Melanesia Massim Trobriand Rare Oceanic Art Hand Carved Pig

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Art-Pacific (Carolyn Leigh - Ron Perry): Guide to Artifacts

Massim: Trobriand Islands and Kula commutation, Milne Bay Province, PNG

The Massim cultural area begins with Milne Bay at the e end of New Republic of guinea and includes the island peaks of submerged mountains and coral ringed archipelagoes beyond to the southeast and southwest for every bit far as 300 miles (480 km). (i)

Massim fine art favors decorative 2-dimensional carving covered with low relief abstruse designs. The incised elements are filled with white lime to emphasis detail. A major motif is curvilinear interlocking scrolls which some researchers believe could exist derived from the early on Dongson metalwork of southeast Asia.

Effigy one: Trobriand shield with incised and painted designs which some researchers have interpreted as female person. Malinowski reported that many shields were left undecorated as only courageous warriors painted their shields. Painted shields were seen as a challenge and attracted many more spears. Photo and data courtesy of a individual collection.

Other motifs include bands of zigzags and stylized birds, fish and animals, also as some 3-dimensional carving of human figures. Shell discs, cowries, and tassels of seeds and chaplet dramatize the finesse of this cute art. The appeal of this archetype style attracted collectors from the beginning of European contact.

Massim etching includes:

• betel nut paraphernalia (mortars and pestles, lime spatulas, lime containers)
• dance-paddles and hand drums including small finger drums
• Trobriand cricket bats (2)
• clubs (4 types made of ebony and black palm, used for display, not battle)
• shields (3 types with red and blackness designs on a white ground, lower oval often contains bird forms)
• canoes (3 types of ocean-going canoes and prows, 2 are still made, encounter Karumosa, a Kula canoe from the Trobriand Islands)
• decoration on utilitarian objects such as hooks and sago-pudding stirrers
• plus some architectural ornamentation, for example, yam houseboards

Figure 2: Trobriand yam house panel particular

Figure iii: Trobriand daughter wearing traditional layered brim, Kaibola Village, Kiriwina Island. Photo copyright Robin Leahy Hogdson, 1995.

Taro is the staple food, but yams are the status ingather in the Trobriands. Yams are eaten at weddings, funerals and other ritual feasts. The July-Baronial harvest is followed past two months of feasts and competitions before piece of work on the side by side planting begins.

Yams are competitively displayed around the decorated yam storage houses in the plazas. Dance competitions and Trobriand cricket matches (2) are organized by the ranked chiefs with backing from their wives' matrilineal clans.

Funeral ceremonies and feasts are important. They take identify over a period of months and oft honor a grouping of deceased relatives. Sponsorship of a Massim mortuary feast signifies the heir'due south power to assume both assets and debts of the deceased. This tin can include exchanges with a human being's Kula partners and paying off his pig debts.

Effigy 4: Trobriand dance paddle

Effigy 5: Hog carved in variegated ebony from Woodlark Island, typical of pigs carved for sale. We saw a similar grunter in an exhibition of Malinowski's diaries and personal collection. (3)

The Trobriand Kula ring was one of many merchandise cycles in the South Pacific at contact. Ocean going outrigger canoes, often with sails, plied mostly short journeys between islands and the nearby coastal villages of New Republic of guinea. The Trobriands and adjacent islands did non produce all their needs, so trading partners and voyages developed to substitution items. Two other rings operated along southern trade routes in the Massim area. Arm-shells were traded all the fashion to the Motu well-nigh Port Moresby. With the bear upon of European trade, many of these Pacific trade relationships vanished even from retention, but the Kula has adjusted and thrived. (four)

Figure 6: Massim Surface area and trade routes showing the management of kula ring cycles. Necklaces travel clockwise, arm-shells counter-clockwise.

Figure 7: Sketch of Trobriand mwali armshell with attached egg cowry shells

Valuables exchanged in the Kula Band:

• Mwali arm-shells are cut from a cross department of a cone shell (Conus millepunctatus) and decorated with egg cowry shells (Ovula ovum). The size of the armshell is indicted by the number of cowries tied to information technology. Arm-shells are often likewise small to wear and large ones are only worn on the owner'southward arm for important ceremonies, so they are usually suspended on a braided rope. Mwali were fabricated in the Trobriands and on Woodlark Island. Merchandise beads, seeds and crush disks (sapi sapi) are added to enhance the mwali and brand information technology rattle when the possessor walks.

Mwali travel counter-clockwise. They are considered female. During Malinowski's time they were exchanged as pairs, just now travel as singles. Shells are classed and ranked by size, quality, shine, historic period and history.

