Dagger Item Number: 2948/31 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Bone dagger. The body of the dagger is formed from a cassowary leg bone, partially cut to expose the hollow interior and shaped into a fine point. The head of the bone is wrapped with a woven plant fibre casing, continuing into five thin strands of woven fibre. These each attach to two groups of blue seeds attached to short grey and long, fine black feathers. The woven casing around the thick end of the dagger has three painted bands of orange pigment. At the bottom point is a small incised cut running in a band across the bone. The head of the bone is red, with the remainder of bone yellow-brown to brown.