Traditional Polynesian technology relied for the most part upon five substances: wood, stone, vegetable fibre, shell, and bone. Canoes, houses, domestic utensils, weapons, religious sculpture, and a host of other incidental tools were fashioned from wood with stone or shell adzes; stone-flake knives; files made of coral, sea urchin, or rough stone; and drills of bone, stone, or shell. Fine carving was done with stone, shell, or animal teeth, particularly those of rats or sharks. Fine-grained basalt stone was the hardest material available to Polynesians and was used to produce a variety of adzes.

The components of complex items were skillfully fitted together and lashed with cordage made from various types of vegetable fibre, such as hibiscus bark, pandanus-leaf fibre, coconut fibre, or banyan bark. Huge double-hulled canoes, 100 to 150 feet (30 to 45 metres) in length, were built of numerous small wooden components held together only by fitting and lashing, yet they were able to withstand the pounding of wind and waves for thousands of miles.

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