club
- Museum number
- Am1910,-.456
- Description
-
Club made of wood, cotton.
- Production date
- 19th century
- Dimensions
-
Length: 44 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- McEwan 2009, p.60
Wooden macana (war club). Guiana, 19th century
Macanas were fashioned from specially selected dense tropical hardwood that could deliver a death-dealing blow. The surfaces were highly polished then lightly incised with figurative images such as the hero twins shown in this example. These are complimented by abstract repetitive designs that share much in common with painted motifs found on pottery from northern Amazonia, including the Guiana lowlands.
The clubs were prestigious and treasured possessions used in dance and ritual as well as for fighting. As inter-group rivalries broke down under the effects of introduced epidemic diseases, the advent of metal weapons and firearms and the influence of European missionaries, clubs as the weapon of war slowly fell into disuse.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1910
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1910,-.456
- Additional IDs
-
CDMS number: Am1910C3.456 (old CDMS no.)
