Watercraft at Cambridge (UK) Anthropology Museum

Fans for watercraft ethnography would do well to visit Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Artefacts on display from many peoples reflect not only a variety of watercraft types and applications, but also a diversity of the ways in which watercraft are culturally significant to their users.

We'll start out with artefacts from the Canadian Artic before moving on to items from Oceania.

Kayak from Clyde Inlet, Baffin Island, Canada, collected in 1946.

Bow-end view of Baffin Island kayak.

Cockpit coaming and internal structure of Baffin Island kayak.

A section of skin pieced into the deck of the Baffin Island kayak. 

Kayak model and hunter from the Canadian Arctic, made from walrus ivory. The kayak is equipped with harpoons, spears and a sealskin float all fastened to the deck.

Walrus tusk collected in the Canadian Arctic in 1927, decorated with a scene of umiaks hunting whales, made for sale to Europeans.

Moving on to items from the Pacific world:

Dugout canoe collected in 1914 from the Utakwa River in West Papua (Irian Jaya) New Guinea.

Carved detail on New Guinea dugout canoe.

Beautifully carved canoe prow in the shape of a crocodile's head, collected in 1927 on the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea. Crocodiles are prominent not only in the river, but also in local myths and spiritual beliefs.

Decorated canoe paddles from the Sepik river.

Canoe "wave cutter" from Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. These decorative, symbolic devices are fitted to the bow of ocean-going canoes used in the kula ring of ritual trade between islands in New Guinea's Massim region. (See B. Malinowski's classic Argonauts of the Western Pacific, 1922.) Made in 2009.

Canoe carving in ebony and mother-of-pearl by Isaac Sulawai of Papua, New Guinea, made 2008-2009. According to the display card, the canoe's occupants are at sea but they are not paddling, leaving the canoe (and themselves) at risk of capsize -- a metaphor for PNG's lack of effective political leadership.

A late 19th or early 20th C "headhunting canoe" from New Georgia, Solomon Islands. The display card is ambiguous whether this is a reduced-size model or a full-size copy. In the latter case it would be a very small canoe, limited to a crew of perhaps two.

The prow of the Solomon Islands canoe, decorated with shells and mother-of-pearl.

Lashed-lug construction of the Solomon Islands canoe.

Toward the ends of the Solomon Islands canoe, the strakes are lashed directly to each other via the lugs that are left standing as the planks are carved.

Stern of the Solomon Islands canoe.

Bowls in the form of canoes, used to serve taro during feasts in the Solomon Islands, collected 1904. Carved dolphins and heads of frigate birds appear on both. Contrasting decoration of nautilus and conus shell. 

Detail of the "figureheads" on the lower of the two taro bowls from the Solomon Islands.

War canoe figurehead representing a crocodile, from the Kenyah people of Borneo, late 19th C. The eyes are Chinese porcelain teacups. The teeth are boars' tusks and sheet metal. 

Model of a Maori war canoe from New Zealand, 19th C. Real ones were up to 40m long -- too big to be collected by a museum -- so Maori craftsmen built models for ethnographers to collect.

Detail of gunwale carving on the Maori canoe model.

Bow carving on the Maori canoe model.

Figure at the base of the sternpost on the Maori canoe model.

Stern of the Maori canoe model.

Side-to-bottom stitching, carved thwart, and carved gunwale (amidships) on the Maori canoe model.

Maori Canoe bailer collected in Aotearoa, New Zealand, by Capt. Cook, 1768-1780. The eyes are of haliotis shell. A split has been repaired with flax thread.

Left: paddle from Solomon Islands, 1900, decorated both sides with a man in a canoe, frigate birds, and a man holding a pistol.
Middle: Maori paddle-club with shell inlay, New Zealand, collected by Capt. Cook.
Right: sternpost of a Maori war canoe (1905), similar to that on the model Maori canoe above. 

Wooden dish in the form of a double-hull canoe, used by a Fijian priest to hold scented oil.. From Rewa, Levu River, Fiji, collected ~1875.

Although the exhibits are somewhat old-fashioned in their presentation, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology appears to change most of them but rarely (if ever), it's enlightening nonetheless, and there are items here that are probably no longer in indigenous use. Museum entry is free.

Boat Iconography at the British Museum #1: Egypt

When it comes to studying the earliest watercraft, direct archaeological evidence, in the form of artefactual boats and ships, is extremely rare and fragmentary. In contrast, the iconography of ancient boats -- in the form of models, relief carvings, images on pottery, etc. -- is relatively abundant, and often well-preserved. If you read enough nautical history or archaeology, you'll come across a number of oft-used images that provide some of our best clues about the design and construction of early watercraft. Although subject to differing interpretations, these mostly well-known examples of boat iconography are crucial to current understandings of such fundamentals as when sails were first used, how Egyptians built reed, and then wooden, boats, and what Greek and Roman galleys looked like. Interpretation of fragmentary shipwrecks can be greatly hampered by a lack of relevant iconography.

