spear-head
- Museum number
- Oc,+.278
- Description
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Spear-head of obsidian, hafted into a wooden socket and bound with string-work coloured in white and red. Some coix seeds are inlaid at the lower part. Blade is broken at the upper part and has been retouched. Right border is also retouched only on the upper part.
- Production date
- 19thC (before 1877)
- Dimensions
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Height: 11.50 centimetres (obsidian blade)
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Height: 22 centimetres (wooden shaft)
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Width: 3.50 centimetres (obsidian blade)
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Width: 4.50 centimetres (wooden shaft)
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Depth: 1 centimetres (obsidian blade)
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Depth: 3 centimetres (wooden shaft)
- Curator's comments
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Christy collection registration slip, written in 1877:
'Admiralty Islands.
Spear-head, taken to pieces to shew mode of mounting. The head, of black obsidian, slips into an oval socket with openings at the sides, and is then bound with twine covered with a pigment and ornamented with colours. The shaft fits into the socket in the same way as does the head; at the junction of the shaft & socket the latter is ornamented with twine and seeds.
From the Admiralty Islands.
Challenger Expedition.
See Journ. Anthrop. Inst. VI. pl. XX. figs. 7,8.9
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'Lance head, with the whipping of twine and coating of cement removed to show the manner in which the obsidian flake is inserted in a socket piece and the socket piece is spliced on the lance shaft.' (Moseley 1877 : 426, fig.7)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1877
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc,+.278
- Additional IDs
-
CDMS number: Oc1877C2.278 (old CDMS no.)