What is this thing? Gun shaped stick thingy.

January 3, 2015 8:50 PM

My brother in law just bought a house and this was left behind in the cellar. Does anyone know what it is? It's wooden. The checkered bit along the shaft is some kind of woven grass. We're in Australia so possibly Aboriginal. Thanks.
posted by stellathon to Society & Culture (8 answers total)

Best answer: I believe it might be a club or mace - although where it's from, I couldn't say. Fijian? This page lists some similar examples (scroll down to plate 3).
posted by ninazer0 at 9:06 PM on January 3, 2015

Best answer: My husband thinks it's a war club - google it to see what they look like. Country of origin is unclear since it doesn't exactly look like the aboriginal ones.
posted by Toddles at 9:08 PM on January 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah, it looks like a war or hunting club (or replica).
posted by rtha at 9:11 PM on January 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh my dog you guys are amazing! Thank you. ninazer0, one of the pictures in your link looks just like it. Thank you everyone.
posted by stellathon at 9:14 PM on January 3, 2015

Yup, I'm also convinced it's a Polynesian war club. I don't know how old it is, although it looks like it has some age, so it may be worth checking with a museum or indigenous group to see if it's something that would be, for want of a better word, more suitably displayed somewhere else.

A large number of artefacts were removed without much consultation, or just outright pillaged, from communities across the Pacific and some of them have quite significant traditional, ritual and emotional value to the original community. It might be a copy, in which case it's fine to display.

(Aside: There are some interesting societal rules associated with certain traditional items, such as the use of the didjeridu here traditionally being for men only. There are female players but it's not widespread or overly encouraged - that's a while other discussion and we'd have to talk about gendered information at the same time, which can be quite challengins for those of us raised in a non-indigenous setting.)

Obviously, only something you want to pursue if you feel the need to close that particular loop, which is a very personal thing. Not meaning to hassle so feel free to ignore this.
posted by nfalkner at 11:33 PM on January 3, 2015

I am not an expert, but have seen these in museum collections. Definitely a club, and looks Fijian maybe which would be Melanesian, not Polynesian, if that is the case. There are many types of (men's) war clubs, though some were used as dance clubs as well. Not sure about the wrapped handle significance, that may mean it was used as a dance club at some point? See p. 72 in this (large) pdf. Fijian clubs were recently put on some stamps.
posted by gudrun at 10:46 AM on January 4, 2015

If you go to Fiji you'll see gift shops full of stuff like that.
posted by w0mbat at 6:06 PM on January 4, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you. gudrun, that was why I was asking, in case it was something that should be returned to some organisation but w0mbat, you've probably answered that question for me too!
posted by stellathon at 1:25 AM on January 5, 2015