Skull hut "kosa"

Description

constructed in shape of a pitched roof with ground floor and lowered side panels, made from rotan sticks accurately fixed by plant fibre cord, ovula shells, shell rings “poata” and shell ornaments “rago” lashed to the sides of the roof on the outside, inside are the human skull and further shell valuables including a shell ornament “barava” cut from the shell of the giant clam Tridacna gigas and a whale tooth “kalo”, good condition, one shell ring from the inside rep., traces of old age;
only the most important skull of the line’s founding ancestor was stored inside such a “kosa” basket which was kept hidden in the house to protect it from thieves. Shell rings and ornaments were valuables of the dead ancestor. The skulls of chiefs and notable ancestors however were stored in so-called “oru” skull shrines which were built of flat stones into the triangular form of a small house.

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