• Bagi necklaces are made of crimson disk beads cutting from chama shells. A fine thin necklace feels silky in your manus. Necklaces were made on Tubetube from imported shells and in the Louisiade Archipelago. The red shell disks form the bagi's "abdomen" and "ear". Its "caput" is a cowry and its "tail" is a pendant made of pearl vanquish or other shell elaborated with trade dewdrop and seed tassels.

  Bagi travel clockwise. They are considered male person. Only women wear bagi. Bagi are ranked by color (salmon carmine is best), fineness of the disks, age and history. Bagi can at present be purchased for greenbacks. (5)

• Other items of ranked exchange have included directly whalebone and crescent-topped turtleshell lime spatulas, polished greenstone axes and doga necklaces with boar's tusks or shell pendants. Many other unranked gifts are included as part of the competitive ceremonial exchanges.

Figure viii: Amphlett Island pot (kuria) has typical thin walls and rim with incised designs, attached fillets and animal head. This very large pot however has sago encrusted within.

Amphlett Island pottery includes very large pots which are traded for vegetables and pigs from more fertile areas. Other islands and coastal mainland villages were proficient articles of stone axes, sea-going canoes, necklaces and arm-shells, harvested yams, sago or betel-nut, or supplied raw materials like red ochre, obsidian and parrot feathers.

Figure 9: Rossel Island plaited basket for conveying betel nut paraphernalia. Sometimes these baskets accept a false bottom and are sold every bit "thieves baskets".

Other Massim betel nut baskets include the Trobriand envelope-shaped basket plaited from a single coconut frond and sets of 3 nested baskets with a carry strap made of plaited pandanus and assistant leaf. Nuts could be subconscious in the bottom basket if a man didn't want to share them.

Figure 10: Betel nut lime spatula, bract type, decorated with cowry shell and crimson trade chaplet. More ornamentation, maybe dewdrop and seed tassels, would have hung from the other holes.

Lime spatulas are usually carved from hard black wood (ebony) which gets a squeamish patina with use. The way may bear witness a person'due south rank. For case, the clapper blazon is restricted to chiefs and sorcerers. Its handle is cut into two sections which create a sound when knocked on a business firm surface. Some types of handles accept superb figures created by master carvers. These sculptural qualities have made lime spatulas a favorite of collectors.

Figure xi: Trobriand gourd lime container with stopper fabricated of rolled up leaf covered with fine basketwork. The pig tusk and the band of burnt-in designs are typical of 20th century styles. Coconuts with wooden stoppers were likewise used. The powdered mineral lime is chewed with betel nut. At contact, special lime pots and spatulas were made from the skulls and bones of deceased relatives. (6)

Footnotes include more information on:

1. Massim history and culture
2. Trobriand cricket
3. Bronislaw Malinowski
4. Kula exchange
5. Bagi at Hamlet Arts, POM
6. Betel nut
7. Alternate spellings and terms

Effigy 12: Massim betel nut mortar and pestle with old patina. The pestle has a human being's head carved on acme. The mortar is a barrel form with a typical Due south-shaped bird design which may represent a frigate bird or a fish militarist. Other distinctive mortar shapes are drums and canoes.

Meet As well:

Links in this site:

• Karumosa, a Kula canoe from the Trobriand Islands, Peter Hallinan'southward 1970's photos and documentation.
• Canoes and Canoe Prows includes photo of a Trobriand canoe prow, more than on New Republic of guinea canoes.
• Solomon Islands jewelry, Figure half dozen is a Solomon Islands necklace of fine blood-red trounce chaplet like to the beads in a Kula bagi necklace.

Books used to research this article.

• Betel-chewing Equipment of East New Guinea
  past Harry Beran,
  published past Shire Publications, Ltd, Britain 1988, ISBN 0-85263-969-iv.
  Overview of cultural surface area with detailed assay of lime spatulas, mortars, pestles, lime pots and baskets, black and white photographs, bibliography and museum listing.

• The Kula, A Bronislaw Malinowski Centennial Exhibition
  by William A. Shack,
  Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley, CA 1985.
  Catalog of the exhibition includes artifacts and photographs from Malinowski'due south collection.

• Kula Band
  by Charles J. Opitz,
  First Impressions Press, 2d edition,1991, 1847 SW 27th Ave., Ocala, FL 34474, USA, Tel: 352-237-6141.
  Pamphlet on the Kula cycle, black and white photographs and bibliography.

