maori.org.nz acknowledge
Kemera Wilson
for providing this information.

Maori people used to, and some still do today, carve stone, apart from pounamu which has already been discussed. Stone, like wood, comes in hard and soft as well as medium. Soft stone are mainly volcanic or igneous, for example pumice.

Medium stones are mainly sedimentary types, for example Hinuera (a type of sandstone and one of the early stages of pounamu.)

Hard stones (No folks, we are not talking diamonds here!) also known as complimentary stones are onewa (basalt), grey wacke argelite and obsidian.