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Pitt Rivers Museum

2017.137.1.2

Ground stone polished axe head. [FB 20/6/2017]


2017.137.1.2

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Ground stone polished axe head. [FB 20/6/2017]
Geographical reference
Madang Province Middle Ramu District Simbai
Person
Maker Unknown Maker
Field collector Christopher Richards
PRM source Christopher Richards
Date / Period
Date made: Before 03/1960
Date collected
1960
Acquisition information
Donated: 18/12/2015
Materials and processes
Material Stone, Process Ground, Process Polished
Dimensions
Depth: max 20 mm, Width: max 100 mm, Length: max 230 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 2017.137.1.2
Research and responses

This type of axe was identified by Michael O'Hanlon as a 'work axe' as opposed to a 'ceremonial' one from an area of PNG that was only pacified in 1958 (Simbai is in the remote Bismarck range, north of the Wahgi, and best known anthropologically from the work of people like Rappaport ('Pigs for the ancestors')). [FB 19/6/2017]

Search terms: Tool, Weapon