Papua bone daggers

M ELEY · 25th September 2011, 10:25 AM

I used to own one just like #1. There was a tribal arts site that I sent pics to who assigned it to the Dani tribe, Sepik River region. They like to use the sennet wrapping, cowry shells, feathers, etc. Mine was circa 1900-20's, early contact period. Most are made from the thigh bone of a cassowary bird (as was mine), the smaller carved types made from a "tree kangaroo"?? and of course, some of the older ones are made from an ancestor's tibia bone (these are now illegal to export out of Irian Jaya). I have heard the females in the tribe would use them to impale cheating husbands, but sources for this info remain sketchy-

25th September 2011, 10:25 AM	#2
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,141	I used to own one just like #1. There was a tribal arts site that I sent pics to who assigned it to the Dani tribe, Sepik River region. They like to use the sennet wrapping, cowry shells, feathers, etc. Mine was circa 1900-20's, early contact period. Most are made from the thigh bone of a cassowary bird (as was mine), the smaller carved types made from a "tree kangaroo"?? and of course, some of the older ones are made from an ancestor's tibia bone (these are now illegal to export out of Irian Jaya). I have heard the females in the tribe would use them to impale cheating husbands, but sources for this info remain sketchy-