*************Comparative IMPLEMENTOLOGY*************

*****This complete specimen was recovered from the recently cultivated fields on Parcelle 228 TAIMATE. The findspot only about 15 meters from the road or around 35 meters from the present shoreline. In this location there appears a limited zone of older grey midden dispersed with basalt flakes, perhaps only 100 square meters in extent.
*****This fishhook is easily recognized as a Curved Shank hook, the distinctive form has been well executed despite the small size, the bend is not as tight as that of a larger hook of this type found at AHOAPOFATU (see 452-318-PSH-1). The point is therefore not fully directed towards the top of the head and the gap between more open as seen in some of the Hane and Huahine examples (see VOLUME 17, Diagram 17.7). This hook form is known from excavated examples, to be one of the early forms in the Marquesas and the Society Islands, evidently an important item in the Early East Polynesian cultural assemblage. Of considerable diagnostic importance is the presence of a distinct inside step.