Clubs! Skull Smashers from the South Seas

No part of the world is as rich in clubs as Oceania, the far-flung island cultures of the Pacific Ocean. On almost every Pacific island - from New Guinea in the west to Easter Island in the east - the club is a symbol of battle, status and style. A club was rarely just a simple skull splitter - in that case a heavy piece of wood would have been sufficient - it was a status symbol, to be carried about as part of a costume.

In the past, frequent wars required every man in Oceania to be armed to the teeth. Clubs varied in shape enormously: from simple but effective shock weapons with a polished stone at the top, to curious, artistically carved forms looking more like oars or scoops. Each people, island and archipelago has its own distinct type of club.

With the spread of Christianity and the impact of the Western colonial powers, who shared out the Pacific islands in the nineteenth century, internecine war disappeared. Many of the clubs found their way into museum collections assembled in the imperial mother countries.

Artis in the Tropenmuseum

The Tropenmuseum possesses hundreds of clubs, most of which were acquired as part of collections that became defunct and were absorbed by the museum. One of the oldest collections is that of Artis Museum of Ethnography. This was started in 1858 by Amsterdam�s zoo, Natura Artis Magistra. The ethnographic collection was no mere adjunct of the zoo. In 1887 its objects were displayed in a full-fledged, professional museum presenting the collections acquired by scientific expeditions, scholars, explorers and colonial officials. When plans for the current Royal Tropical Institute were finalised, it was decided in 1910 to close the Ethnographical Museum at Artis. Its collection of over 11,000 objects was ceded in 1911 to the new Colonial Museum. This extended the museum�s collection to include many objects from Dutch colonies, alongside items from those of other European powers.

Press photos

2006