Description (Labels & Markings)
Expedition label made by Dennison & Co. reads: [Handwritten in black ink by Charles Seligman:] '66'.

Museum label adhered to object reads: [Handwritten in black ink by Gerald Montagu Benton:] 'Daniels' Ethnographical Expedition | E.1905.250 c. Arrow - Dembibi, Brit. New Guinea. Major W. Cooke Daniels, 1905.'
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: heather donoghue

Context (References)
Landtman 'Ethnographical Collection from the Kiwai District of British New Guinea in the National Museum of Finland, Helsingfors (Helskinki)' notes this style of arrow (with it's distinctive decoration) is from Bugi, although traded elsewhere in the region (1933:52).
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: heather donoghue

Context (Other owners)
Object appears as item 66 on Charles Seligman's catalogue of objects donated to the museum on behalf of William Cooke Daniels, see MAA Archive OA2/12/9: 'Three arrows from Dembibi'. Following the expedition, Seligman catalogued and donated the collections on the understanding they were a gift from Cooke Daniels, the expedition's primary funder.
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: heather donoghue

Context (Field collection)
Collected during the Daniels Ethnographical Expedition to British New Guinea, led by Major William Cooke Daniels and Dr. Charles Seligman, accompanied by Dr. Walter Mersh Strong and Mr A.H. Dunning, 1903-1904.

To date, the precise location of Dembibi (Dembebi) has not been identified.
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: heather donoghue

Context (Other)
Catalogue card reads: [Handwritten in pencil:] 'E.1905.250, (1-3) ['a-c?' inserted above] MELANESIA. B. NEW GUINEA. Dembibi (as yet unprov.) Arrows, (3) Donor [underlined] Major W. Cooke Daniels. R.1906 ['5' crossed out in black ball point and replaced with '6']. 878-880.'; [later addition handwritten in black ball point:] 'Large; one with leaf shaped, one with wedge-shaped and one with one-sided barbed head of bone; the necks decorated with burnt-in patterns, are attached to plain reed shafts. Collected by Cooke-Daniels Ethnographical Expedition 1903'. [Red circular sticker top right of card.]
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: heather donoghue

Description (Physical description)
Arrow with cane shaft and leaf-shaped point. Lower section of shaft undecorated except for three painted black lines below central section, which is wrapped in plant fibre and covered with lime pigment. Top section decorated with four faded painted red bands outlined with black painted horizontal lines and intersected by two long unstained sections, one with black painted linear designs with central spirals enclosed within opposing triangles. Point secured with lime-covered plant fibre wrapping.
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: heather donoghue