The Bullroarer Atlas

SEA-001 - museum specimen

Ifugao

Philippines - Northern Luzon - Eastern Lepanto - Northern Nueva Vizcaya - Southeast Asia

Play / practical

Banaue Ifugao wiwiw, a flat leaf-shaped wooden toy bullroarer tied to one cord; Yale YPM ANT 229683.
Banaue Ifugao wiwiw, a flat leaf-shaped wooden toy bullroarer tied to one cord; Yale YPM ANT 229683. Yale Peabody Museum (YPM ANT 229683) CC0 Image source
Two Ifugao bullroarer sticks from the Peabody Museum, one bearing chevron and dot pigment, both fitted with braided plant-fiber cords.
Two Ifugao bullroarer sticks from the Peabody Museum, one bearing chevron and dot pigment, both fitted with braided plant-fiber cords. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (08-36-70/74328) Image source

wiwiw English

Source term: bull roarer

At Banaue, the Ifugao wiwiw was a flat, leaf-shaped wooden blade about twenty-seven centimetres long, tied to a single cord and kept as a toy; two older decorated bamboo blades from the same highlands survive at Harvard's Peabody Museum.

Bullroarer, flat bamboo sticks, plant fiber tied at one end, pigmented designs

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, object 08-36-70/74328, inventory description
Object
Two flat bamboo bullroarer sticks with plant fiber tied at one end and pigmented designs; Yale YPM ANT 229683 is a flat leaf-outline wooden blade, 26.7 × 3.8 cm, with one terminal cord, from Banaue.
Function
The Banaue wiwiw is catalogued as a wooden toy; use of the two older Peabody bamboo blades is unrecorded.
Map confidence
medium_high - Ifugao highland source region not Harvard museum
Source location
object 89009 / label 74328; consulted 2026-06 | YPM ANT 229683

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