Summary

This armband was worn by a man while dancing during a funeral ceremony known as pukamani. It was collected by Baldwin Spencer who was hosted on Bathurst and Melville Islands in 1911 by the legendary buffalo shooter, Joe Cooper. The two men had met the year before in Darwin, and their collaboration resulted in over a thousand objects being collected, mainly from Tiwi people on the islands, but also from mainlanders, in particular Iwadja people who worked directly for Cooper on his lugger and in his camp. Spencer is known to have purposely purchased a bolt of coloured cloth in Darwin to take with him on this trip to use as a commodity of exchange. No doubt he also traded for important artefacts with sticks of tobacco

Local Name

pamijini parnyinni

Physical Description

A flat circular bands made of cane overwound with human hair string and painted with natural pigments, design of square blocks of alternating colours of red, yellow and white. Tassels of multiple human hair strings are attached.

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