• Malinowski's Kiriwina, Fieldwork Photography 1915-1918
  by Michael W. Young,
  published by The University of Chicago Press, 1998, ISBN 0-226-87650-0
  Chicago and London.
  200 hundred previously unpublished, black and white field photographs structured in Malinowski's photo essay format, commentaries from contemporary Trobriand Islanders, maps, glossary.

• Massim, Fine art of the Massim Area
  past Douglas Newton,
  The Museum of Archaic Art, NY 1975, ISBN 0-85263-969-4.
  Catalog of the exhibition with essay on the Massim, especially their canoes, in the broader context of New Republic of guinea, black and white photographs, source and reference lists.

• "Massim Lime Spatulas by the Principal of the Prominent Eyes", Spring 1997, pp. 68-76, Tribal Arts-Le Monde de 50'Art Tribal

Figure 13: Pigment palette is typical of Massim carvings in ebony.

Notes

1. First contact was fabricated in 1606 by the Spanish explorers, Torres and Prado. Pearl divers came from the Torres Strait in 1865. Massim is probably a corruption of Misima, ane of the islands where the discovery of gold in the late 1800s brought many Europeans to the area. Missionaries arrived. Traders dealt in artifacts, which even at that early appointment were being produced for sale.

   The Massim speak Melanesian (Austronesian) languages except on Rossel. They are matrilineal which is unusual in New Republic of guinea, except on Goodenough which is patrilineal. Women live in their married man's village, just are ceremonially presented with the largest share of the yam harvest from their own group's country by their brothers. Sorcery and witches, including "flying witches" (mulukwausi) were known and feared.

   Northern Massim: Trobriand Islands (Kiriwina, Tuma, Kaileuna, Kitava, Vakuta), Amphlett Islands, Marshall Bennett Islands and Woodlark Isle

   • Large villages with buildings on either side of a street or in circles around raised yam storage houses which face a key plaza
   • No men'southward houses, merely simple roofed sitting areas
   • Hereditary clan chiefs preside over graded ranks. These men could accept many wives and gained wealth through them. The chiefs controlled magic, battles and reconciliation ceremonies.
   • No cannibalism

   Southern Massim: Milne Bay area, D'Entrecasteaux Islands (includes Goodenough, Fergusson, Normandby and Dobu) and the Louisiade Archipelago (includes Misima, Sudest, Rossel)

   • Minor villages with large men's houses for each association
   • Captured warriors were killed and eaten on stone platforms in the villages. Their skulls were displayed on carved beams and boards in the men's houses.
   • No hereditary rank, leaders gained influence by their deeds.

2. Trobriand Cricket: An Ingenious Response to Colonialism, the 1979 award-winning flick directed past Gary Kildea and Jerry Leach, documents the transformation of British cricket by the Trobriand Islanders to suit themselves.

   Methodist missionaries introduced cricket in 1903 to supercede ritual warfare. Trobriand adaptations reverberate their own values. For case, the home team ever wins and is also responsible for hosting the feast/food exchange. Team sizes are adjusted to include as many men as possible.

   Themes from traditional Trobriand combat were integrated into the game. State of war pigment became squad colors. Entry and get out dances were based on war formations and chants. Later on teams like Airplane incorporated formations modeled on airplanes taking off. Spells for spears were modified for utilise with cricket bats.

3. Bronislaw Malinowski was a major figure in the evolution of modernistic anthropology. He lived with the Trobriand people for several years during WWI and used the local language in his fieldwork. His methods became the major research techniques of anthropological investigation.

   His Argonauts of the Western Pacific documented the Trobriand reciprocal trading and exchange cycles known every bit the Kula ring. Other long-term trading relationships existed throughout the Pacific at the time of European contact, simply the Kula is the best known. Malinowski used it to certificate how circuitous social and cultural systems were linked past exchange and reciprocity.

4. The Kula elaborated utilitarian trade partnerships to produce long term ties between partners over great expanses of fourth dimension and altitude. It is a competitive commutation of thousands of powerful shell valuables and other important items. Kula is conducted mostly by men, but at present some women besides kula. Kula participants yet travel by canoe, but as well by plane or other modern send. Michael Young reported 5 large Kula canoes tied up on a Woodlark Island beach in 1990. Villagers said 500 arm-shells had been on display. (Logging or Conservation on Woodlark (Muyuw) Island includes section on the force of contemporary Kula in guild effectually 1990, fieldwork by Michael Immature, Australian National University).

   Kula is a closed organisation, but in practice valuables leak out. Kula pieces (kitomu) are either:

   • kunedawesi endemic by the Kula ring and cannot be sold,
   • kitom endemic past the person who holds them and tin be sold.

