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1931.86.61

Flat broad-bladed wooden spatula

1931.86.61

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Flat broad-bladed wooden spatula
Geographical reference
Papua New Guinea
Oceania > Melanesia > Papua New Guinea
Bougainville Buka Malasang
Person
Field collector Beatrice Mary Blackwood
PRM source Beatrice Mary Blackwood
Date / Period
Date made: Before 10/1930
Date collected
?29 September 1929 - 8 October 1930
Acquisition information
Donated: 1931
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Process Carved
Dimensions
Width 77 mm, Length 355 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1931.86.61 Other numbers: Blackwood no. 61
Research and responses

Related Documents File - i) List of 'Contents of Cases sent from Soraken in April 1930.' ii) Notes on: 'Mourning Belt'; 'Map of Buka and Bouganville, areas from which most of the specimens were collected are marked in ink'; 'String Making'; 'Fire'; 'Buka Pottery'; 'Photograph illustrating the use of the implement for scraping coconut'; 'Rite for a new fishing kite, Petats'; 'Fans'; 'Woman's Hoods'; iii) Correspondence: Letter from A. D. Cotton of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew to Beatrice Blackwood, dated 4 November, 1931, thanking her for her map, list of specimens and 'plants used for food magic' which she had sent to be identified; Letter from Arthur Hill, director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to Beatrice Blackwood, dated 23 December, 1931, stating that he is enclosing the identification of the plants she had sent to Kew [this list does not appear to be with this RDF file]; iv) Duplicate photographs of Beatrice Blackwood's Buka material. See Beatrice Blackwood's notes on 'Buka Pottery' and 'the Pottery of South Bougainville' for details about the techniques and ceremonies involved in pottery making. Includes photographs of: 1. kneading the ball of clay to start a pot; 2. making the base; 3. putting on the first coil; 4. flattening out a coil; 5. finishing the flattening of a coil; 6. putting the pattern round the rim; 7. preparing to fire the pots; 8. stacking the pots ready for firing; 9. firing the pots; 10. taking out the fired pots; 11. trading pots for taro roots at Tarongen, N. Bouganville. 12. carrying pots home after a visit to Malasang; and 'breaking pots as a protest againt an insult. Tabut Village, N. Bougainville'; 'potter at work, Kieta District, S.E. Bougainville. In the background the bed of sticks laid.' [GI 30/11/2001]

Search terms: Pottery, Tool, Potter's Tool