{"id":"MUS2026-161","label":"Kanganamun Iatmul initiation bullroarer","people_or_site":"Iatmul / Kanganamun","country_current":"Papua New Guinea","historic_region":"Middle Sepik / Kanganamun","macroregion":"Oceania / Sahul","local_name":"","source_term":"","source_language":"English","object_description":"Broad wooden blade with a cord fixed at its narrow end and a separate transverse handle; the complete rig, cord and handle together, in one photograph.","function_summary":"Used and seen only by initiated men; during initiation it functioned like a siren to control the movement of women, children, and uninitiated men relative to the initiates.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"maa_2002_87_kanganamun","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/537392/","page_or_plate":"MAA 2002.87","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"OpenStreetMap Kanganamun village node 10801918458 matching the museum maker and collection locality.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Luke Kamangari made this broad-bladed bull-roarer at Kanganamun in 2001, its cord and cross handle still attached. Only initiated Iatmul men may see or sound it: the museum's own label calls it a siren, its whir clearing women, children, and the uninitiated from around the men it moves past during initiation. The same initiation at Kanganamun scarifies a boy's back and chest into the pattern of a crocodile, the primeval ancestor whose split jaw, in Iatmul myth, made the sky and the land.","pull_quote":"These powerful instruments can only be used and seen by initiated men. They are prominent during initiation rituals where they function like 'sirens'.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Cambridge MAA exhibition label for 2002.87","term_gloss":"","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["initiation","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Cambridge MAA 2002.87; made by Luke Kamangari and collected by Andrew Moutu at Kanganamun village in 2001","url":"https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/537392/","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013022303/https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/537392/"}],"source_citations":"Cambridge MAA 2002.87; made by Luke Kamangari and collected by Andrew Moutu at Kanganamun village in 2001","source_display":"Cambridge MAA 2002.87; made by Luke Kamangari and collected by Andrew Moutu at Kanganamun village in 2001","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Broad wooden blade with a cord fixed at its narrow end and a separate transverse handle; the complete rig, cord and handle together, in one photograph.","function_display":"Used and seen only by initiated men; during initiation it functioned like a siren to control the movement of women, children, and uninitiated men relative to the initiates.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"iatmul","display_name":"Kanganamun Iatmul initiation bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-161_mus2026-161-maa-2002-87-original.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-161_mus2026-161-maa-2002-87-original_thumb.jpg","credit":"Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 2002.87; made by Luke Kamangari","license":"CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (MAA collection image); authorization generally required for living or recently deceased makers/photographers. Review-only pending MAA living-maker clearance; original photograph retained unmodified.","source_page":"https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/537392/","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Iatmul bullroarer by Luke Kamangari, Kanganamun, with yellow cord and toggle."},"slug":"mus2026-161-iatmul-kanganamun"}