   Every successful human being has Kula partners for life, some close past, but the about important far away. Men practice not personally run across all the others in their specific cycle (keda), but they know their names and stories which are passed in the exchange of the powerful and magical valuables. Information technology takes two to ten years for a shell to make the circuit. Older named pieces which accept been around many times increase in value every bit they are owned by powerful men.

   Men on a Kula expedition are at physical gamble from the sea and also at magical risk from witches and sorcerers. Perhaps the previous year in their village, they presented their visiting partners with necklaces. This yr they fly beyond the waves in their own powerful Kula canoes to receive arm-shells.

   Men sailing to receive Kula valuables are seen as ambitious visitors past the men in the host village whose plow information technology is to give. The visitors are met with ritualized hostility that they must charm abroad, perhaps by giving lime spatulas and betel basics that conduct spells to induce their partners to give them good pieces. The visitors present themselves as physically beautiful which is equivalent to force and immunity from danger.

   The hosts in this contest are seen every bit relatively passive and vulnerable to the strength, beauty and magical charms of the visitors. The host/victims comply because they know that the adjacent time around it will be their plough to be the visitors/winners. Each homo hopes that his own beauty and power will so compel his trading partner to give him the Kula slice he desires.

   On these almanac voyages, when a man presents his partner with a valuable, it must be reciprocated with a gift of equivalent or greater value earlier too much time passes. Each human tries to hold on to the most valuable and greatest number of pieces for as long as possible. If a man keeps an important valuable for longer than a year or so, or takes it out of the ring, he can await intense disapproval and perhaps sorcery. Valuables are kept in constant motion, encircling the scattered islands in rings of social and magical ability.

   Young writes that Woodlark men would rather be important in Kula than in business, but that....

   Successful Kula traders and their villages typically achieve success and ability in all areas. Once you accept obtained a famous high-ranking shell your own name becomes known effectually the band, on islands and in villages where yous accept never set human foot, and other loftier-ranking shells will begin to come up your way. As your own fame increases, so does the value of the shells you hold, for their unique histories of temporary ownership is remembered. In Kula, as in business, zilch succeeds like success. To be big in Kula is to exist big in most other things. The fame of individual Kula traders enhances the name of their village; such a customs and so attracts settlers and visitors (Kula traders or otherwise), and as information technology becomes wealthier it grows in size and political influence.

5. When Ron ran the government artifact shop, Village Arts, in Port Moresby in the 1970s, people would bring their bagi in to sell when they needed coin for an important purchase. Later on the quality was adamant, bagi was priced by the inch. Ron would put the necklaces in the jewelry display case. Other Trobriand people would come in to sell their artifacts, and if they had the money, they would buy the bagi for themselves.

   When he outset started ownership bagi, he didn't realize that some of it was made out of red plastic. The Trobriand people would go into abased government buildings and salvage the 220 electric wire. They pulled the copper wire out and sliced the hard red plastic into disk beads, set up with holes for stringing into a necklace.

6. Betel nut: the seed of the areca palm is chewed with the fruit or foliage of the betel pepper vine (Piper betle) along with burnt coral mineral lime. Alkaloids in the areca nut are released by the lime for a mild euphoria which is enhanced when chewed with the betel root, leaf or catkin fruit (all chosen daka in pisin). The palm seed is commonly referred to as betel nut or buai in pisin. To chew betel nut in pisin is to "kaikai buai." Betel nut sales are a major business in PNG.

   The mild stimulant produced by chewing betel nut is said to produce a feeling of well-being and good sense of humor, decrease hunger pains and increase 1's chapters for work. It may improve the breath, simply it also colors teeth and saliva vivid ruby-red. Some studies say it helps prevent tooth decay, but other studies show an increase in mouth cancer. A used wad of betel nut is spit out, non swallowed. For the non-user, this red spittle along left along paths and roads is the worst feature of this widespread habit.

7. Alternate spellings and terms for:

   • bagi: soulava, veigun on Woodlark - Kula red cut shell necklaces
   • betel nut: betel-nut, betel nut, buai, bilinat
   • betel pepper: daka, mustard - grown in village gardens
   • keda: ked - the specific paths Kula pieces travel
   • kitom: kitoma, kitoum - Kula pieces which may be sold by individuals
   • kitomu: vaygu'a - Kula valuables
   • kula: means "you become" in Kiriwianan
   • Normanby Island: Duau
   • Rossel Island: Yela
   • Sudest Island: Tagula, Vanatinai
   • Woodlark Island: Muyuw, Murua

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