War Shields of Central New Guinea War Shields of Central New Guinea By Barry Craig For the context of war shields in central New Guinea, see Beran & Craig 2005:117-126, Craig 1988 and Cranstone 1968. Central New Guinea cultures are relatively homogeneous. This essay will focus on variations in designs on war shields in central New Guinea. Photographs of shields in the various museum collections were taken by Andrew Fyfe. Images 1a & 1b:Figure 1. a. Languages of central New Guinea. b. Peoples (min) of Central New Guinea. Most of the central New Guinea region is inhabited by Trans-New Guinea speakers of the Mountain Ok family of languages. The most central of the Mountain Ok are the Telefol-speaking Telefolmin of the Ifi valley (Ifitaman) where the Telefomin airstrip and administration are located, of the Elip valley (Eliptaman) immediately north, and of the Niar (upper Frieda) valley to the north-east. The Telefol-speaking Falamin are located at the headwaters of the Sepik to the south-east of Ifitaman. The Mianmin live in scattered mountain settlements north-west of the Telefol. The Ulapmin are a Tifal-speaking people who live between the Ifitaman Telefolmin and the Tifalmin in the west. Further west, to the south and north of the central range are the Tifal-speaking Wopkeimin and Atbalmin respectively. On the southern side of the central range (headwaters of the Fly River), Faiwol-speaking communities are, east to west, the Seltamanmin, Baktamanmin, Angkeiakmin, and Fegolmin. The Bimin and Kwermin are southern neighbours of the Oksapmin. The Oksapmin do not speak a Mountain Ok language but their material culture is related to that of their Mountain Ok neighbours. Similarly, the Dulanmin (Asabano) of the western headwaters of the Om-Strickland River are linguistically unrelated to the Mountain Ok but share a similar material culture. All these peoples use wood shields and bows and arrows in warfare for attack and defence; most also make and use plaited rattan cuirasses to protect the torso (Tiesler 1984). Enmity between groups tended to prevail along an east-west axis because of competition for resources in like environments. Alliances tended towards a north-south axis because of the necessity for maintaining trade between the lowlands and highlands, eg. black palm bow staves from the lowlands in return for tobacco from the highlands. Thus, the Ifitaman Telefolmin fought with the Falamin and with the Tifalmin, and the Eliptaman Telefolmin fought with the Dulanmin and Mianmin. The Falamin were friendly with the Oksapmin (from whom they obtained mok adze blades) and with the Angeiakmin to their south, whereas the Ifitaman Telefolmin were friendly with the Fegolmin. The Angkeiakmin fought with the Fegolmin. The Ulapmin fought with the Tifalmin; the Tifalmin of the lower Ilam valley fought with the Tifalmin of the upper Ilam. The Mianmin fought with the Atbalmin. Most of the shields of central New Guinea that have been published are from the Telefolmin, Ulapmin and Tifalmin (Beran & Craig 2005; Craig 1988; Cranstone 1968). This paper will include shields from other central New Guinea communities also. Designs of most shields consist of a central motif with more or less standard minor design elements along the sides, usually small zigzags, and chevrons and/or pairs of spirals at top and bottom. Among the Mountain Ok, most but not all of the central motifs can be allocated to three kinds of design, as illustrated in images 2, with elaborations of these basic designs—images 3. Some designs appear to have been unique to particular communities and other communities seem to have had shields with a multiplicity of designs. Images 2a, 2b & 2c:a. Possibly an early replacement of a Dulanmin shield (Asabano: unabu) that had been captured by the Telefolmin in a raid, Oksivip, Ifitaman Telefolmin. Photo: B. Craig 1967 C-66. b. Telefolmin shield (atkom), Angke[ma]vip, Ifitaman. Photo: B. Craig 1967 C-68. c. Telefomin shield, collected by Ward Williams 1936, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, 7288-58-2. Photo: B. Craig 1975 M1:1. None of the designs in images 2 and 3, or their many variations, were specific to any particular Mountain Ok community. Some shields were captured during raids (eg. 2a) and the design copied subsequently. The design of the Tifalmin shield in 3b was said to have been a copy of a common Ulapmin design. There is an example of a Fegolmin community buying a shield from the Telefolmin, similar in design to 3c. Images 3a-3d: a. Telefomin shield, collected