Club
ClassificationsArms and Armor-clubs
Date20th Century
Made AtEast Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
MediumWood
Dimensions47 × 3 1/4 × 1 in. (119.4 × 8.3 × 2.5 cm)
Credit LineAnonymous Gift
Object number2021.7.83
DescriptionThis wooden club's design suggests it may have been made by the Arapesh people residing in the Torricelli Mountain region of Papua New Guinea's East Sepik Province. War clubs were very common in the islands that make up Melanesia, including the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Guinea. Primarily wielded in tribal conflicts, clubs made of heavy wood and occasionally fitted with stone heads were highly effective bludgeoning tools. War clubs had other uses too. They could be employed in agriculture and symbolic war clubs were often created for the sole purpose of being placed beside a deceased warrior as they prepared for the journey into the afterworld.On View
On viewCollections
20th Century
20th Century
20th Century
19th Century
19th Century
20th Century
late 19th Century
20th Century
20th Century
20th Century
early 20th Century
late 19th to early 20th Century