1915.25.56

Collection type

Object

Description

Dagger with obsidian blade and wooden tapering handle bound with string below the blade and covered with red pigment. [SM 26/07/2007]

Long description

Dagger with obsidian blade and wooden tapering handle bound with string below the blade and covered with red pigment. The tip of the blade is missing. [SM 26/07/2007]

Geographical reference

Papua New Guinea

Oceania > Melanesia > Papua New Guinea

Admiralty Islands Bismarck Archipelago

Person

Field collector Henry Nottidge Moseley

Field collector HMS Challenger

PRM source Amabel Nevill Sollas

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1876

Date collected

1872 - 1876

Acquisition information

Donated: 1915

Materials and processes

Material Obsidian Stone, Material Plant Nut, Material Sago Palm Fibre Plant, Material Pigment, Material Ochre, Process Flaked, Process Bound, Process Painted

Dimensions

Length: max 313 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1915.25.56

Research and responses

Ref. Robin Torrence. 2003. 'Ethnoarchaeology, museum collections and prehistoric exchange: obsidian-tipped artifacts from the Admiralty Islands.' World Archaeology 24.3: 467-481. On p. 472 Torrence describes the manufacture of these daggers, the handles being made of parinarium nut putty over sago fibre, painted or incised while still damp. [LM 30/07/2007]

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, Dagger, Knife