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Which tools were used for carving and engraving wood in Oceania?

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dilly bag; Aboriginal Australian art, Northern Territory, Australia — Oceanic art and architecture An Aboriginal Australian decorating a tightly woven dilly bag with white, yellow, and ochre (red) paints, Northern Territory, Australia, 1948.

In Oceania, wood carving and engraving were primarily performed using Neolithic technology, as metal tools were largely unavailable until European contact. The primary tool for shaping and trimming wood was the adz, which featured a stone blade hafted to a handle. In regions where stone was scarce, blades were sometimes fashioned from Tridacna shell.12

For finer tasks such as cutting and engraving, Oceanian artists utilized a variety of specialized implements:
* Cutting and Engraving: Fine work was performed using unhafted boar tusks or hafted shark and rodent teeth.1
* Gouges and Awls: Animal bones were commonly repurposed as gouges, awls, and needles.1
* Abrasion and Drilling: Simple drilling and abrading equipment were employed for working various materials, including shell.1
* Obsidian: When available, obsidian was chipped into sharp blades for use as tools.1

These tools were essential for working wood, which served as the primary artistic medium throughout the Pacific Islands.1