Ancestor Pole, "Bis" Pole
date: label: Accession Date
content: 28 Sep 2010
label: Collection Date
content: 2000
name: label: Collector
content: Terry Myers
label: Collector
content: Lynn Myers
label: Donor Name
content: Terry Myers
notes: label: Notes
content: Tall carved wood "pole". 9 male figures, with pierced noses and wearing loincloths, stacked up with arms and legs intertwined. Wing-like piece extending out from the top, carved with several heads on a framework. Plain, round, relatively small base. The wood is light in color, covered with white powdery paint or pigment. Some lines and details are filled in with red paint, and the hair on the figures is black. Several short pieces of hand-twisted rope are tied to the projecting piece, and the same rope is used to make ear and neck ornaments for some of the figures. Has several long cracks, some of them quite deep, in particular, on the right side of the top figure's face, through the hand and arm of two figures near the center, and on the base. Bis poles were originally made as memorials for individuals taken in headhunting, but this one was made for sale in 2000 (see accession file).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Dec 2015
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Birufu, Irian Jaya (Western New Guinea/Papua), Indonesia, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Asmat
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2045672
label: USNM Number
content: E432619-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Carving
physicalDescription: label: Height
content: ca. 436 cm