MYSTERY TOOTHED CLUB
 

UNUSUAL TOOTHED CLUB, THIS ONE HAS ME STUMPED SO FAR IT RESEMBLES THE SHARK TOOTH WEAPONS BUT ONLY HAS TEETH DOWN ONE SIDE AND THE TEETH MAY BE SCALES. THE SHAFT IS PALM WOOD PERHAPS FROM THE HEAVY WOODY STEM PART OF A LARGE PALM FROND THE FIBER CORD APPEARS TO BE NATIVE MADE AND THE ENTIRE ITEM SHOWS AGE, PATINA AND WEAR. THE TEETH/SCALES ARE VERY SHARP AND WILL CUT FLESH EASILY. THE CLUB IS 27 INCHES LONG. THIS COULD BE FOR CEREMONIAL USE BUT WOULD ALSO MAKE A FORMIDBLE WEAPON.

Hi Vandoo,

From the photo's , my best guess-timate is that this weapon comes from the Marshall Islands, or perhaps Hawaii. This type of toothed club (for want of a better word), I know to have been made in both places. The distribution of this style could be more widespread, but my knowledge of this type of weapon is limited to these two places. The teeth look to be Tiger Shark.

The palm wood was / is used throughout Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia; both made locally and traded, so the palm wood it self, unfortunately, is not such a definitive material to locate artefacts of this kind.

I have wondered if such a tool could have been used by Pacific peoples for flensing stranded whales?...just a thought.

Cheers,
Bryan.

Are the teeth partially embedded into the wood or held in by pitch as well as the twine ; without a comparable rail system such as the the ones used in the Gilbert Island shark tooth swords employed in conjunction with tying the drilled teeth in place, I fear the item could only deliver one blow , before the teeth would be misaligned and proven to be ineffective.I would guess( and I stress guess), that your item might be more ceremonial;still a very nice item !

I'd disagree, and I'm not even sure it's from Oceania.

As noted in other threads, there are two different ways (Polynesian and Micronesian) to tie on teeth, as far as we can determine. Polynesian, done properly, is to place the tooth in a socket, drill a hole through both tooth and socket, and tie it in. Micronesian (Truk and Kiribati) is to put a thin splint of wood on either side of a row of teeth with drilled holes, and tie the structure together between the teeth. I've never seen a Marshallese shark-tooth club, either.

This mounting method looks like neither of those. Nor does it look badly done, which is normally a sign of a tourist piece.

While it could be Melanesian, I'm going to suggest something off the wall: Sumba in eastern Indonesia. Good ol'd Don Draeger, in Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia, noted that they made clubs of "all imaginable shapes and usually had their business ends imbedded [sic] with shark and sawfish teeth." (p. 196, fig. 154) As usual, his illustration leaves a lot to be desired. I don't think we've had a Sumban club on here before, but I wonder if that's what we've got here?

F