tighten the lashings. Another notation he made was about a skull he
observed that was cut through by one of these weapons.
The first recorded
collection was purchased by a man named Thomson from another man named
Salmon in 1886. Thomson divided them into nine classes according to
shape. He noted that the difference in shape is not functional but is
dependent on the skill of the individual maker.
MATAA SPEAR POINTS
EASTER ISLAND
In 1919 a man named Routledge used fourteen different descriptive names to
describe these points. He used such names as "tail of a fish",
"backbone of a rat" and "leaf of a banana". He also
writes that these were commonly found and that on one occasion 50 or 60
were found in a stone cave and at another time they found a cache of these
points along with the hammerstone that was used to make them. Or as he put
it "was used in the process of squeezing off the flakes".
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MATAA SPEAR POINTS
EASTER ISLAND
Only two examples of still intact Easter Island spears are know to exist.
One is on the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Vienna. It has a triangular shaped
obsidian point that is very well hafted to a wooden shaft that is obviously
intended to have been used as a throwing spear. The other specimen is in
the British Museum. It is described as having a wide crescent shaped point
hafted onto a handle that is no longer than the width of the spear point
itself. The end of the handle is smoothed and is not believed to have been
broken. It was probably used as a tool to cut wood or bone or any other
relatively soft materials.
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ONE OF THE MANY CAVES ON THE ISLAND
EASTER ISLAND
The numerous caves on Easter Island were used for several different
purposes. They were used as dwellings or hiding places in times of war.
Also for places to bury the dead and for caching away sacred religious
objects. Some caves are decorated with petroglyphs and as previously
mentioned large caches of these tanged spear points have also been found in
them.
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FOUR EXAMPLES OF
SCRAPERS & POSSIBLE ADZES
EASTER ISLAND
Obsidian was also used to make scrapers, drills and other tools. The
sharpest cutting edge can be obtained from obsidian. But the edge is
fragile and will not hold up well. The harder basalt will make longer
lasting wood cutting tools and in fact most of the adzes described by
William Mulloy were of either that material or andesites. The tools in
this picture are made of both obsidian and the harder andesite.
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A LARGE IMAGE
MATAA SPEAR POINTS
EASTER ISLAND
The only standardized feature on the average Mataa is the tang or hafting
area. The shape of the cutting edge seems to have followed the
configuration of the flake of obsidian it was made on. What seems to have
been important is to have a cutting edge that could inflict a severe flesh
wound. The unretouched blade edges on newly made points would have been
extremely sharp!
POST
1722
More devastating events did begin to occur shortly after European contact.
This contact happened at a time when the island's culture, since their
discovery of the island, had reach it's lowest point. With the Europeans
came disease that must have caused many deaths but the worst was the
slave traders. Beginning in 1862 they took away all the healthy people and
in the space of only one year they managed to reduce their culture into
complete disarray, without leadership and hope. By 1900 the population
fell to only 111 people.
The missionaries were the final event that directed the
people towards even yet another way of life. Although the missionaries had
good intentions they were responsible for the loss of most of the wood
carved "Rango-rango" tablets, and other rare sacred objects and
artworks that would have allowed a better understanding of their ancient
past. Today the population of Easter Island is over 2,000.
(An interesting note: there has been some recent concern that
the Rapa Nui National Park may turn over some of its land to private
interests for development, for a large hotel, etc.)
If there's a moral to the Easter Island story (and the planet
Earth) it must have something to do with Clint Eastwood's famous movie
quote "a man has got to know his limitations"!
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