{"id":"PNG18","label":"Iatmul — Mindimbit","people_or_site":"Iatmul / Mindimbit","country_current":"Papua New Guinea","historic_region":"East Sepik","macroregion":"Oceania / Sahul","local_name":"","source_term":"Schwirrholz; bullroarer / sacred flute / slit-gong","source_language":"German; English","object_description":"H.S. 6649a from Mindimbit (the “293-km village”): carved wooden bullroarer, 37.5 × 4.7 cm, with a 46 cm twisted-bast cord and 9.5 cm handle; front and back figured by Reche, who reports a very deep humming tone when it was swung. It had been stored inside the belly of the large woven crocodile H.S. 6649b.","function_summary":"In wider Iatmul initiation rites, novices learned to swing bullroarers; women heard the hidden instruments from the ceremonial house while seeing parts of the ceremony.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"reche1913_kaiserin_augusta","source_type":"ethnographic_monograph","source_url":"https://books.google.com/books?id=I9g4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA350","page_or_plate":"Reche 1913:350, fig. 385; Taf. LXV fig. 1 (H.S. 6596 regional comparator); Bateson 1936/1958:137; Gourlay 1975 printed p. 51 (citing Bateson 1935:168; 1958:128, 130, 134)","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Central Iatmul area anchor around Palimbei/Parambei; the upgraded object provenance is Mindimbit (“293-km village”).","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"At Mindimbit on the Middle Sepik, Otto Reche documented H.S. 6649a, a 37.5-centimetre carved blade with a twisted-bast cord and a short wooden handle. Its forked cord mount kept the line aligned as the blade rotated. The expedition found it stored inside the belly of a large woven crocodile. Reche’s paired engraving shows the patterned front and back. A second plate depicts the monumental 140-centimetre H.S. 6596 from Mụåńgêm, which Reche judged very probably also a bullroarer and interpreted as a formal embodiment of the initiation spirit. In the later Iatmul rites Bateson described, novices learned to play flutes and swing bullroarers; women saw parts of the ceremony and heard the hidden instruments sounding from the house. The wagan slit-gongs belonged to the more serious secrets.","pull_quote":"Beim Schwingen gibt es einen sehr tiefen, brummenden Ton.","pull_quote_translation":"When swung, it produces a very deep, humming tone.","pull_quote_cite":"Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (1913), p. 350, fig. 385","term_gloss":"Schwirrholz: Reche’s German term for bullroarer. wagan: Iatmul avenging clan-spirits whose voices are the secret slit-gongs.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation","women_taboo","women_special"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":true,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Otto Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), p. 350, fig. 385, Taf. LXV","url":"https://books.google.com/books?id=I9g4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA350","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013025347/https://books.google.com/books?id=I9g4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA350"},{"citation":"MARKK, Hamburg, expedition inventory H.S. 6649a"},{"citation":"MARKK, Hamburg, expedition inventory H.S. 6649b"},{"citation":"Gregory Bateson, Naven (1936; 2nd ed., 1958), p. 137"},{"citation":"K. A. Gourlay, Sound-Producing Instruments in Traditional Society: A Study of Esoteric Instruments and Their Role in Male-Female Relations, New Guinea Research Bulletin 60 (1975), p. 51"},{"citation":"Gregory Bateson (1935), p. 168; Naven (1958), pp. 128, 130, 134, via Gourlay 1975, p. 51"}],"source_citations":"Otto Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), p. 350, fig. 385, Taf. LXV; MARKK, Hamburg, expedition inventory H.S. 6649a; MARKK, Hamburg, expedition inventory H.S. 6649b; Gregory Bateson, Naven (1936; 2nd ed., 1958), p. 137; K. A. Gourlay, Sound-Producing Instruments in Traditional Society: A Study of Esoteric Instruments and Their Role in Male-Female Relations, New Guinea Research Bulletin 60 (1975), p. 51; Gregory Bateson (1935), p. 168; Naven (1958), pp. 128, 130, 134, via Gourlay 1975, p. 51","source_display":"Otto Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), p. 350, fig. 385, Taf. LXV; MARKK, Hamburg, expedition inventory H.S. 6649a; MARKK, Hamburg, expedition inventory H.S. 6649b; Gregory Bateson, Naven (1936; 2nd ed., 1958), p. 137; K. A. Gourlay, Sound-Producing Instruments in Traditional Society: A Study of Esoteric Instruments and Their Role in…","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"H.S. 6649a from Mindimbit (the “293-km village”): carved wooden bullroarer, 37.5 × 4.7 cm, with a 46 cm twisted-bast cord and 9.5 cm handle; front and back figured by Reche, who reports a very deep humming tone when it was swung. It had been stored inside the belly of the large woven crocodile H.S. 6649b.","function_display":"In wider Iatmul initiation rites, novices learned to swing bullroarers; women heard the hidden instruments from the ceremonial house while seeing parts of the ceremony.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"iatmul","display_name":"Iatmul — Mindimbit","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/reche1913_abb385_hs6649a_293km.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/reche1913_abb385_hs6649a_293km_thumb.jpg","alt":"Front and back drawings of H.S. 6649a, a tapered Mindimbit whirring stick with bold zigzag bands and cord loops at the top.","credit":"O. Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), p. 350, fig. 385","license":"Public domain (published 1913)","source_page":"https://books.google.com/books?id=I9g4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA350","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Front and back of H.S. 6649a from Mindimbit (Reche's ‘293-km village’).","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/PNG18_reche1913_taf65_fullplate.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/PNG18_reche1913_taf65_fullplate_thumb.jpg","alt":"Reche’s Plate LXV: carved Middle Sepik blade H.S. 6596 with repeated ring and line motifs, beside a human skull and netted pouch.","credit":"O. Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), Taf. LXV fig. 1","license":"Public domain (published 1913)","source_page":"https://books.google.com/books?id=I9g4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA350","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Reche’s Plate LXV, including carved Middle Sepik object H.S. 6596."},{"full":"assets/objects/PNG18.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/PNG18_thumb.jpg","alt":"Iatmul bullroarer from Korigo Hill, collected by Gregory Bateson.","credit":"Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 1930.429","license":"CC BY-NC-ND 4.0","source_page":"https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/1930.429","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"For comparison: an Iatmul bullroarer from Korigo Hill, collected by Gregory Bateson."}]},"slug":"png18-iatmul-mindimbit"}