Weapons

Weapons Intro Panel

 

Shark tooth edged spearShark tooth edged spear
c. 1880
Kiribati, Gilbert Islands

This piece was collected by a Maine mariner and donated to the former Portland Society of Natural History. The PSNH regularly put out calls for mariners to collect ethnographic items for the museum.

Ex. Portland Society of Natural History
HM6475

 

Payback bone dagger

Payback bone dagger

Payback Bone Daggers
c. 1982
Papua New Guinea

These daggers were made from cassowary bird bone with a clay head that represented the face of the person to be avenged. These examples were made specifically for the tourist trade.

Rose S. Zeiber Collection
HM7108

Kenneth White Collection
HM6918

 

Stone headed maulClub with Stone Head
19th Century
Papua New Guinea

This club was collected by Richard Emerick and was not related to the items he acquired in the 1950’s. To complement collections gathered during his fieldwork, he often sought out examples from other areas and time periods.

Emerick Collection
HM6600

 

Club with stone head

Club with stone headClubs with stone head
c. 1860-1880
Papua New Guinea

These clubs were collected by Ralph White in the 1940s, but date to a much earlier period of time.

White Collection
HM4962; HM4999

 

Gunstock clubGunstock Club
c. 1850
Fiji

Collected by Captain Robert Owens of the USS St. Mary when the ship was assigned to the Pacific Squadron between 1848 and 1872.

Emerick Collection
HM6487

 

War clubTotokia War Club
19th Century
Fiji

This particular form of war club was designed to bash a hole in an enemy’s skull.

HM868

 

Throwing clubI-ula tavatava
Fiji

This throwing club is designed to be thrown from a distance and would be used to incapacitate birds, animals, and humans, which would them be finished off at close quarters. Made from the dense wood of the ironwood tree, they were extremely lethal weapons.

Martha J. Stevens Collection
HM2664