No. MUS2026-330
Western Australian ancestor-voice zigzag
Western Australia
Restricted
Source term: Bullroarer
A broad zigzag runs the length of this forty-centimetre Western Australian blade, its angles filled with hatching and nested triangles. Whirled in initiation, its roar was the voice of the presiding ancestor and a warning to women not to approach. The engraving is patient work on an object whose whole effect, at the moment that mattered, was sound.
Particulars
- Object
- Wooden bullroarer, 401 x 60 x 10 mm, engraved with a wide zigzag, hatched angles and concentric triangles.
- Function
- Sounded in initiation as the presiding ancestor's voice; its roar warned women not to approach.
Source
musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac 71.1928.27.31; object ID(s) 7287; 40,1 x 6 x 1 cm, 131 g