The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MUS2026-177

Palimbei monumental Iatmul bullroarer

Papua New Guinea · Middle Sepik · Palimbei (Parambei; Bragge: Parembei; historic catalog: Palimbai II) · Oceania · Sahul

Restricted

Palimbei monumental bullroarer, Berlin VI 48045, collected before 1912: a 1.29-metre blade carved with animal-like figures, circular motifs, triangular bands and animal heads at both ends.
Plate I. Palimbei monumental bullroarer, Berlin VI 48045, before 1912. Painted carving across the full 1.29-metre blade. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Image source
The complete carved face of Palimbei bullroarer VI 48045, from one staring terminal head to the other.
Plate II. The complete carved face of Palimbei bullroarer VI 48045, from one staring terminal head to the other. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Image source
Archival full-length view of the Palimbei blade and its carved animal procession.
Plate III. Archival full-length view of the Palimbei blade and its carved animal procession. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Image source
Palimbei bullroarer VI 48045, photographed by Dietrich Graf: a long dark blade deeply carved with geometric and animal-like figures, shown with color and metric scales.
Plate IV. Palimbei bullroarer VI 48045 with scale and colour reference, photographed by Dietrich Graf. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Image source

Source term: Schwirrholz

At 1.29 metres and nearly two kilograms, this painted blade is monumental. Its carving runs from a round-eyed face through concentric circles and a procession of animal forms to another staring head. Palimbei is also a name of identity: Central Iatmul people take their name from their mother village, tracing shared ancestry with the other Iatmul communities to the mythical place Mävɨmbɨt. Among the Iatmul the bullroarer belonged to the men's cult — shown to novices secluded in the 'belly' of a spirit house barred to women, and remembered in myth as the instrument whose roar frightened the first women into giving up the flutes.

Particulars

Object
Carved and painted wooden bullroarer, 129 × 15 × 3 cm and approximately 1.8 kg; Berlin VI 48045, made before 1912 at Palimbai II.
Function
Men's cult instrument, revealed to novices at Iatmul initiation.

Source

Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, VI 48045 (Schwirrholz; Palimbai II, before 1912); Christiane Falck, Calling the Dead (PhD thesis, James Cook University, 2016), p. 18; Eric K. Silverman, 'The Waters of Mendangumeli,' Journal of American Folklore 129 (2016), pp. 179-182; Laurie Bragge, Sepik Pre-History, Part I, pp. 232-233

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Part of The Bullroarer Atlas, companion to The Eve Theory of Consciousness.