- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- War charm to protect the wearer from the enemy and evil spirits, worn around the neck with the charm hanging down the back looking out [ZM 08/07/2015]
- Geographical reference
- Bismarck Archipelago Admiralty Islands
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1934
- Date collected
- By 1934
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1941
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Material Bird Feather, Process Carved, Process Incised
- Dimensions
- Length: max 460 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1941.2.3 Other numbers: 3518
- Research and responses
Although the initial accession entry refers to the object as a head, the added accession entry seems to refer to a head of a humerus. [CF 11/5/2000]
This object appears to be made entirely of wood and feathers and does not seem to be composed of or to contain a humerus. [EC 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 3/10/2005]
For very similar objects see plate 52 on page 65 of Anna Edmundson and Chris Boylan, Adorned: Traditional Jewellery and Body Decoration from Australia and the Pacific (University of Sydney: Macleay Museum, 1999), which are described on page 107 as follows: 'War charms, Admiralty Islands, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, 19th century, wood, pigments, frigate bird feathers, resin, plant fibre...War charms were used throughout the Admiralty Islands until the end of the nineteenth century. They were talismans carried into battle to protect the wearer from both the enemy and evil spirits. The war charm projected out from the back of the neck, secured by a string around the neck. An ancestor's bone was sometimes incorporated into the charm to increase its potency.' [ZM 08/07/2015]
Search terms: Ritual and Ceremonial, Status, Ornament, Figure, Ceremonial Object, Status Object, Amulet, Neck Ornament
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