Dagger

late 19th–early 20th century

Not on view

Warriors in the Sepik region formerly employed a variety of weapons. Most, such as spears, were intended to strike the enemy from a distance, but men also carried daggers for use in close combat. With blunt edges and sharp tips, daggers were exclusively stabbing weapons, often used to kill an enemy incapacitated by spears or arrows or, at times, in more stealthy acts of assassination. Many daggers were supernaturally powerful objects that played important roles in male initiation and other ceremonies. Daggers and daggerlike objects were worn as personal ornaments, and many ornate examples with blunt tips may have been ceremonial objects. Daggers were fashioned primarily from the leg bones of cassowaries (large ostrich-like birds) but also, in rare instances, from the femurs of ancestors or enemies.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Dagger
Date: late 19th–early 20th century
Geography: Papua New Guinea, Washkuk Hills region
Culture: Kwoma people
Medium: Bone, cowrie shells
Dimensions: H. 13 1/4 × W. 1 15/16 × D. 2 1/8 in. (33.7 × 4.9 × 5.4 cm)
Classification: Bone/Ivory-Implements
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1977
Object Number: 1977.84
Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

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