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Afo

human history
  • Other Name

    Fishing line (English)

  • Description

    Afo. Fishing line. This is a hand made afo. The afo is comprised of a long white string. This string is tied around eight wooden floats as well as eight metal hooks. The floats are thin cylindrical pieces of taiuli (looped ends of net) coloured a light brown. The hooks are a dark brown colour and vary in shape and size. Each hook is curved with a sharp point. Twine is used to attach the hooks individually to the afo.

    This afo would be referred to as a tau valu (group of eight hooks). This name varies according to how many hooks are attached. Afo were used for a special type of deep-sea fishing called makomako. Lavahi (hooks with bait attached) would be lowered into the sea, nearly 200 fathoms deep, with a heavy sinker. Once the fish were caught the tautai (fishermen) would gently pull up the afo so no hooks get caught in the coral.

  • Place
    Fakaofo/Tokelau Islands/Polynesia/Pacific
  • Accession Number
    1970.208
  • Accession Date
    1970
  • Other Id

    43838 (ethnology)

  • Department

    Pacific

Afo, 1970.208, 43838, Cultural Permissions Apply

Images and documents

Images

  • Afo, 1970.208, 43838, Cultural Permissions Apply
  • Afo, 1970.208, 43838, Cultural Permissions Apply
  • Afo, 1970.208, 43838, Cultural Permissions Apply
  • Afo, 1970.208, 43838, Cultural Permissions Apply

Artefact

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