Quatre poignards en os ·  Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée · 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.