Throwing club
“I ula tavatava” throwing club, organically lobed.
Throwing clubs for human targets were only found in Fiji and take several forms ranging from types resembling short woodstock clubs to lobed throwing clubs. They could be used in three main ways, either thrown in high arcing volleys (as a substitute for bows and arrows), thrown at point blank range to kill a man outright (commonly used by Fijian assassins) or to deliver the final blow to an otherwise incapacitated man. Men became very attached to their throwing clubs and often wore a pair tucked into their waist sash, pistol fashion. After the death of their owner, many were wrapped in barkcloth with a tabua whalebone, smeared in turmeric and kept inside a basket in the temple.
Throwing clubs for human targets were only found in Fiji and take several forms ranging from types resembling short woodstock clubs to lobed throwing clubs. They could be used in three main ways, either thrown in high arcing volleys (as a substitute for bows and arrows), thrown at point blank range to kill a man outright (commonly used by Fijian assassins) or to deliver the final blow to an otherwise incapacitated man. Men became very attached to their throwing clubs and often wore a pair tucked into their waist sash, pistol fashion. After the death of their owner, many were wrapped in barkcloth with a tabua whalebone, smeared in turmeric and kept inside a basket in the temple.
Object Summary
- Accession Loan No.
- E1610
- Category
- Ethnography
- Collection Class
- Arms and armour
- Collection Area Region
- POLYN
- Material
- wood
- Common Name
- throwing club
- Simple Name
- weapon
- Production Country
- Fiji
- Production Year High
- pre 1869