On a visit to London in January, I realized for the first time how so many of these "iconic examples of iconography" are held in the British Museum. It was like walking into a well-illustrated textbook, and a thrill to see these classic examples up close and in 3D. There are too many to include in a single post, so I'll begin with the Egyptian boat models, all of which are from funerary contexts. Later posts will examine examples from other areas and cultures. Photos were taken through display case glass, so image quality is poor, for which I apologize.

From tomb 56 at the necropolis of Asyut, the burial of Hetepnebi, a local official, 1st Intermediate Period, about 2090 BC. I'm unsure if this represents a papyrus raft or a plank-built boat. Two masts are present (possibly used as towing posts?). Aboard are the owner, a pilot, six oarsmen, who I believe are kneeling, and five soldiers, who stand. Shields and staves are stacked amidships. Paddles and a steering oar have been lost. (Click any image to enlarge.)

From the same tomb: crews of two papyrus rafts. The raft on the left is a replica of the original, which disintegrated. Unlike the oared craft above, these are propelled by forward-facing paddlers, who work from a crouching posture. A pilot originally stood at the bow, and a figure of the owner at the stern.

The museum's online catalog search isn't working and the display signage only indicates that this and the next model are from a tomb from "the end of the Old Kingdom to the mid Twelfth Dynasty", which is roughly 2181 BC to 2000 BC. This model appears to represent a wooden boat, propelled with 8 oarsman, with a pilot in the bow and a helmsman astern. The oarsmen wear a skirt-like garment that covers their legs, making it difficult to say if they crouch or kneel. The model once included a mast, sail, and rigging as well.

Apparently found with the previous model, this one is set up strictly for sail, although two of the crew were apparently using poles (lost) as well. Three other crew manage the rigging, and again there's a pilot forward and a helmsman aft. The owner sits with boxes of cargo beneath the decorated canopy. The rudder arrangement is interesting. The upper end of the stock rests on a post forward of and high above the helmsman; the lower end, just above the blade, rests on top of the transom. A tiller (lost) extended down from the stock between these two pivot points. The significance of the grid-like lines painted on the deck of this and all of the models below is unclear. Did they represent removable deck panels? Perhaps thwarts and a longitudinal strength member?

This funerary boat (12th Dynasty, about 1850, from Thebes) carries the deceased owner's mummy. attended by a mourner, a priest, and provisions for the afterlife. The boat represented was probably wooden, but the upturned ends are reminiscent of papyrus rafts, a design holdover from the older, more "traditional" technology. Twin quarter-rudders are supported at the upper end by an A-frame that is topped by a carved falcon head, and managed by a single helmsman who has two tillers to manage. 

This top view of the previous model shows a painted grid pattern on the deck, similar to the previous two models.

12th Dynasty, about 1985-1795 BC, provenance unknown. With the crew sitting on boxes and posed for rowing, and the boat is rigged for sail, the deceased's soul will be able to travel both upstream and down. 

The same model as in the previous photo.  The square-profile squaresail rig has a yard with multiple lifts and a boom with multiple halyards.The rudder has lifting tackle to raise it in shallow water or for beaching. 

A Solomon Islands Canoe at the Vatican

On a trip to Italy this month, we visited the Vatican Museums, eager to see masterpieces like the Laocoon group and the Apollo Belvedere. Upon entering, however, the first thing we saw was this plank-built canoe, an eye-catching introduction to an extensive temporary exhibit of boat models and paddles from around the world.

Stern view of a Solomon Islands mon canoe at the Vatican. (Click any image to enlarge.)

Bow of the Solomon Islands mon canoe at the Vatican.

The Vatican's stated purpose for the exhibit is to represent of the diversity and interconnectedness of world cultures. The curators were far more interested in communicating that ecumenical message than in the details of the items on display, for we saw nothing to identify the boat or paddles on exhibit, and the models were accompanied by only scanty information. Nevertheless, we'll concentrate on the exhibit's sole full-size boat in this post, and move on to the paddles and models in subsequent posts.

We believe the canoe is from the Solomon Islands. Haddon and Hornell (in Canoes of Oceania, Vol. 2) identify four types of plank-built monohull canoes in the Solomons. Those with continuous washstrakes like the one here were called mon and were characteristic of the central Solomons, including Bougainville, New Georgia, and Choiseul. 

