Eastern Asmat shield

[Tim Simmons]

I have just aquired a fascinating book

"The Dugum dani, Karl G Heider, 1970 Aldine Publishing Company Chicago"

I am posting a picture of what is known as ritual war, in other words an organised and arranged war which is quite different from a raid. In a ritual war, status can be found by the killing of an enemy but there is a sportive element to this form of conflict so fatalities tend to be few. This picture was taken in the early 1960s in the period of Dutch and Indonesian pacification. Later in 1966 there was a ghastly raid including the use of bush knives, over 120 deaths, all sexes and ages. So even late into the late 20th century traditional tribal conflict would breakout in the places off the beaten track as soon as patrols slackened. Thinking of the pacification of the Asmat. It is a vast region of related people not one event to one tribe called the Asmat. each side in the picture probably know who is to be killed and any others are just a bonus.