Male ancestor figure "bioma" · Papua New Guinea - Golf, Village Gigori, Wapo River · ID: 3034457
not available anymore
Provenance
collected in situ by George Craig (around 1950)Size
H: 56 cm
H: 22.0 inch
Description
light weighted wood, middle brown patina, white pigment, the flat figure with handle-shaped arms is cut out in silhouette, incised ornamental decor, slightly dam., missing parts (both feet), paint rubbed off, cracks, rep. (left arm and leg);
the “bioma” of the Era presumably were used as skull racks, respectively for attachment of skulls (arms), just like the “agiba” of the Kerewa. On Goaribari Island in 1901, before burning down the great ceremonial houses in retaliation for the killing and eating of a missionary, the punitive expedition counted 700 skulls attached to one “agiba”.
Comparing literature
Welsch, Robert, Coaxing the Spirits to Dance, Hanover, New Hampshire 2006, p. 90