{"id":"MUS2026-274","label":"Crocodile-headed Sepik blade with handle","people_or_site":"Sepik region","country_current":"Papua New Guinea","historic_region":"Sepik region (museum attribution uncertain)","macroregion":"Oceania / Sahul","local_name":"","source_term":"Schwirrholz","source_language":"German","object_description":"Elongated wooden blade with carved zigzag fields, a stylized crocodile-head end, red-paint traces, cord, and a separate long handle.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"mimo_gnm_mir1282","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_GNM_907565/schwirrholz","page_or_plate":"MIR1282; OAI_GNM_907565","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Broad Sepik regional anchor; the museum marks the attribution uncertain.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A crocodile's head closes one end of this blade; a zigzag field runs the body between two cross-bands, and red paint survives in the cuts. The slat did not travel alone — a cord and a long separate handle came with it, so grip, line and blade are all still together, the whole apparatus that turned a carved plank into a voice.","pull_quote":"Ende stilisierter Krokodilkopf. Spuren roter Bemalung.","pull_quote_translation":"The end is a stylized crocodile head. Traces of red paint.","pull_quote_cite":"Germanisches Nationalmuseum, catalogue description, MIR 1282","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":"Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, MIR 1282, 'Schwirrholz' (New Guinea, Sepik region), via MIMO","url":"https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_GNM_907565/schwirrholz","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013034759/https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_GNM_907565/schwirrholz"}],"source_citations":"Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, MIR 1282, 'Schwirrholz' (New Guinea, Sepik region), via MIMO","source_display":"Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, MIR 1282, 'Schwirrholz' (New Guinea, Sepik region), via MIMO","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Elongated wooden blade with carved zigzag fields, a stylized crocodile-head end, red-paint traces, cord, and a separate long handle.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"sepik","display_name":"Crocodile-headed Sepik blade with handle","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest2/MUS2026-274_mimo_MIR1282.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest2/thumbs/MUS2026-274_mimo_MIR1282_thumb.jpg","credit":"Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg (MIR 1282) — via MIMO","license":"License unstated — via MIMO; rehosted for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_GNM_907565/schwirrholz","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"A Sepik blade complete with its cord and long bamboo handle, one end carved as a crocodile's head.","last_modified":"2026-09-01"},"slug":"mus2026-274-sepik-region-people-unrecorded"}