Ceremonial Spear? Dayak? Batak? or ?____?

[bellejoie]

We hope that members of this forum can help us learn more about the origin and cultural heritage of the ethnic spear in photos attached.
We have always admired its excellent artistic craftsmanship. Because of the ornate decoration, numerous teeth, and delicate materials, we think it might be intended for ritual or ceremonial purposes. We are very curious to understand the likely beliefs, intentions, and meaning of its creation.

From image searches online, and much appreciated insights in preliminary correspondence with a member of this forum, we have many questions and wonder:

1) Do the design and materials suggest a likely culture and place of origin?
2) Do they indicate a possible time or age?
3) Could style and decorations have spiritual significance? or perhaps authoritative symbolism?
4) Could the teeth, beadwork, hair, etc. suggest it may be from a Dayak culture? or elsewhere?
5) Might the face carving suggest Batak origin? northern Sumatra? or another source?
6) Would it properly be called a Tombak? or other proper identity name in its native culture?
7) Does the blade provide clues?
8) What is the animal and habitat source of the horn in the lower shaft?
9) Are the teeth likely human? boar? or other animal?
Size is 38 inches from tip to tip including hair.

Though unsure where, Marie acquired this object during worldwide travels while a Pan Am flight attendant. On time off, via local flights, buses, boats, & other transports to remote locations, she enjoyed to experience unique native cultures.
She was based in Jakarta Indonesia for several months in late 1975 to transport pilgrims to the Hajj. Her letters to parents note that she visited Bali, areas around Java, and in Sumatra flew to Medan, then by buses to Parapat, Batak villages around Lake Toba, Samosir Island, Bukittinggi, and Padang.

Thank you in advance for your assistance and any insights or references you can provide.
Best regards, Marie and Jim
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[naturalist]

Neither Dayak nor Batak..
Really have no idea though

Cheers,
Naturalist/Anton

[milandro]

Welcome to the forum.

I am afraid that this is one of those pieces " for those who travel...", at least, in my humble opinion. I wouldn't attribute any special significance to any element that you are mentioning.

This is a piece made to impress the foreign traveller and be sold at one of the countless markets in Indonesia (they may even come from very common tourist spots).

We see a fair amount of krises , tombaks, mandau, decorated with fairly new " tribal" paint signs and teeth in The Netherlands. Some were brought back very recently.

This seems to be a tourist piece as many others

At best they feature repurposed blades integrated in sheaths which are covered in decorations made to impress , sometimes (and I think this is now the case) the blades are not old repurposed ones but especially made for the production of these flashy items. In my opinion, sorry, this is what you have.

There are references in the archive and a discussion on the fact that in Indonesia at some point these became very " popular" among travellers

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=teeth+dayak

[Sajen]

Welcome to the forum! I am sad to say that your item is made for those who travel. You can see similar items in the link Milandro had provided.

Regards,
Detlef

[Tim Simmons]

The teeth seem to be pig premolars.

[milandro]

they are generally pig or dog and of course are there to suggest the " human" origin since these objects are invariably sold with the mysterious " headhunter's " innuendo ".

[Ian]

I agree with the comments above. I have two "Mandau" of poor construction that have similar decorations. I was told that they were made in Irian Jaya (formerly Dutch New Guinea).

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

I was told that they were made in Irian Jaya (formerly Dutch New Guinea).

I don't know if this is correct, I think that this is a myth.

[bellejoie]

Thanks to milandro, naturalist, Sajen, Tim, Ian!
C’est gentil – most kind!
If others have thoughts, we welcome learning from expertise of members in this forum.
We are grateful and appreciate knowing the truth about this artistic spear.
If it was actually a genuine ethnic creation, our goal would be to protect its cultural heritage (especially if it had some inherent spiritual or meaningful belief importance).
Therefore, it is also important to know what it is not—to avoid false claims or misrepresentations that would do a disservice to any native culture.
Our goal has been to find a suitable disposition of our possessions as part of planning for estate succession. So, this helps to know it’s merely attractive craftmanship. We’ll aim to ensure it’s admired simply for decoration.