by Stuart Campbell 1936, Australian Museum E.44032. b. Tifalmin shield (askom), collected by Bryan Cranstone at Brolengavip 1964, British Museum, Oc.3.81. c. Fegolmin shield (askom) photographed at Olsobip Patrol Post; now in Berlin Museum, VI 49533. Photo: B. Craig 1967 C-18. d. Shield from Akiapmin/Tuwari, upper Leonard Schultze River, collected by Barry Hoare. PNG Museum E.16185. A shield photographed by Laurie Bragge at Wabia (Niartaman Telefolmin), 38 km north-east of Telefomin, is of the exact same design as that in Fig. 3a. An Akiapmin (Tuwari) shield of the upper Leonard Schultze River, 36 km east of Dulanmin, has an Asabano design on a shield rounded at top and bottom and with a Sepik mainstream holding device for shields used with, and for defence against, spears (Fig. 3d). A rectangular shield with the usual Mountain Ok vertical twisted double-rattan holding device was collected in 1963 by John Pasquarelli at Apiap (Akiapmin/Tuwari?); it too has the Asabano design but the central lozenge has been incised and painted with two eyes and a mouth. Schuster comments (1968:32, trans.), ‘The shield bearer used it to cover one or more archers’. It seems that the Akiapmin made shields for bow and arrow combat with mountain communities to their south and shields for spear combat with riverine peoples to their north. Thus, the basic Asabano design, said by them to represent a human figure (Lohmann 2000:58), is extremely widespread. Images 4a-4e:a. Shield (atkom), Oksivip, Ifitaman Telefolmin. Photo: B. Craig 1967 C-10. b. Shield (atkom) inside the supreme cult house at Telefolip. Photo: B. Craig 1962 C9:16. c. Shield (atkom), Ibatigin, Eliptaman Telefolmin. Collected by Baptist Mission, Telefomin, c.1966; British Museum 1971.Oc.6.7. d. Shield (atkom), Tinkabanavip, Ifitaman Telefolmin. Collected by B. Craig, 1968. Berlin Museum VI 49532. e. Shield (atkom), Telefomin. Collected by Stuart Campbell 1936. Australian Museum E.44031. On the other hand, one particular design appears specific to the Ifitaman Telefolmin (Fig. 4, a). Another of identical design was kept in the supreme cult house at Telefolip (Fig. 4, b). Another design, not uncommon on very old Telefol house boards, is found on old Telefol shields of the Elip and Ifi valleys (Fig. 4, c). One from an Ifitaman village, said to have been made well before Thurnwald’s appearance at Telefomin in 1914, is now in the Berlin Museum (VI 49532 – Fig. 4, d). Stuart Campbell collected one in 1936 (Fig. 4, e) and another, at Fliapbil in Eliptaman, was said to have been made at an Ifitaman village well before the conquest of the Iligimin c.1870. Images 5a-5d:a. West Mianmin shield (klem), collected by Laurie Bragge, c.1967; Photo B. Craig 1967 C:70. b-d. East Mianmin shields (klem), collected by George Morren 1969, Nrs 277, 165, 267; photos by Janet Gardner 2016. Certain designs appear to be specific to Mianmin communities. It is interesting that the Mianmin shield in Fig. 5d and the Atbalmin shield in Fig. 6a are basically the same design; the Mianmin shield was from a settlement on the north side of the Tekin (Sepik) River and the Atbalmin shield from the opposite (south) side – they were enemies of each other. Apart from the shield collected by Bercovitch, Wheatcroft’s sketch of similar design (Fig. 6b), and my sketch of another (Fig. 6c), I know of no other Atbalmin shields. Images 6a-6d:a. Atbalmin shield (askom), collected by Eytan Bercovitch, c.1982; now in PNG Museum 87.86.1; Photo B. Craig 1983 C16:15. b. Sketch of Atbalmin shield by Wilson Wheatcroft, 1969. c. Sketch by B. Craig, 1969 of Atbalmin shield collected by Kennecot field geologist Nigel Grant. d.. Shield (askom) at Silinabip, west Wopkeimin. Photo: B. Craig 1965 C:152. The unique design of the westernmost Tifal-speaking Wopkeimin--one seen at Kawokabip, another at Silinabip (Fig. 6d), and a cruder version at Tungganabip ̶ was said to be the only design carved on shields of the western Wopkeimin (south of the Star Mountains on the eastern side of the West Papuan border). No shields have been reported for the Ngalum communities west of the border. The Faiwol-speaking Angkeiakmin and Fegolmin regarded their shields as more than just useful in warfare. They kept several along the rear wall of their men’s cult houses along with ancestor skulls and the skulls and jawbones of domesticated and wild pigs. Small, feathered string bags (‘bilums’, menamem) containing minor ancestral relics were hung on the shields and carried into battle with the shields. The