The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-128 - museum specimen

Kubka (museum spelling: Kubkin) / Upper Sepik

Papua New Guinea - East Sepik - Leonard Schultze (Walio) River - Kubka vicinity - Oceania - Sahul

Function not recorded

The documented Kubka/Kubkin bullroarer: a painted, relief-carved wooden slat about 40 cm long, its zigzag and dotted bands set inside a diamond...
The documented Kubka/Kubkin bullroarer: a painted, relief-carved wooden slat about 40 cm long, its zigzag and dotted bands set inside a diamond lattice, tapering to a notched, two-pointed suspension end. Yale Peabody Museum, YPM ANT 250128 CC0 Image source

Source term: bullroarer

Sawteeth, diamonds, and dots run across this forty-centimetre wooden bullroarer from Kubkin on the Upper Sepik. The thin blade divides at its suspension end into two small points, turning the cord notch into part of the design; traces of paint still sharpen the carved relief.

Ellipsoid shaped bullroarer carved from thin, slightly carved wood. One end notched, forming two points.

Yale Peabody Museum, YPM ANT 250128, object description.
Object
Thin, slightly curved ellipsoid wooden bullroarer, 40 × 5.5 cm; one end divides into two points around the suspension notch, and one face bears painted relief carving of sawteeth, diamonds, and dots. Yale Peabody Museum YPM ANT 250128.
Function
Use not recorded.
Map confidence
high - Kubka, East Sepik (GeoNames 2093269), used because the Yale label explicitly queries Kubkin as a variant of Kubka and places it near the Leonard Schultze River mouth.
Source location
YPM ANT 250128; Yale IIIF manifest 243655

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