The Bullroarer Atlas

PNG18 - ethnographic attestation

Iatmul / Mindimbit

Papua New Guinea - East Sepik - Oceania - Sahul

Function not recorded

Front and back of H.S. 6649a from Mindimbit (Reche's ‘293-km village’): a 37.5 × 4.7 cm carved bullroarer with its bast cord preserved. Reche...
Front and back of H.S. 6649a from Mindimbit (Reche's ‘293-km village’): a 37.5 × 4.7 cm carved bullroarer with its bast cord preserved. Reche reports that it was stored inside a large woven crocodile and produced a very deep humming tone when swung. O. Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), p. 350, fig. 385 Public domain Image source
Reche’s complete Plate LXV places H.S. 6596 from Mụåńgêm — a monumental 140 × 10.7 cm carved object that he judged very probably also a...
Representative image. Reche’s complete Plate LXV places H.S. 6596 from Mụåńgêm — a monumental 140 × 10.7 cm carved object that he judged very probably also a bullroarer and interpreted as a formal embodiment of the initiation spirit — beside a bag with teeth and a skull. The original printed caption is retained. A Middle Sepik comparator, not the Mindimbit specimen. O. Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (Hamburg, 1913), Taf. LXV fig. 1 Public domain Image source
A second Iatmul bullroarer from Korigo Hill, collected by Gregory Bateson and now held by the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge...
A second Iatmul bullroarer from Korigo Hill, collected by Gregory Bateson and now held by the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge (1930.429). Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 1930.429 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Image source

Source term: Schwirrholz; bullroarer / sacred flute / slit-gong

Schwirrholz: Reche’s German term for bullroarer. wagan: Iatmul avenging clan-spirits whose voices are the secret slit-gongs.

At Mindimbit on the Middle Sepik, Otto Reche documented a bullroarer whose construction and performance leave no ambiguity about the identification. H.S. 6649a was a 37.5-centimetre carved blade with a twisted-bast cord and a short wooden handle. Its forked cord mount kept the line aligned as the blade rotated, and when swung it produced what Reche called a very deep, humming tone. The expedition found it stored inside the belly of a large woven crocodile. Reche’s paired engraving shows the patterned front and back. A second plate depicts the monumental 140-centimetre H.S. 6596 from Mụåńgêm, which Reche judged very probably also a bullroarer and interpreted as a formal embodiment of the initiation spirit. Bateson’s later Iatmul account places bullroarers with flutes in the earlier men’s initiation ceremonies, while the slit-gongs called wagan belonged to the more serious secret rites.

Beim Schwingen gibt es einen sehr tiefen, brummenden Ton.

When swung, it produces a very deep, humming tone.

Reche, Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (1913), p. 350, fig. 385
Object
H.S. 6649a from Mindimbit (the “293-km village”): carved wooden bullroarer, 37.5 × 4.7 cm, with a 46 cm twisted-bast cord and 9.5 cm handle; front and back figured by Reche, who reports a very deep humming tone when it was swung. It had been stored inside the belly of the large woven crocodile H.S. 6649b.
Function
Functional bullroarer swung from a cord; Reche describes the mounting geometry, stable rotation, and deep humming tone. The wider Iatmul record places bullroarers in men’s initiation and secret-instrument rites.
Map confidence
medium - Central Iatmul area anchor around Palimbei/Parambei; the upgraded object provenance is Mindimbit (“293-km village”).
Source location
Reche 1913:350, fig. 385; Taf. LXV fig. 1 (H.S. 6596 regional comparator); Bateson 1936/1958:137

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