The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MUS2026-274

Crocodile-headed Sepik blade with handle

Papua New Guinea · Sepik region (museum attribution uncertain) · Oceania · Sahul

Function not recorded

A Sepik blade complete with its cord and long bamboo handle, one end carved as a crocodile's head.
Plate I. A Sepik blade complete with its cord and long bamboo handle, one end carved as a crocodile's head. Image source

Source term: Schwirrholz

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.

Ende stilisierter Krokodilkopf. Spuren roter Bemalung.

The end is a stylized crocodile head. Traces of red paint.

Germanisches Nationalmuseum, catalogue description, MIR 1282

Particulars

Object
Elongated wooden blade with carved zigzag fields, a stylized crocodile-head end, red-paint traces, cord, and a separate long handle.
Function
Not recorded.

Source

Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, MIR 1282, 'Schwirrholz' (New Guinea, Sepik region), via MIMO

View the source · archived

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