Club (Kila)
ClassificationsArms and Armor-clubs
Date19th Century
Made AtMalaita Province, Solomon Islands
MediumWood
Dimensions57 3/4 × 3 × 7/8 in. (146.7 × 7.6 × 2.2 cm)
Credit LineAnonymous Gift
Object number2021.7.74
DescriptionThis club, the vernacular name for which is kila, originates from the Solomon Islands, likely from Malaita Island. One of many club forms from Malaita Island, the kila is a long, narrow club with a diamond-pointed head. In the northern regions of Malaita, some kila are adorned with a braided wrapping made of orchid vine and palm fiber which covers the lower three quarters of the club, but this one is unadorned.Although almost all clubs in Melanesia are commonly wielded by men, ther is some evidence passed down through Malaitan oral tradition which describes a similar club carried by women for protection, and a kila is said to have been used as a walking stick by a powerful ancestress, likely around the 17th or 18th century.
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
19th Century
mid 19th to early 20th Century
mid 19th - early 20th Century
20th Century
20th Century
late 19th Century
20th Century
20th Century
20th Century
early 20th Century
late 19th to early 20th Century