124-A10-4 | UNI Museum @ Rod Library

124-A10-4

Previously CS 247 4.

Displaying 1 - 5 of 5

	Catalog #	Name	Description
1	1970.78.10.13	Headdress	This particular headdress was made using the body feathers of a trumpeter bird. The trumpeter bird body feathers form a three quarter fan around the band of the headdress that is crafted from vines and wrapped in a woven cotton pattern with pink, white, and blue-gray patterns. The featherless section of the band shows all of the cotton strings wound around the end and fastened together. Some of the black trumpeter bird body feathers have colourful macaw tail and body feathers attached to the tip of them using the native mixture of "bui". There are also a few harpy eagle body feathers woven into the feathers throughout the three quarter fan. Crafting headdresses is a male craft among the Cashinahuans. Though women do know about the art, when interviewed around men they pretend to be ignorant. This headdress is classified among the Cashinahuans as "dani maiti" which titles it as a "body hair" or "body feather" headdress ("maiti" means "headdress" and "dani" means "body"). The name of the headdress is further changed to detail what kind of feather or hair was used in the making. The dani maiti are made by tying the base of the body feathers to a strip of vine that has been cut and prepared with "bui"- a native mixture of wild rubber, chicle, and beeswax. There may be up to four flattened strips of vine, but only one of them will have the bui on it. Feathers are tied to the strip of vine in bunches of up to six feathers tied about 1cm apart from each other. Doing this enables the headdress to have volume because the feathers are often overlapping. When all the feathers that will be added to the strip are tied on it, the headdress is tied together with cotton and waxed string forming a circle that will fit upon the man's head. In this case, as is occasionally seen, the vine has been covered in a patterned design created by wrapping cotton string around it. Dani maiti are crafted by men, often for their sons, for ceremonial events. Such events include "kacha nawa" (fertility ceremonies), "nishpu pi" (initiation rites), and "chidin" (the headman's ceremony).
2	1970.78.3.2	Quiver	With gourd container. Blow darts are very narrow and carved from light woods. They are not sharpened to a point until the hunter is ready to shoot. When he draws a blow dart he carves the tip with a piranha jaw tool and dips it in poison to paralyze his prey. He then loads the dart and blows it through the blowgun with a quick, sharp, full breath. The hunter might go through as many as 30 blow darts before he catches his prey. This quiver is worn around the neck by the cloth strap for ease of access. The quiver is made of a light wood, possibly from the native Big Leaf Mahogany tree. The blow darts are dried out and resemble reeds. The quiver shows native repair with the use of gum made from natural elements found in the area. The poison container is made from a gourd with two holes drilled through the bottom so that it can be looped on to the quiver. There is a hole in the top where the stem was and this is where the hunter would dip his arrow. There are seven nails hammered into the circumference on the bottom of the quiver and nine pieces of thin wood are wrapped around it and tied to the stick that is holding the gourd in place.
3	1970.78.6.2	Comb	Small wooden comb wrapped with burgundy colored weaving. Has string extending from center. Because Asháninkan women wear their hair long, this comb was used to keep it neat.
4	1970.78.9.1A	Pipe Bowl	Wood, cone-shaped, pipe bowl with a knob at the bottom. Handcarved and shows evidence of cultural use. There is a small hole carved into the proper backside of the bowl in which the stem will sit. In the bowl are remains of the substance that was smoked in the culture. The pipe bowl has a large rim with a small but deep bowl hollowed out of it.
5	1970.78.9.1B	Pipe Stem	Makisapa (a species of monkey found in the Amazonian Rainforest) bone stem that belongs to a pipe. The stem is very skinny and short, showing evidence of cultural use. The bone was crudely cut at both ends and is hollow to allow air and smoke to pass through.