1886.1.1607

Collection type

Object

Description

Fishing spear comprising a long wooden shaft and two barbed points at the head, bound with coconut fibre. [JMC [OPS move] 29/8/2018]

Long description

Fishing spear comprising a long wooden shaft and two long points of stained and polished wood at the head. Both points are serrated with downward-facing barbs on the inside edge. The points are secured to the top of the shaft with a binding of plaited coconut fibre. The shaft tapers to a point at the butt. [JMC [OPS move] 29/8/2018]

Geographical reference

Niue

Oceania > Polynesia > Niue

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1878

Date collected

By 1878

Acquisition information

Transferred: 13/02/1886

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Sennit Coconut Seed Fibre Plant, Process Carved, Process Bound, Process Polished, Process Plaited

Dimensions

Width: max 40 mm, Length: max 2588 mm, Depth: max 21 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1886.1.1607 Other numbers: 57 1606

Research and responses

* There is a note in the Ramsden collectors volume stating 'Retrospective numbers written in pencil down left hand column June 1975 E.S.G. Collated with A.M. but considerable problems encountered. All Ramsden seem to be in A.M.' Note that this exercise may have been the source of the confusion that occurred during Elizabeth Sandford Gunn's work on the Ashmolean collection with regard to numbers. In some instances, these numbers SEEM to have been used to number the objects (wrongly). [AP 15/7/99]

Search terms: Fishing, Weapon, Spear, Fishing Accessory