Lefoantsoro from Madagascar

[fearn]

Hi All,

Now for something completely different....

THE CONTEXT: I found this spear in a greenhouse in the Cleveland Botanic Garden. That's not a typo. CBG has two themed greenhouses, one mimicking a Costa Rican forest (complete with butterflies and birds), one mimicking a Madagascar dry forest from the southern half of the island. One major threat to this forest is that it's being cut down for charcoal, and the spear below is part of a small grouping of artifacts that talk about the people of the dry forest.

I'm pointing this out to explain three things: 1) the plant that's in front of it (which wasn't there the last time), 2) the crappy condition of the spear--it's not being conserved, and since I was there last, someone buried the spear tip in the loam, and 3) the fact that I didn't move the plant out of the way for better photos. I had a teen-aged docent standing behind me while I took the pics, and I didn't see a reason to ask him to pull the spear out of the landscaping so that I could get a better image.

Here's the stats: the entire spear is roughly four feet long. At one end is a leaf-shaped spearhead with the blade about 6" long (take my words for it--it was unphotographable). At the other end is a chisel tip roughly the same length, pictured below. The spear was about 2 cm diameter (3/4"). I didn't measure these, I'm guesstimating.

This spear is labelled as a lefoantsoro. In the previous incarnation of this board, I'd suggest that an unidentified thingie might be a blade from one of these spears. Well, here's the spear. I'd also suggested that perhaps the chisel blade was an asian concept. I've changed my mind on the last, after seeing those taureg spears a few months ago. I'll post the links to the previous threads when I find them, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Aside from the condition of the spear, what do all you ethnos think? Pure african? Afro-asian? How about in the context of Malagasy culture? And, does anyone want to go to Madagascar to do some shopping ?

Here's the pics:
1. A sign about the people who make lefoantsoros, the Mikea.
2. A view of the sign.
3. The entire lefoantsoro.
4. A "clean" view of the chisel head (chisel butt?)




Cheers,

Fearn