Front page | Photographer: Martin Franken | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
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The club is about 1.20 metres long with an oval handle and a round, flattened head. There is a cotton tassel at the end of the handle, which was used to attach feathers. Remains of quills are still recognisable. It is made of reddish-brown, heavy wood that has been coated with a resinous, black-brown mass. It is probably so-called brazilwood, whose name derives from the Portuguese word brasa, meaning "glowing coal", and refers to the red colour of the wood. It was used to colour fabrics and was one of the most lucrative goods traded between Europe and Brazil in the 16th century. This is why Brazil was named after this wood.1 Hans Staden's True Historia from 1557 describes how the Tupinambá Indians used such a club as a weapon for the ritual killing of an enemy and then consumed it. The club was painted and decorated for this purpose.2 Clubs like this can be found in various depictions from the 16th century, in which they symbolically refer to the New World of America. However, the clubs used for ritual killing had a handle about 2 metres long,3 while those with a shorter handle were probably used more in warfare because they were easier to handle.4 (Silke Karg, LITERATUR s. WG)