In contrast, canoes called lisi, with discontinuous washstrakes both fore and aft, were characteristic of the southern part of the chain (including Guadalcanal, Malaita and San Cristoval) and of the tiny island of Buka, at the chain's northernmost end. With the exception of its discontinuous washstrakes, the following image of a Buka canoe observed in 1753 by Labillardiere is very much like the canoe in the Vatican. (See also our post on a Solomon Islands canoe at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, which we now recognize as a lisi.) 

"Buka Island Canoe (Solomon Islands)" from Labillardiere (1800), Atlas pour servir a la relation du voyage de la recherche de la Perouse.
(Source: University of Cambridge)

Bent (?) frames amidships, with decorative carving at the upper ends, are lashed to cleats on the planks' interior surface. Also in view is the seat riser.

The exhibit canoe is built of long parallel planks with no keel. Each plank is gotten out with cleats left standing proud on its interior surface near the lower edges, one cleat per rib. These cleats are lashed to ribs with vegetable fiber and caulked with resin made from the "putty nut" (Parinarium laurinum).

Carved frame/thwart units near the bow.

Most of the ribs are roughly round in section and appear to be bent to shape, their top ends being carved with faces that are decorated with eyes of shell inlay. The two forward-most frames and accompanying thwarts are carved from single pieces of wood, and painted, carved decorative elements appear within that perimeter. Continuous thwart risers are lashed to the ribs and run nearly the whole length of the boat, supporting multiple seats for paddlers and passengers.

Bow detail showing a carving of a horned beast (or demon?) at the waterline, extensive shell inlay, and cowry shells lashed to the forward surface of the stem well above the waterline.

The most distinctive feature of the canoe is its tall, elaborately decorated prow and stern. The outboard surfaces of these features are inlaid with thousands of pieces of carved shell in circle and cross patterns, and the decks feature diamond-pattern shell inlays. A grotesque painted and carved animal head (a goat? a demon?) sits right at the waterline on the cutwater with its horns on either side of the stem. Cowry shells are lashed to the fronts of both the stem and sternpost high above the waterline. The stem is capped with a painted carving of two parrot-like birds facing one another over a bulb-topped post that might represent fruit on a tree. The sternpost also features a painted carving at the top of an obscure geometric design.

Carved stem-head decoration

Sources: 
Canoes of the Solomon Islands by R.J.A.W. Lever.
"Canoes of the Solomon Islands," from The Maori Canoe by Elsdon Best
Canoes of Oceania, Vol. II: The Canoes of Melanesia, Queensland, and New Guinea, by A.C. Haddon and James Hornell

Asmat Spirit Canoe

Our previous post featured a large dugout canoe from New Guinea's Asmat culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That one was ceremonial but functional. Beside it in the same exhibit was another Asmat canoe that was purely symbolic and religious in function. We'll quote the display card in full:

"Asmat spirit canoes (wuramon) are ceremonial carvings in the form of supernatural vessels. Wuramon are created for a one-time use during emak cem (the bone house feast), a ceremony that celebrates the spirits of the recently dead and the initiation of young boys. After being secluded within a ritual house for several months, the boys emerge one by one and crawl across the wuramon on their bellies. As each crosses the vessel, he is transformed from a boy into a man. Once across, he is seized by a man who cuts designs into his body; these heal into permanent scarification patterns that mark him as an adult. 

"Crewed by spirits, the wuramon has no bottom to its hull, as spirits do not require a complete hull for their journey. The spirit figures have a dual nature: their outer forms portray supernatural creatures, but each is named for a specific recently deceased ancestor, whose spirit it embodies. A turtle (mbu), a fertility symbol because of the numerous eggs it lays, appears near the center of this wuramon. Behind it is an okom, a dangerous Z-shaped water spirit. The other figures, gazing down through the bottomless hull, represent menacing water spirits (ambirak) or human-like spirits (etsjo). A hammerhead shark is depicted on the prow."

Asmat spirit canoe (wuramon), with hammerhead shark figure at the bow (left). Click any image to enlarge.

Asmat spirit canoe (wuramon)  at Metropolitan Museum of Art. The spirit figures are lashed to the gunwales.

Spirit figures looking down through bottom of hull. The gunwale displays a fine pattern on the outer surface.

Spirit figures at stern 

The turtle spirit figure symbolizes fertility. Behind it is an okom, "a dangerous Z-shaped water spirit."

More spirit figures looking through the bottom of the hull. Behind the spirit canoe is the large dugout canoe featured in the previous post. Note the fine decorative carving on the gunwale, similar to that on the wuramon. 

Shadow on the floor shows the bottomless nature of the spirit canoe's hull