Asmat shield
| Asmat shield | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Information | |
| Weapon type: | Protective weapon |
| Designations: | Jamasj, Asmatschild |
| Use: | Protective weapon |
| Region of origin / author: |
Western New Guinea , Asmat ethnic groups |
| Distribution: | New Guinea |
| Overall length: | about 150 cm |
| Handle: | Wood |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Asmat shield , also Jamasj , is a protective weapon and cult object of the Asmat people from the Indonesian western New Guinea .
distribution
From the inland towards the coast (Gulf of Papua) and from north to south, the following Asmat cultural groups can be distinguished according to Konrad / Konrad / Winkelmann (1995):
- Bras - Yupmakcain - Unir Epmak (Tomor) - Aramatak - Emari Ducur - Unir Siran (Keenok) - Kenekap (Kaimo) - Simai - Yoerat - Bismam - Becembub - Safan I - Safan II.
In contrast, Todd Barlin in “Shields of Melanesia” (2005) divides the shields of southwestern New Guinea into seven geographically defined cultural groups:
- the Central and Casuarina Coast Asmat - the Northwest Asmat - the Brazza River - or Northeast Hill Asmat - the Citak (also Tjitak) or East Asmat - the Awyu (also Awjoe, Awju, Auwyu) - the Jaqai (also Yaqai, Yaqay) - the Muyu. Since there are also five main Asmat languages (without dialects), names of places, ethnic groups and objects used in older literature are often not self-explanatory.
description
The Asmat shield is made of wood and the outside is artfully carved. It is slightly curved and wider at the bottom than at the top. At the upper end there is a widening made of a rectangular piece of wood with rounded corners. On the back there is a handle that is made from one piece together with the shield.
The buttress roots or trunks of mangrove trees are used as wood, especially near the coast , as this rather soft wood is well suited for wood carving to make shields with stone or bone tools and with sharpened mussel shells. However, only certain wood carving artists , the Wow cescu ipit , were authorized to carve the meaningful symbols.
For the painting of their signs, the Asmat use shell limestone for the color white, occasionally in the absence of shells (as in the case of the tribes inland, such as the Bras) also kaolin , earth containing hematite for the color red, which is often intensified with sap , and soot or charcoal for the color black. The painting is done in red on a white background or white on a red background, raised lines can be outlined in black.
The carvings often depict deceased relatives who support the wearer of the shield during a fight, as his spirit is in the shield. The elongated motif ( Papuan languages Bipanew ) in the middle of the shield represents the pearl shell ornament that the Asmat headhunters wear in their pierced noses. The smaller, hook-shaped motifs symbolize the tusks of wild boars and are a symbol of the male qualities of the hunter.
These shields were specially made for headhunting and also play a ceremonial role in the initiation of young men. During the production, shortly before a headhunt, they were set up on a special festival ( Papuan languages Jamasj Pokmbu , German "shield festival" ) with the front facing east, the direction in which the afterlife area ( Indonesian Safan ) lies in the belief of the Asmat. From there the spirit of a deceased rises and is said to pass into the shield.
A sign on display at the Pitt Rivers Museum was made by a carver named Sana and named after his late brother Hadmes. His face is shown abstracted at the top.
literature
- Gunter Konrad, Ursula Konrad, Tobias Schneebaum : Asmat. Living with the ancestors. Stone age wood carvers of our time. = Asmat. Life with the ancestors. Stone age woodcarvers in our time. Brückner, Glashütten / Taunus 1981, pp. 35, 43, 49.
- Dirk AM Smidt (Ed.): Asmat art. Woodcarvings of southwest New Guinea. George Braziller in association with Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, New York, NY 1993, ISBN 0-8076-1299-5 , pp. 58, 72, 73.
- Klaus Helfrich (Ed.): Asmat. Myth and art in life with the ancestors (= publications of the Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin. NF Vol. 63, Department South Sea Vol. 13). Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88609-381-6 (exhibition catalog, Museum für Völkerkunde, South Seas department, from October 17, 1995 to March 31, 1996).
- Harry Beran , Barry Craig: Shields of Melanesia. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu HI 2005, ISBN 0-8248-2732-5 , Chapter 6: Southern New Guinea , pp. 155-168.
Web links
- Audrey Ricke: The Asmat. Spirits, Shields, Symmetry. (PDF; 143 kB) In: Proceedings: 1st Annual Symposium: Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects. Wichita State University, Wichita 2005, pp. 63f
- Asmat sign in the Metropolitan Museum , New York
- Asmat with their shields at Jane's Oceania
- Large Asmat war shields from Joel Cooner
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gunter Konrad, Ursula Konrad, Carolina Winkelmann: Art of Asmat. In: Gunter Konrad, Ursula Konrad (ed.): Asmat. Myths and rituals, inspiration in art. Erizzo Editrice, Venezia 1995, ISBN 88-7077-035-4 , pp. 316/317.
- ↑ Todd Barlin: Southern lowlands of western New Guinea. In: Harry Beran, Barry Craig (Eds.): Shields of Melanesia. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu HI 2005, ISBN 0-8248-2732-5 , p. 157.
- ^ Asmat shield in the Pitt Rivers Museum, inventory no. 1970.18.1 , English, accessed December 24, 2011