Four bone daggers ·  Papua New Guinea · ID: 3051795

Description

cassowary bone, pigment,

Daggers are widespread throughout the Sepik region. Most of them are long bones of cassowaries filed to a point, some were made of human tubular bones.

They were mainly used in warfare. If a fighter was able to grab an opponent from behind, he would place the point between the collarbone and shoulder blade so that it penetrated the heart area.

The daggers were carried by the men under their arm rings. They were valued as status symbols and were also used in certain rituals to symbolise the presence of ancestors.

The object Four bone daggers with the object ID 3051795 was last part of the auction Auction 104 at April 12, 2025 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 134 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,650.

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