Arrow from Santa Cruz, Melanesia

Maria L · 3rd December 2011, 01:02 AM

Ed and Tim, thank you very much for your contributions! I haven't been able to get in touch with the PNG Museum, but wrote to heritage organisations in Fiji and Vanuatu, so hopefully they may take an interest in this and put me in touch with the right person. I've also appealed for help at the BM and Pitt Rivers. Tim, thanks for posting this article, it has been most useful. The bit about Solomon Islands arrows with undercut barbs designed to snap off in the wound seems to fit, as the wood directly behind the barbs on my arrow has been carefully undercut, and they would snap off easily under the slightest pressure. Elsewhere on this forum I have seen some discussion about the practce of wrapping plant material around arrowheads to cause infection in the wound. Could this be the purpose of the moss-like fibres stuffed behind the barbs on mine?

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

3rd December 2011, 01:02 AM	#6
Maria L Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 6	Ed and Tim, thank you very much for your contributions! I haven't been able to get in touch with the PNG Museum, but wrote to heritage organisations in Fiji and Vanuatu, so hopefully they may take an interest in this and put me in touch with the right person. I've also appealed for help at the BM and Pitt Rivers. Tim, thanks for posting this article, it has been most useful. The bit about Solomon Islands arrows with undercut barbs designed to snap off in the wound seems to fit, as the wood directly behind the barbs on my arrow has been carefully undercut, and they would snap off easily under the slightest pressure. Elsewhere on this forum I have seen some discussion about the practce of wrapping plant material around arrowheads to cause infection in the wound. Could this be the purpose of the moss-like fibres stuffed behind the barbs on mine?