The greenstone adze .....

One day, when my Grandad Ernie was a young man, he was ploughing a paddock on the family farm at Hilderthorpe. He found this beautiful greenstone (pounamu) adze which must have been under the soil for many years - prior to european settlement anyway. Maori settlements are known to have existed throughout the Waitaki valley and surrounding areas so it must have been lost or left behind many years ago.

                                 The adze is now in the North Otago museum, Oamaru.