1884.19.26

Collection type

Object

Description

Bamboo spear with obsidian blade. [El.B 20/05/2011]

Long description

Bamboo spear with obsidian blade. The blade is fixed to the shaft with resin and a wooden collar. The resin is bound with string and painted white with a linear pattern of red lozenges on a white background. Below this there is a red semicircle pattern on a black background. Below the blade rows of seeds are set into the resin. [AB [OPS move] 14/6/2018]

Geographical reference

Papua New Guinea

Oceania > Melanesia > Papua New Guinea

Admiralty Islands Bismarck Archipelago

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1874

Date collected

By 1874

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Obsidian Stone, Material Bamboo Plant, Material Resin Plant, Material Pigment, Material Plant Seed, Process Flaked, Process Carved, Process Glued, Process Bound, Process Painted, Process Chip Carved

Dimensions

Length: max 1190 mm, Width: max 52 mm, Depth: max 26 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.19.26

Research and responses

In May 2011 this object was the subject of pXRF analysis, carried out at the PRM by Robin Torrence (Senior Principal Research Scientist, Australian Museum, Sydney. The source of the obsidian was identified as Umrei/Umleang, Lou Island, Manus. For a report on the project of which this work was a part, see 'Expanding the Range of PXRF to Ethnographic Collections', by Robin Torrence, Peter White, and Sarah Kelloway, in IAOS Bulletin [International Association for Obsidian Studies), no. 46 (Winter 20912), pp. 9-15. (See correspondence and photocpies in RDF: Researchers: Torrence.) [JC 14 10 2019]

Search terms: Weapon, Spear