Akeke (Basket)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 17 May 2017
label: Collection Date
content: 22 Mar 2010
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Joshua A. Bell
label: Donor Name
content: National Museum of Natural History
notes: label: Notes
content: Small basketry bag, with long fringe extending down from the rim. Woven in twill, with stripe and diamond pattern, in beige (undyed), yellow, and (now very faded) red. Single braided handle.
label: Notes
content: Donor notes: [Purchased for] 10 Kina... Oblong plated basket made of shredded dyed sago leaves with dyed sago tassels hanging from mouth of basket. The basket has been dyed with an array of natural dyes: aro (red) and daeko (yellow). Daeko is obtained from soaking the sago leaf fibers in water into which the daeko or turmeric root (Curcuma longa) has been scrapped. Boiling the leaves of the aea iri tree (scientific name unknown) makes the red color (aro) into which the shredded sago leaves are placed for anywhere from 1-3 hours. The basket's pattern is “ropo” (star) for which there are no known totemic affiliations. This akeke was made by Korea Maria (Oreika clan, Lavi Kaupara) and sold by James Api's wife. James' wife had been given the akeke by Korea as a gift. Upon the sale of the basket she gave the money to Korea. The akeke is woven from dyed and non-dyed fibers obtained from the leaves of a sago palm. The palm frond is first cut and the leaves stripped into fibers. Only young green leaves are used. The strips are then placed in the sun to dry for one day. The fibers are then pulled off the palm frond's stem and dyed. Once the fibers are dyed they are gathered and a knot made, which the weaver holds between her toes as she weaves the bag. Weaving time takes any where between 2 days to 1 week, depending on the time the weaver devotes to the bag. Regardless of the type of akeke, women only make them. This is a particularly good example of akeke.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 29 May 2018
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Mapaio village, Purari Delta, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: I'ai (Purari)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2058626
label: USNM Number
content: E435167-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Basket
physicalDescription: label: Total Length
content: 94 cm
label: Width
content: 27 cm
label: Length - Basket Only
content: 34 cm
label: Length - Handle
content: 50 cm