Digging Stick

ClassificationsTools and Equipment-digging sticks

Culture Wosera Abelam

Date20th Century

Made AtEast Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea

MediumWood and pigment

Dimensions18 × 1 1/4 × 1 1/2 in. (45.7 cm, 0.003 kg, 3.8 cm)

Credit LineAnonymous Gift

Object number97.138.1

DescriptionThis is a Wosera Abelam yam digging stick (digger) from Papua New Guinea's East Sepik Province made during the 19th or 20th Century. Yams are intrinsic to the culture of the Abelam where examples up to 12 feet in length are methodically grown and ceremonially exchanged. Digging sticks are used during the planting and harvesting processes. The usage of this object is unsubstantiated. Due to the small size of this digging stick it was previously attributed as a women’s stick, however, women only rarely take part in the cultivation of yams. It may have been either a ceremonial digger or a shorter version of one of the spears used to harvest yams.

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