Hawaiian Adze Production and Distribution - Implications for the Development of Chiefdoms (Paperback)

Using a study of stone adzes of the precontact period on the island of Hawai'i, Lass examines the role of a material resource in the development of cultural complexity. Archaeological evidence is used to analyze the hypotheses that embrace the adaptationist and political approaches to increased complexity. Chapters on craft specialization, production, centralized redistribution, and use of stone adzes suggest that such tools, made and used independently by commoners for chiefly projects, provide a link between the subsistence and political sections of the Hawaiian chiefdom economy.