IDNO

LS.120842.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Micronesia.
Gilbert Island.
Man dressed in old fighting armour." [typed text]
"(see also No.3)." [manuscript in ink]

"One of the senior students at Ronorono Training College." [Eastman's? annotation]

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.4912.ACH1: Man wearing armour.

A warrior wearing an armour shirt and leggings woven from coconut fibre [sinnet], a back-shield and puffer-fish helmet. holding a spear studded with shark’s teeth. [Mark Elliott 27/04/2004, description from record P.4912.ACH1, JD 17/12/2015]

Full-length portrait of a Kiribati roro-buraka (warrior), possibly an officer of the Gilbertese Army, dressed in traditional war kit and carrying a coconut-wood lance with a double-edge of sharks teeth. (Traditional the sharks teeth are tied into place with a kind of rope made from one strand of coconut fibre and one of the boy's hairs taken during a hair-cutting ceremony.) The plaited coir (coconut fibre) armour consists of a te tuta (short shirt or jersey) with diamond-shaped motifs probably worked in black human hair, trousers, and a te otana (cuirass), which has a back plate that protected the head and neck from coral rocks. (These were thrown at his enemy by his female relatives who would stand behind him.) The te katibana (belt) is of woven coir twine, or dried ray skin, 7-10 inches broad, worn around the body as protection from spears. The te barantauti (helmet) is made from the inflated, dried carcase of a porcupine-fish, a close relative of the puffer-fish. The man has bare feet. As the armour is heavy and stiff, making movement difficult, each warrior had an assistant who passed him his weapons. [Description from record P.4912.ACH1, JD 17/12/2015]

Place

Oceania Micronesia; Kiribati; Beru Island; Rongorongo [Gilbert Islands]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Eastman, George Hubert (Rev.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

pre 1925

Collection Name

Teaching Slide Collection

Source

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Clothing: Information on clothing provided by Faustina Rehuher, Belau National Museum for the Republic of Palau, the National Museums Liverpool ‘Top Treasures’, www.diduknow.info/top/porcupine_fh.html#, The British Museum, www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/s/suit_of_armour.aspx, and from ‘Kiribati - the Early Gilbertese Wars’, www.janeresture.com/kiriwars/index.htm. [JD 9/8/2007]

Publication: Image published in Eastman, G.H., 1925. Coral Island Folk, p.21, and captioned:
"Old Gilbertese Armour and Lance." [JD 12/18/2015]

Named Person: British Rev George Eastman (1881-1974, fl. 1913 - 1969) established schools in Kiribati as part of the London Mission Society. [Source: www.gospeldefenceleague.org/index.php/articles/57-gilbert-islands-mission-micronesia-central-pacific#sthash.8TYc1YVw.dpuf, JD 17/12/2015]

MAA Facebook: Image published on 18 December 2015 with the caption: "Today we managed to identify this series of wonderful portraits as made by Rev. George Eastman at the LMS School at Rongorongo, Beru Island, Kiribati, circa 1925. If anyone knows who the individuals are, or any other information, we would love to hear from you."
""Kiribati Man dressed in old fighting armour."
One of the senior students at Rongorongo Training College, dressed in traditional cuirass (armour) and carrying a coconut-wood lance with a double-edge of sharks teeth.
LS.120842.TC1 — at Rongorongo, Beru Island, Kiribati."
22 Likes; 1 Share. [JD 19/01/2017]