One of my favourite hilt forms

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Alam Shah, I have noted two different head forms in this type of hilt:- a humanoid head, and a kakatua head. Sometimes when there is no distinct head the suggested form seems to be more kakatua than human.I would theorise that the human form of head is ancestral, and the kakatua associated with the world above.

Thanks Alan for the additional pictures. Agreed with your observations and theory. Surely there's a reason for these hilt forms, unfortunately, I do not know.

[A. G. Maisey]

Maybe the reason is that the material has something hidden which needs to be revealed.

I've had this reason given to me a number of times by a number carvers.

So --- just maybe, at some unknown time in the past, a carver with imagination had the tip of a horn, and asked himself what he could create from it.

When we are dealing with art forms from a time and place that differs from our own, we need to be able to think in a way that also differs from 21st. century rational.

As 21st century rational thinkers we would identify the need, thus reason, and seek the material. People who think differently could have the material, and then seek the use, thus need, which provides reason.