Question re: significance of design of u'u clubs

[laEspadaAncha]

So our local maritime museum (www.sdmaritime.org) has just launched a nice exhibit covering the three voyages of Cook, as well as those of Melville and Gauguin, and featuring examples of Gauguin's work. The exhibit is rich in aboriginal art, including some fine examples of 19th century war clubs. Unfortunately, there is no photography allowed, so I was unable to take photographs in or of the exhibit.

Among the war clubs were a couple u'u, similar to the one I have attached a photo of below.

My question is, what is the significance of the three skulls that seem to be a compulsory design element in every u'u' I have seen?

[fearn]

No clue, but now I know where I'm going Memorial Day. Thanks!

[KuKulzA28]

Well those images are also on this website: Pitt Rivers Museum

To quote them:

Information
This distinctive club, known as an U’u, is from the Marquesas Islands, a volcanic archipelago in French Polynesia. It is approximately 1.5 metres long and would have been used as a staff when not in use form combat. It is made of a dark wood that has been highly polished. The head is flattened to enable it to be carried under the arm and is carved with an abstract human face, with small human heads modelled in relief to form the eyes and nose. Traditionally, specialist carvers would have used tools made of sharks’ teeth to do this. The handle is decorated with tufts of light coloured hair, probably that of a dog, bound on with sennit (plaited grass).

Sacred Weapons
The U’u is the commonest type of Marquesan art object to be found in museum collections around the world. In part, this reflects the importance of the warrior in Marquesan society, as elsewhere in Polynesia. The toa (warriors) formed the third class of Marquesan society, inferior only to the chiefly elite and the priesthood. The U’u was one of several indicators of warrior status, and was carried both in daily life and in battle. Like a number of adornments, and the many evidences of woodcarving for which the Marquesan Islanders are internationally renowned, the U’u is manufactured to a schema which sits within a highly complex, elaborate and culturally defined context of personal adornment that is hardly matched anywhere in the world.

The name 'U’u' itself means ‘head’ and many examples feature ten or more different sets of eyes or a face, nested within the overall human-shaped structure of the club. Face-based decorative motifs have been common in different parts of Polynesia for 3000 years. However, the early-19th century U’u represents the zenith of that artistic trend’s development. The famous French painter Paul Gauguin, who lived in the Marquesas Islands for a number of years, remarked: "The basis of this art is the human body or face...always the same thing and yet never the same thing". The arrangement of these facial motifs, known as tiki, has sparked much discussion by art historians. Faces have great cultural and familial significance within Marquesan society: the term ‘Mata‘enana’ means ‘face people’ and refers to ancestors, while ‘Matatetau’ means ‘to count faces’, and is the term given to the act of reciting the members of your family tree. The face on the U’u club then, represents these ancestors who can ensure that things go well for the living by providing them with the necessary spiritual power and vitality, a force known as mana.

Another common carving motif, which can be seen on the neck of this U’u, is a pattern of concentric circles, called 'Ipu', meaning a container, vessel, or skull. This seems to imply a containing function for the decoration and indeed, the U’u should be regarded not only as a representation of the warrior’s ancestors but also as a a container for his mana (spiritual power), which is derived from them. The U’u enables him to take his mana on to the battlefield in order to grant him success. Additionally, the warrior’s appearance was designed and constructed to inspire awe and fear of his mana in the enemy. So, along with the club, he wore into battle a large elaborate headdress, carved wooden gorgets overlaid with brightly coloured seed beads and large fillets of human hair, the carved skulls of previous enemies tied at his waist, large whale ivory ear-spools, capes of printed bark-cloth, and either an entire sperm whale tooth, or a large pearl shell, tied around his neck. To complete this practice of bodily adornment, all Marquesan warriors were covered from head to foot in tattoos.

EDIT: but I'm sure a more specific and detailed answer can be found...

[VANDOO]

UNFORTUNATELY I CAN'T ADD MUCH TO WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN PRESENTED. HAVING ALWAYS FOUND THIS TYPE CLUB TO BE A FAVORITE OF MINE I HAVE LOOKED AT AND DROOLED OVER THEM FOR MANY YEARS. BUT MY POCKETS ARE NOT DEEP ENOUGH TO GET A GOOD OLD ONE.
SOME HAVE LESS DESIGNS AND THERE IS A RANGE IN THE SIZE OF THE CLUBS. PERHAPS AS YOU GAINED MANNA THRU VANQUSHING OR DISTINGUSING YOUR SELF IN BATTLE YOU WERE ALLOWED TO MOVE UP TO A LARGER CLUB AND ADD MORE DECORATIONS TO SHOW YOUR RANK AND FAME. I WILL ADD A FEW PICTURES TO SWEETEN THE POST.
NOTE ONE PICTURE SHOWS THE BONE HEAD WHO CLEANED OUT GAUGIN'S HOUSE AND BURNED ALL HIS BELONGINGS BEFORE MOVING IN HIMSELF. I BET THAT WAS ONE SICK POLITICIAN WHEN HE FOUND HE HAD BURNED A FORTUNE BECAUSE HE DIDN'T LIKE GAUGIN.

[Gavin Nugent]

I have this title on my list of interesting books, it may hold clues too.

~ Patterns That Connect ~
Social Symbolism in Ancient Art
by Carl Schuster & Edmund Carpenter

This large volume has hundreds of amazing photographs and drawings of a tremendous number of patterns in culture that connect one civilization to another.

Gav

[laEspadaAncha]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Well those images are also on this website: Pitt Rivers Museum

EDIT: but I'm sure a more specific and detailed answer can be found...

Okay. So I guess there was something of a clue to be found on the very website from which I found the picture. Got it.

Anyway, thanks for posting it... In speaking with someone form the curatorial staff there today, an ancestral homage or function was mentioned of the overall face design, but I wondered if there is a specific reason/function/purpose behind the use of three (tiki?) skulls that are used to represent the eyes and the mouth.

From the description accompanying the Pitt Rivers Museum photo, it sounds as if these may have served as an ancestral representation as well.

Barry - thank you for the pics and the input... considering that tattoos served a similar purpose, this seems feasible, no?

Fearn, are you here in San Diego? If so, that would make three forumites here (the other being Dimasalang). Anyway, IMO it's definitely worth the $10 door price to see the exhibit.

Gav - thank you for the book recommendation. Somewhat pricey I see, but definitely one worth picking up at some point.

I kind of have to wonder if there even is a definitive answer however...

George Wharton James was a famous ethnographer who studied Native American cultures in the early 20th century. And even though his book on Indian basketry contains an index labeling the patterns and designs of California basketry, he was the first to posit that in order to know what a given design represented, you would have to ask the weaver.

[fearn]

Yup, just saw the exhibit. Neat stuff, although I could have done with more Oceanic artifacts and less paint drying belowdecks.

Personally, my favorite was the Tridacna (giant clam) adze head from Micronesia. I didn't realize they got that big.

F