Dagger

Museum number:
11-37844
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21110037844
Accession number:
Acc.1915
Description:
Dagger, ritual digging tool; section of cassowary bone with joint-end carved to represent two parrot heads; red ochre on bird’s heads; used by men to examine the progress of growth of their long yams in the special sacred yam gardens.
Donor:
Ellsworth La Boyteaux and Mrs. Ellsworth La Boyteaux
Collection place:
Sepik River, Papua New Guinea
Culture or time period:
Abelam
Collector:
Bruce D. Lawes
Materials:
Bone (material)
Taxon:
Casuarius
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Carvings (visual works)
Function:
1.3 Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and 5.4 Secular and Religious Musical Instruments
Accession date:
1964
Department:
Oceania
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 2 titled Dagger, accession number 11-37844, described as Dagger, ritual digging tool; section of cassowary bone with joint-end carved to represent two parrot heads; red ochre on bird’s heads; used by men to examine the progress of growth of their long yams in the special sacred yam gardens.Hearst Museum object 2 of 2 titled Dagger, accession number 11-37844, described as Dagger, ritual digging tool; section of cassowary bone with joint-end carved to represent two parrot heads; red ochre on bird’s heads; used by men to examine the progress of growth of their long yams in the special sacred yam gardens.

Tools