Pu Oro 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: Basketry bag, plain weave with alternating light and dark brown diagonal zig-zag stripes. Short fringe extending down from the rim. Single braided handle.
label: Notes
content: Donor notes: [Purchased for] 5 Kina... Non-dyed slightly tapered oblong bag made of woven sago leaf fiber. Known as a pu oro akeke, this basket is used while washing sago as a sieve to filter the sago starch out from the palm's pith. Secured to the side of the sago-washing trough with wooden pegs (kovaia), the bag once filled with pith is squeezed and twisted to release more starch. The bag's position is such that its one handle can be grabbed to hold open the bag when it is full of pith, and so that after the material has been squeezed, the pith can be removed. This akeke's opening is decorated with the frayed ends of the bag's fiber. The generic name for such decorations is aimai epo (“making it lips”). This akeke was made by Vaima Kauri (b. c. 1963, Arikinairu clan, Lavi Kivau, Mapaio) but sold by Uani Ke'a (born c. 1960; Peruava Orumako clan, Lavi Kaupara). The akeke is woven from 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.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 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: E435164-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Basket
physicalDescription: label: Total Length
content: 87 cm
label: Width
content: 21 cm
label: Length - Basket Only
content: 37 cm
label: Length - Handle
content: 52 cm