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Stone Sinker; 1974.12.1

Stone Sinker, 1974.12.1
FromWaitangi National Trust (Treaty House)
Name/Title
Stone Sinker
About this object
A lugged stone sinker from Northland. 60 x 50 x 65mm (HWD) it was found by the donor at Waimate North, Bay of Islands. Copyright
© Waitangi National Trust, copyrights the information and images on this site. All rights reserved
Object Type
Sinker
Object number
1974.12.1

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Results from DigitalNZ

Double grooved stone sinker. Most of surface pecked.
Stone Sinker
Otago Museum
Net sinkers were selected from suitably sized natural stones. They were firmly tied with a special cord and then tied to the bottom rope of the net. Even the small, rounded, waterworn stones seen on casting nets were held firmly by the tying technique. The stone sinkers of ordinary nets were not tre...
Sinkers - Miscellaneous Stone Tools
New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
A rare carved stone mahe (sinker) made from a dense, heavy stone. The mahe has a small protuberance which has been stone-drilled creating a perforation for taking a line, upon which a human face has been carved.
Mahe (sinker)
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Recent investigations at Omimi, about 25 km north of Dunedin, have brought to light an unusual carved stone sinker. It was found last century along with three small adzes and a cache of greenstone pebbles at a site (S155/35) where Big Creek flows out on to Omimi beach, and has been held since then by the landowner's family. The adzes found with the sinker are very similar to those from the Classic Maori site at Murdering Beach, 10 km to the south-east, and constitute the only indication of the age of the object. The combination of detailed carving and phallic shape suggest ritual or symbolic significance (Fig. 1). The sinker is 7.8 cm high and 8.0 cm across its maximum diameter. It is so evenly weathered that it is impossible to determine the rock type without damaging the artefact. The sinker has been carefully hammer dressed all over, and shallow concentric arches are pecked into the sides. The neck slopes slightly inwards but would provide purchase for a cord tied round it and then hitched to another cord running in the groove over the top. The underside is carefully hollowed out. Though it can be described as a phallic object, strictly speaking it depicts only the head or glans of the penis. Though Omimi can be literally translated as ‘the place of urine’, there are no traditions associating the sinker with this appropriate name. Sinkers have received little attention in artefact studies 1 or in studies of Maori fishing methods, 2 though they were obviously essential to the use of all types of nets. 3 Simmons 4 did set up a simple typology for the sinkers from Little Papanui, based on shape and the number of lashing grooves. He distinguished glans-shaped sinkers with longitudinal and transverse grooves, a form which also appears in the Otago Museum collections from Moeraki and Purakanui (Fig. 2). The basic shape of the Omimi sinker therefore does occur in simple, uncarved and presumably utilitarian sinkers from east coast Otago. A. sinker from Purakanui also...
A Carved Phallic Sinker (Journal of the Polynesian Society)
The University of Auckland Library
A small stone sinker intricately and delicately carved with spiral and scroll patterns on the base, with carved protrusion featuring a human face, and perforated for taking a fixed line.
Mahe (sinker)
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
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