Shield

People in Papua New Guinea have made shields for use in warfare, rituals and performance, for use in cultural exchanges and to sell as art works. Artists paint, carve and decorate shields in striking and often regionally distinctive styles. They may feature painted geometric patterns, characters from popular culture, or even beer and other commercial product branding. Artists also carve shields with motifs or adorn them with shells, plant material, decorative lashing or bindings.

Conflicts in the Highlands 

This battle shield is from Chuave District, Chimbu (Simbu) province in Papua New Guinea. Simbu people have both gifted and traded shields, as well as bows, arrows, flutes and other items of adornment and clothing. In the 1930s, Simbu men carried a “bow and arrow, shield, spear, rarely a knife” (1).

This shield may have been made for use in intergroup fighting in the Eastern Highlands in the late 20th century. One observer wrote that “Contemporary battles in central Chimbu could involve hundreds and even thousands of men in spasmodic battles over weeks, months and years, revived clan warfare has led to the deaths of dozens of people and the injury of hundreds more, the burning of thousands of houses and the destruction of huge areas of food and coffee gardens. Up to four major conflicts were underway simultaneously in Simbu in the late 1970s, and later. One, in Kup, ran from 1973 to 1981 and was revived in 1988. Directly or indirectly, through alliances and individual participation, about half the Simbu clans have been involved”(2).

Provenance

This shield is one of two collected by a New Zealand couple, Doug and Sharron Hales, who worked in Papua New Guinea in the early 2000s until they returned to New Zealand in late 2009.

The Hales were head teachers at the Koroboro International School located in Port Moresby. The school had two campuses: Sharron headed up the early childhood campus on the Boroko East site, with 540 students from 3 years old to Grade 2; Doug was headmaster of the primary school, which had 630 Grade 3 to Grade 8 students on the Korobosea site. The school belonged to a not-for-profit organisation, owned by the International Education Agency of Papua New Guinea. The staff and students were predominantly Papua New Guinea people.

The Hales travelled extensively and visited the Highlands region several times. The community leader or “big man” that sold the shields to the couple told them that they had been passed down five generations.

References

(1) Brown, Paula (1995) Beyond a Mountain Valley: the Simbu of Papua New Guinea. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Pp.23,96

(2) Standish, William Austin  (1991) Simbu Paths to Power: Political Change and Cultural Continuity in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University. P.110