Stone axe | Photographer: Axel Killian
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Stone axe
Up until the advent of the use of steel, a European influence, clamshells were an important tool on the Marshall Islands. Typically, a piece of giant clamshell was used as a blade, which was bound to a wooden handle with coconut fibre string. Such hatchets were used for building boats, among other activities.
Data Provider
Städtische Museen Freiburg
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Cataloguing data
Object type
Steinbeil
Dimensions
Länge: 505.0 mm
Material/Technique
Branch wood
Current location
Museum Natur und Mensch
Inventory number
II/1394
Provenance and sources
when
before 1900
when
22.11.1901
where
Marshall Islands (location/origin)
Micronesia (location/origin)
Oceania (location/origin)
Provenance
Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) November 1901, collected by Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit) /Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) November 1901, collected by Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit)
Object no. 75 (Object list Antonie Brandeis, 2nd consignment Nov 1901, SAF C3/241/2): "Small stone axe. Tridacna shell. For canoe building". Supplementary commentary on comparable object II/1393 (1st consignment): "The stone axes no. 50 and 51 are used to build canoes. They are made from the closing parts of large tridacna shells. Lighter ones are made from the ribbed parts of the shells. Axes no. 52 and 53 are used for lighter work. These axes are now rare as pieces of iron are now attached to the axe handles. The ropes are twisted from coconut fibre in various thicknesses. To make the coconut fibre supple, it is beaten soft with pieces of ironwood No. 80." (in: "Bemerkungen zu den dem Museum zu Freiburg /B. übersandten ethnologischen Gegenständen aus den Marshallinseln. South Seas". SAF D.Sm 35/1).
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