shields were said to ‘keep the skulls warm’ and heat is power, necessary for the well-being of the taro crop and the community, and for success in hunting and warfare. Images 7a-7d:a, b.: Shields inside cult house at Dametdagalabip (section of Bolobip); photo B. Craig 1967 BM11:04, 05. c. PNG Museum 90.24.4. d. PNG Museum 79.1.104. Images 8a-8d:a. Shields inside cult house at Woksimbip (section of Bolobip); photo B. Craig 1967 BM11:11. b. Woksimbip shield in private ownership. c. Shield from Mongdangabip, Ogoptaman. POM 79.1.102. d. Shield from Kelabip, Baktamanmin. POM 90.24.5. Photos I took in 1967 inside cult houses of the Angkeiakmin and Fegolmin show such shields in situ. A few of these shields have found their way into the PNG National Museum (Fig. 7). One in advanced deterioration is in private hands (Fig. 8b). Others, from cult houses I was unable to enter in 1967, and others from Faiwol-speaking settlements further east that I did not visit, also have turned up in the PNG Museum (Fig. 8c, d). What is remarkable about the shields of the Faiwol communities is the variety of the designs and the apparent great age of many of them. Images 9a-9d:a. Bimin shield (askom) collected by Arthur Marks 1964; British Museum 1964.Oc.3.435. b. Bimin shield (askom) collected by Maria Wronska-Friend; British Museum 1988.Oc.6.8. c. Bimin shield (askom) collected by John Fitz Porter-Poole c.1972; PNG Museum E.11153. d. Shield inside cult house at Dametdagalabip (section of Bolobip); photo B. Craig 1967 BM11:6. There seems to be no doubt that the Mountain Ok Bimin and Kwermin, and the Oksapmin, had shields, although only one securely-provenanced old Bimin shield (Fig. 9a) and no old Oksapmin shields, are known to me. Arnold Perey states of the Oksapmin (1973:162): ‘War shields, made before pacification in 1963, are no longer carved’. Other Bimin shields in museum collections (Fig. 9b, c) were not made for traditional use. All three Bimin shields are essentially the same design and their design corresponds to the old Angeiakmin shield in the cult house at Dametdagalabip/Bolobip (Fig.9d). The recently-carved Bimin and Kwermin shields in Fig. 10a, b are more like each other than they are to the other Bimin shields. Images 10a-10d:a. Bimin shield (askom) collected by Maria Wronska-Friend; British Museum 1988.Oc.6.9. b. Kwermin shield collected by Svein Eggertsson c.1994. c, d. Two of six ‘Oksipmin’ shields offered by Cobb’s Auctioneers, 2014. Several shields offered by Cobb’s Auctioneers (Peterborough, New Hampshire) in 2014 were said to be from ‘Oksipmin’ (Oksapmin?) and ‘collected by Dr Gerald Bloom, Harvard Expedition to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, c.1958’. I have been unable to authenticate Bloom or that Harvard expedition. The Oksapmin patrol post was not established until 1961 with only sporadic and rare visits by the Administration patrol officers in the few years prior to that. No mention of a Harvard expedition was found in patrol reports. Two of the shields (Fig. 10c, d) appear to have some age and with designs somewhat divergent of Telefol designs; the other four appear to have been carved in the 1960s with Telefolmin designs. In the early 1970s, the Telefol of Ifitaman, Eliptaman and Falamin, and the Tifalmin, began carving shields for sale and while most of the designs followed traditional precedents, some began to add new motifs. References Beran & Craig eds. 2005. Shields of Melanesia. Adelaide: Crawford House Publishing. Bragge, L. 2016. A History of New Guinea’s Sepik Region. Vol.4. https://pngaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Sepik-4-Coming-to-Grips-with-the-Future-1946-to-1975-Part-2.pdf Craig, B. 1988. Art and Decoration of Central New Guinea. Shire Publications, Aylesbury, Bucks. Cranstone, B.A.L. 1968. War Shields of the Telefomin Sub-District, New Guinea. Man n.s. 609-624. Laycock, D. 1973. Languages of the Sepik Region, Papua New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, Nr 25; Map 1975, Series D, Nr 26. Canberra: Australian National University. Lohmann, R.I. 2000. Cultural Reception in the Contact and Conversion History of the Asabano of Papua New Guinea. PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Perey, Arnold. 1973. Oksapmin Society and World View. PhD Thesis, Columbia University, NY. Schuster, M. 1968. Farbe, Motiv, Funktion. Basel Museum für Völkerkunde. Tiesler, F. 1984. Die Kürasse Neuguineas. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde Dresden, Band 41:46-85, Abb.1-65, Map.
