Bark Coffin
date: label: Accession Date
content: 2 May 1949
name: label: Donor Name
content: American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "A RECEPTACLE FOR THE BONES OF A CHILD. CYLINDER OF BARK SEWN TOGETHER AND COVERED WITH BEESWAX ON THE OUTSIDE. DECORATED WITH TURTLES AND CROSS-HATCHED DESIGN. NOW STUFFED WITH BARK FIBRES TO KEEP IT IN SHAPE. LOANED TO RENWICK GALLERY 2/18/82; RETURNED 1983. ARNHEMLAND FUNERARY RIGHTS INCLUDE SEVERAL STAGES OF BURIAL AND REBURIAL. THE CLEANED AND PAINTED BONES OF THE DECEASED ARE PLACED INSIDE A HOLLOW WOODEN POST OR BARK CYLINDER PAINTED WITH THE CLAN EMBLEMS OF THE DECEASED. THE CLAN EMBLEMS ON THIS COFFIN INCLUDE A CROSS-HATCHED DESIGN, WHICH MAY SYMBOLIZE WATER, AND A TURTLE FIGURE, WHICH MAY REFER TO THE FRESH-WATER TORTOISE. IT IS SAID THAT DURING THE MYTHIC TIME OF CREATION THE TORTOISE MAY HAVE BEEN A MAN NAMED MIMALA. HE MADE FOUR BULL-ROARERS ... AND BURIED THEM UNDER THE PUBLIC DANCE GROUND DURING A RITUAL BURIAL. WHEN THE RITUAL ENDED, MIMALA CHASED THE WOMEN AWAY, DUG THE BULL-ROARERS OUT OF THE SAND, AND THREW THEM IN A WATERHOLE, WHERE THEY BECAME 4 LARGE TREES. THAT WATERHOLE IS NOW SACRED AND FORBIDDEN TO WOMEN, AND BULLROARERS ARE THROWN INTO ITS WATER EACH YEAR AFTER RITUAL USE."
label: Notes
content: Should this be x-rayed? Currently stuffed with bark.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 10 Oct 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 178294
label: USNM Number
content: E387494-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Coffin
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 61 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 13 cm