needle (general & multipurpose); utensil (food processing & storage)

A blunt bone needle of cassowary bone, used to break open Pandanus fruit (kaafo), which may only be processed with this kind of needle.

This is one of a collection of several valuable personal possessions stored in an abura (barkcloth). As possessions that are seen by relatives or friends must be given on demand, most men keep some of their most valued possessions wrapped in a piece of decorated barkcloth and store it away near their sleeping place. The contents of these packages may vary with the owner, but generally they contain items like this, and the others collected with it.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
1982.118ix
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 285 mm x 39 mm x 35 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
cassowary bone
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
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Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

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