| Abstract: |
Ethnographic descriptions of the Maori, dating from Captain Cook, document an extensive gift exchange network in New Zealand involving a wide range of commodities and produce from kumara, potted birds and scented oils, to mats, canoes, and rare bird feathers
but above all, abstract human values reinforcing social ties between communities over considerable distances. Archaeological evidence suggests that this network was operating throughout the prehistoric period, and is reflected in numerous imported rock types such as obsidian, nephrite, chert, argillite, basalt and silcrete. It is noted that genes and information also flowed along these lines of contact, and this suggests that what is subsumed under the title of 'trade' is very wide indeed. Archaeologists have little hope of reconstructing the social circumstances of this multifarious contact, and should try to maintain a more objective stance towards this body of archaeological evidence.
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