Club

Description

The head of this extremely rare type of battle-hammer is carved in the form of a stylised flying fox fruit bat (Pteropus), an animal eaten by some and revered as a god by others in pre-Christian Fiji. Similar high-status weapons can be found in the form of owls and snakes, and were probably used by the gods to enter and leave a priest’s body in pre-Christian possession rites.
This club was collected by Lt. George Phillpotts who fought in the Maori wars of New Zealand and who was killed in the attack on Heki’ s Pa in 1845.

Accession Loan No.

E1607

Collection Class

Arms and armour

Common Name

club

Simple Name

club

Full Name

unspurred club

Dimensions

whole height 872 mm; whole W 120 mm

Production Year High

1845

Production Country

Fiji

Production Area Region

Melanesia

Production Continent

Oceania

Family Group



Material

wood

Function Name

ceremonial weapon

Function Detail

L.A.D. Montague in his 1921 book “Weapons and Implements of Savage Races” mentions this club in reference to clubs he himself had colelcted and donated to RAMM. “Representations of faces, etc., are almost unknown on Fijian clubs, but one at Exeter ends in the head of some flat-faced animal, roughly but effectively carved.”

Collection Area Region

POLYN

Collection Continent

Pacific