Katoua
Description: Katoua. Cleaving club. This is a short katoua, also known as an ulu-puku. It has been carved and fashioned from wood into the form of a paddle with a point at the distal end. Katoua were used as cleaving weapons. The blade of the club is thin, flat and widens gradually as it extends out from the shaft. This part of the katoua would have been used to cleave, cut and slash an opponent. The end of the blade features a flattened spike which has been drilled through to allow for the appendage of a large white cowrie shell with string. The flattened spike on a katoua is intended as an ornament. The added embellishment of a large cowrie shell to this particular katoua further emphasizes this purpose. At the opposite side, the shaft extends till it reaches the pointed end of the katoua which would have been used to pierce the body. Where the shaft meets this pointed tip, there is protruding lip which would have functioned as a guard, and has a piece of string tied just above it. The wood of the katoua is dark brown on one side and lighter on the other. Its surface, although smooth, has some markings including a series of small pest-related holes or bores on both sides of the blade, and some natural furrows or cracks in the grain of the wood, on the shaft and the pointed end. There is a slightly raised ridge running along the center of the blade to the flattened spike. The large cowrie shell is off-white in colour but covered with dark brown spots or stains. While smooth, it has a gaping hole in its surface with thin cracks around it.
Collection: HUMAN HISTORYAccession Date: 1890Description: Katoua. Cleaving club. This is a short katoua, also known as an ulu-puku. It has been carved and fashioned from wood into the form of a paddle with a point at the distal end.…