{"id":"MUS2026-019","label":"Waiwai roarer of two turtle shells","people_or_site":"Waiwai","country_current":"Guyana","historic_region":"Essequibo headwaters","macroregion":"South America / Guianas","local_name":"","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Bullroarer of two turtle carapaces joined by a plant-fibre cord to a short reed, NMAI 7/4485; collected in British Guiana by A. Hyatt Verrill and purchased by the Museum of the American Indian in 1918.","function_summary":"Not recorded for the turtle-shell rig.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"smithsonian_nmai","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ws6a33d04cf-1ce3-4181-a36b-acdf4e595d20","page_or_plate":"NMAI_80219 / catalog 7/4485","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"approximate culture/locality centroid","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Two whole turtle carapaces strung along a plant-fibre cord, a short reed lashed between them — the old museum card says simply 'BullRoarer of Two Turtle Shells. Waiwoi. British Guiana.' The explorer A. Hyatt Verrill collected it among the Waiwai, a Carib-speaking forest people of the Essequibo headwaters, and sold it to the Museum of the American Indian in 1918. When Danish ethnographers documented the Waiwai in depth in 1954-55, they met no bullroarer at all; these two shells remain the instrument's only Waiwai witness.","pull_quote":"","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"","term_gloss":"","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 7/4485 (collected by A. Hyatt Verrill; purchased 1918)","url":"http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ws6a33d04cf-1ce3-4181-a36b-acdf4e595d20"}],"source_citations":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 7/4485 (collected by A. Hyatt Verrill; purchased 1918)","source_display":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 7/4485 (collected by A. Hyatt Verrill; purchased 1918)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Bullroarer of two turtle carapaces joined by a plant-fibre cord to a short reed, NMAI 7/4485; collected in British Guiana by A. Hyatt Verrill and purchased by the Museum of the American Indian in 1918.","function_display":"Not recorded for the turtle-shell rig.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"waiwai","display_name":"Waiwai roarer of two turtle shells","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/nmai_74485_waiwai.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/nmai_74485_waiwai_thumb.jpg","credit":"National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (7/4485)","license":"Usage Conditions Apply (Smithsonian)","source_page":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_80219","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Waiwai bullroarer made from two turtle carapaces, fibre cord, and a short reed."},"slug":"mus2026-019-waiwai"}