MUS2026-351 - museum specimen
East Greenland serrated blade-and-handle rig
Ammassalik (Tasiilaq), East Greenland - Arctic
Play / practical
Source term: Bullroarer
William Thalbitzer described what East Greenlanders whirled: a lancet-shaped wooden leaf fastened by a short string to a short stick, spun until it roared. That is exactly the three-part arrangement lying here — a blade toothed down both edges, its cord, and the grip it answers to. In the Ammassalik district Thalbitzer knew the thing only as a toy for children, and made a point of saying so, because elsewhere in the world the same object was sacred. On this coast the roaring belonged to whoever was small enough to want it.
- Object
- A 227 × 56 mm serrated wooden blade with separate handle and full connecting cord.
- Function
- A children's toy: in the Ammassalik district Thalbitzer knew the bull-roarer only as a plaything for children (Thalbitzer 1914, p. 663).
- Source
- Pitt Rivers Museum 1935.52.7, object 39587; blade, handle and cord; the 1935.52 exchange lot is a run of East Greenland toys and games (.5 tube-and-pin game, .6 mechanical toy, .8 puzzle, .9 toy spinning buzzer)
- Source location
- 1935.52.7
- Source confidence
- low Ammassalik-area anchor used for the broader East Greenland provenance, with caveat.
- Toy / secular survival