Spear Head

2003-32-332

From: Easter Island

Curatorial Section: Oceanian

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Object Number 2003-32-332
Current Location Collections Storage
Provenience Easter Island
Section Oceanian
Materials Obsidian
Description

Flaked obsidian spear point with tang and crescentic cutting edge. "Used by warriors (matatoa) in warfare." Exhibited at l'Exposition universelle de Paris 1900. Such points seem to have appeared on Easter Island after A.D. 1600 during a period of prolonged internal strife. Based on native testimony and ethnographic specimens, they functioned as spear points hafted to wooden shafts of variable length (Jesse D. Jennings, The Prehistory of Polynesia, pp. 149-150).

Length 7.4 cm
Width 6.1 cm
Credit Line Gift of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum (also known as the Philadelphia Civic Center Museum), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2003
Other Number 1993.X.243 - Other Number | CIVIC1993.X.243 - Other Number

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