Dayak Iban body armor?

[Dajak]

Hi Vandoo it is no ikat Iban call it pua when the Ibans came home with the heads their woman stand already with the Pua to put the heads in it

see pic

[Dajak]

Hi Bill here some dajaks with war cloth

[VANDOO]

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE DAYAK MAY HAVE ADOPTED SOME FORM OF ARMOR FROM THE MORO TRADERS AND PIRATES. I HAVE SEEN SOME EXAMPLES MADE OF BONE OR HORN PLATES MUCH LIKE THE ONES COMING FROM THE PHILIPPINES COME FROM BORNEO.
THERE MAY ALSO HAVE BEEN A LIGHT KIND OF ARMOR CAPABLE OF TURNING A BLOWGUN DART IF THEY WERE USED IN WARFARE OR FOR AMBUSH AS ACCURATE AS THE DAYAK WERE WITH THE BLOWGUN I DOUBT ANYTHING LESS THAN FULL COVERAGE WOULD WORK, SO I DOUBT IT EXHISTED FOR BLOWGUN PROTECTION.
I WILL INCLUDE SOME PICTURES OF A CEREMONIAL EXAMPLE FROM BORNEO AS WELL AS TWO FROM TORAJA.

[VANDOO]

TORAJA DIDN'T COME THRU SO I WILL TRY AGAIN.

[Bill M]

Thanks for the posts VANDOO and Dajak.

My point in posting this jacket originally was to say that weapons come in all different arenas. Sure a textile - shirt / war jacket would not be very effiective at stopping a club, bullet, arrow, blowgun, sword or spear.

But maybe that was not what it was about -- originally.

And I am sure that the Dayak did not go to the trouble to carefully weave certain patterns to make themselves look pretty on social occasions. They were very serious about these jackets offering some kind of protection when they went on raids and hunting expiditions.

It would have been a very bad thing to go head hunting and wind up with your head in someone else's longhouse, wrapped in one of their pua!

So some warrior's woman had a dream, wove a pattern and made her man this jacket over a hundred years ago. Maybe he went hunting and came back safely. Maybe they thought his success was related to the jacket. Maybe they thought it made him invisible to his enemies, both physical and also spritual.

I feel strongly that we miss a lot of the importance and richness of these cultures by NOT studying other aspects of the cultures besides sharp pointy metal --- even though I find the traditional weapons of steel to be fascinating.

Certainly we have different beliefs. I would not put a lot of faith in a jacket like this to protect me from someone hunting me with a sharp pointy weapon.

But they did.

And I suggest that if you or I were out in the jungles of Borneo, in the dark, with growly creatures around, and we did not have access to Kevlar, a little hand-woven jacket like this might make us feel a little better.

I am sure that it made the original owner feel better a hundred years ago and maybe it did more than just make him feel better........

[VVV]

Vandoo,

Interesting that you also show the Toraja armour.
I have seen resembling armour like yours but not with that many "buttons" before. Usually they are white on the old pictures.
The matching helmet is also cool.
The more usual ones seems to be those with large, flat buffalo horn attached to the front. But now and then you see other forms also. Like yours or more pileshaped.

It's strange that the Toraja tribes doesn't get the same kind of attention as f.i. the Dayak tribes.
I really like their swords and spears.
Unfortunately I don't have any space left for shields and armour.

On the resemblence of Dayak and Moro armour I suspect that the armour you have seen might be from Moros living on Borneo?
Especially if it was from Sabah?

Michael

[VANDOO]

I WAS NOT ABLE TO GET THE OTHER EXAMOLE OF TORAJA ARMOR TO COME THRU SO WILL TRY AGAIN IT FEATURES SHELL DISKS INSTEAD OF SEA BEANS.

OH WELL I GUESS THAT PICTURE JUST DOSEN'T WANT TO BE POSTED. I HAVE SEEN SEVERAL TYPES OF WHAT I REFER TO AS OCEANIC ARMOR. SOME FEATURE THICK FIBER VESTS AND SOMETIMES PANTS OR AT LEAST GROIN PROTECTION. OTHERS INCORPORATE PLATES OF , HORN, SEA SHELL, TURTLE SHELL , WOOD, BONE ,SEA BEANS ECT.

INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH OFTEN THEY WERE USED FOR RITUAL COMBAT OR SHOW AND NOT IN OPEN WARFARE, THE MARSHALL ISLANDS ARMOR COMES TO MIND. ON NIAS THE VILLAGE GAURD WORE SOME VERY IMPRESSIVE ARMOR THE EXAMPLES I HAVE SEEN WERE MADE OF STEEL BUT I SUSPECT THAT THE OLDER ONES WERE MUCH LIKE THAT FOUND IN TORAJA.

I DOUBT THAT A FANCY PUA SHIRT WOULD HAVE BEEN WORN ON A HEADHUNTING RAID AS IT WOULD BE TOO HOT AND TOO VALUABLE TO RISK LOOSING IT ALONG WITH YOUR HEAD. I WOULD GUESS THAT THEY WERE WORN ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS AROUND THE VILLAGE OR ON PEACFUL TRIPS TO OTHER VILLAGES. THE WARRIORS USUALLY WORE ENOUGH AMULETS ON WEAPONS, NECKLACES,ARM BANDS ECT. TO GAURD THEM ON RAIDS WHICH WERE OFTEN VERY SLOW AND QUIET ON THE WAY IN AND VERY FAST ON THE WAY BACK HOME REGARDLESS IF IT WERE A SUCCESS OR NOT. NOT HAVING BEEN THERE THESE ARE ONLY MY OPINIONS AS NOTHING CAN BE PROVEN EITHER WAY.