Friday 3 April 2020

ARCL0113 Object Assessment: D.0008 - Wooden Fijian club

Figure 1. D.0008 Fijan club (credit: UCL ethcat.museums.ucl.ac.uk/photo.aspx?maxphotos=4).

 Description of object 

     Object D.0008 (Fig. 1) from UCL Ethnography Collection is a club that comes from Matu Island, Fiji, and was created by an indigenous group named Ku. The object consists of two components, a wooden club and a woven cane handle covering. The club is 85 centimetres in length, the circumference is 14 centimetres at the thinnest end (handle), and 16 centimetres at its thickest end (head). It is carved from one piece of wood. The handle covering is 70 centimetres long and is woven in light and black cane fibres. It has a chequered pattern at the ends of the covering and zigzag one in between called tavatava. 

Statement of significance

      Clubs were of great importance in the Fijian culture. The warriors believed that the head is the most sacred part of the human body and therefore slaughtering and enemy by shattering this part with a club brought the warrior prestige and helped to attain the highest warrior status of koroi. They were expensive and prestigious products made by a specialist craftsmen called mati-ni-malumu (Clunie 1977: 46 - 48)
     Fijian clubs were made in several forms. This particular example is a dance club called kiakavo, which was used rather for the ritual purposes than for fighting. The kiakavo clubs were used by Fijians in the sacred meke vau, meke mada and meke wesi dances (Clunie 1997: 50). During the rituals, weapons were smeared with red, blue and white paint (Mosley 1879: 332). The discussed club has a large amount of red, some blue and white pigments visible on the head of the object (Fig. 2) which indicates its use in the ceremonies and therefore its of historical significance.  
     Information about the club's providence is very limited. It was collected by an archaeologist named Mr G. E. W. Avory, who later donated it to the UCL Ethnographic Collection. In addition to its aesthetic, historical, social and spiritual values, the club acquired new scientific and technical significance by being currently part of the UCL teaching collection.   

Figure 2. Pigments and crack on the head of the club. (Photograph by author).


Brief condition assessment


     The overall condition of the object is good and stable. There is a large crack on top of the club's head (Fig. 2), and some chips below the spur. Nevertheless, there is no material movement and in general, the wood is stable. The object has numerous scratches on the surface. There is some flaking of the cane fibres (Fig. 3) mostly in the middle part of the handle covering. The back fibre seems to be more deteriorated, presumably due to the use of dyes which weakens the material.

Figure 3. Flaking of the cane handle covering. (Photograph by author).
  

References

Clunie, F. 1977. Fijian Weapons & Warfare. Suva: Bulletin of the Fiji Museum, No 2.
Moseley, H. N. 1879.  Notes by a Naturalist: An Account of Observations Made during the Voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger” round the World in the Years 1872-1876. London: MacMillan and Co. Available at: <https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/24496#page/9/mode/1up> [Accessed 15 February 2020].

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