Kanak war club

A Kanak war club is a traditional weapon (mace) of the Kanak tribes of New Caledonia.

Kanak mace's striking head

Uses

Usually cut from a hardwood type of iron wood, gaiac or kohu ^[1] they were used for war. Like all the Pacific clubs, their forms were of a very wide variety and specific to each country and each purpose. ^[2] They were found in phallic form, but also in the form of a fungus or a bird’s beak. ^[3] Their striking head consisted of a root knot. ^[4] These weapons were originally decorated with plants, human hair, or cloths, and were wielded with one or two hands. ^[5]

Oceanian art specialist Roger Boulay makes a distinction between a mace, that is "an object whose percussion point is in the axis of the handle" and a club, that is "an object whose percussion point is shifted in relation to this axis".

The Kanak called the "bird beak" club a "turtle beak". ^[6]

Gallery

• 
  Kanak warriors holding clubs
• 
  Kanak mace with fungus head
• 
  Kanak mace fungus type
• 
  Bird's beak club
• 
  Kanak bird's beak club
• 
  Phallic mace
• 
  Kanak Mace

See also

• Kanak
• Melanesia

References

1. La 1ère Nouvelle-Calédonie
2. Susan Cochrane, Max Quanchi, Hunting the Collectors: Pacific Collections in Australian Museums, Art … Oxford Scholars Publishing
3. Gustave Regelsperger, L'Océanie française: la Nouvelle-Calédonie, les Nouvelles-Hébrides, les établissements français de l'Océanie, Édition Notre Domaine Colonial, 1922, p.15
4. Fergus Clunie, Fijian Weapons & Warfare, 2003, p. 136-7 et 142
5. La 1ère Nouvelle-Calédonie
6. Éliane Métais, Art Neo Caledonien, p.19

Bibliography

• John Charles Edler, Terence Barrow, Art of Polynesia, Hemmeter Publishing Corporation, 1990.
• Roger Boulay, Casse-Tête et Massues Kanak, 2015.
• Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Douglas Newton, Harry N. Abrams, Oceanic Art, 1997.
• Michael Gunn, William Teel, From the South Seas: Oceanic Art in the Teel Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MFA Publications, 2006.
• André Breton, Arts primitifs, Camels Cohen, 2002.
• De jade et de nacre: patrimoine artistique kanak : Catalogue, Musée territorial de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, mars-mai 1990, Musée national des arts africains et océaniens, Paris, octobre 1990-janvier 1991.