{"id":"MUS2026-123","label":"Penobscot serrated blade and handle","people_or_site":"Penobscot","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"Old Town (Indian Island), Maine","macroregion":"North America / Eastern Woodlands","local_name":"","source_term":"bullroarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Complete bullroarer rig: leaf-shaped carved wooden blade, finely serrated along one edge, with braided twine and a long wooden swinging handle.","function_summary":"Specific use not recorded.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"nmai_collections","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_30456","page_or_plate":"NMAI 2/9224; APS Mss.Ms.Coll.126, file 8-37-i (archival object 977380)","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Old Town, Maine — the Penobscot community Speck worked in","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"This bullroarer from Indian Island, home of the Penobscot Nation, survives ready for action. Its long leaf-shaped blade is finely serrated along one edge, and the braided cord still joins it to the wooden handle that gave the player a full swinging reach. Frank Speck collected it there in 1911; his Penobscot papers also hold a drawing of a bullroarer.","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, 2/9224 (Penobscot; collected by Frank G. Speck, 1911); American Philosophical Society, Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126), Series III, file 8-37-i","url":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_30456","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20250616114838/https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_30456"}],"source_citations":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 2/9224 (Penobscot; collected by Frank G. Speck, 1911); American Philosophical Society, Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126), Series III, file 8-37-i","source_display":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 2/9224 (Penobscot; collected by Frank G. Speck, 1911); American Philosophical Society, Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126), Series III, file 8-37-i","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Complete bullroarer rig: leaf-shaped carved wooden blade, finely serrated along one edge, with braided twine and a long wooden swinging handle.","function_display":"Specific use not recorded.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"penobscot","display_name":"Penobscot serrated blade and handle","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/nmai_029224.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/nmai_029224_thumb.jpg","credit":"National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (2/9224)","license":"Usage Conditions Apply (Smithsonian)","source_page":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_30456","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Penobscot wood-and-twine bullroarer collected by Frank Speck in 1911."},"slug":"mus2026-123-penobscot"}