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Tiki Central / General Tiki / WHEN and WHERE did Melanesian art enter Polynesian Pop?

Post #512371 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Sun, Feb 21, 2010 2:58 PM

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Sorry, DC. I checked that one too. The shield is Indonesian or Dayak. I think Vagabond's House and related places are the right places to look though. Any world explorers or Traders who opened bars might have a Melanesian piece. I think Skipper Kent had PNG items pretty early - maybe 1950s.

That's a fantastic shield though. And so close. The trouble with Southeast Asian and Melanesian artifacts is that they can look so similar, but be created by different cultures. The Karo-Batak A-frame houses of Java can be nearly indistinguishable from the A-Frames of Papua New Guinea.

To make matters even more confusing, the Asmat artifacts of West Irian (the western part of New Guinea) often get included in books of Indonesian and Southeast Asian art, when they are Melanesian instead of Asian.


[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-02-21 15:17 ]