Summary

This adze is the type used on Cape York to hollow out a log to make the hull for a canoe. On the east coast of the Cape, Aboriginal people made canoes with a single hull to which an outrigger or double outrigger was attached.

Local Name

Mapalla

Physical Description

A hafted tool made from a segment of shell with a sharpened edge. The haft is made from a single piece of wood bent at the mid-point to form a handle. It is embedded in resin coating the distal end of the shell.

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