Asmat Shields, Papua (Irian Jaya), Indonesia

Asmat Shields, Papua (Irian Jaya), Indonesia
The Asmat inhabit a vast swamp on the south coast of the island of New Guinea
in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. Until recently, their culture focused on
warfare and headhunting. Shields (jamasj) are protection from both the physical
and spiritual powers of the enemy. The Christian missions and the Indonesian
government have ended overt tribal warfare, but raids still occur in remote areas.
Shield motifs, and the ancestor for whom a shield is named, give its owner
power. Many designs are headhunting symbols.
Figure 1: Asmat war shield collected near Basim Village, Irian Jaya, Indonesia
decorated with cuscus (tree kangaroo) tail designs. (Area A) This area is the most
accessible, the closest to the coastal government administrative center of Agats,
so the shields are frequently seen in collections.
Figure 2: Asmat war shield collected in Sawa-
Erma Villages, Irian Jaya, Indonesia. (Area B)
The head section is filigreed into two ancestor
figures. The largest designs on the body are tar,
flying fox/fruit bat motifs, the smaller ones
include possum tails and two ancestor figures on
the right top and bottom.
Tobias Schneebaum's book, Asmat Images,
divides Asmat shields into four major stylistic
types:
� "Those of Area A are rectangular in
shape, with an ancestor figure at the top, phallic
in formation...."
� "Area B shields are wider, more oval,
with a clearly separated head section most often
called the rayfish, visi, but sometimes referred to as a turtle, mbu,
or a cassowary, pi. The entire shape of the shield is that of a
phallus."
� "Area C has the largest shields, the top
coming to a point, the bottom flat. The top area is an
abstracted human head, with the central hour-glass
form being the forehead, the sides the cheeks."
� "Area D shields are similar to those of
Area C and may be mistaken from them at times.
However, the head often has a clear-cut, incised
eyes and nose and a completely different style of
motifs."
Figure 3: Asmat war shield collected at Komasjma
Village, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, incised with an
unusual floral motif. (Area C).
Old Asmat shields were roughed out with stone
tools and the fine relief detailing finished with cassowary bone chisels or shell
tools. The coastal people make chisels from nails salvaged from driftwood and
have apparently been doing this for a long time. We found that the backs of many
shields from Areas C and D are still shaped with the distinctive dish-shaped cuts of
stone tools, even though most carvers have steel tools and use them to carve the
fronts and designs. On the coast, shields are made from the lightweight prop roots
of mangrove trees, but inland a harder wood is used. Most shields are large, from
roughly 5 to 6 feet tall (170 - 200 cm), although smaller ones are made, especially
for sale.
The white color comes from burned and powdered mussel shells on the coast or,
farther inland, from kaolin clays. Yellow comes from clay traded out from the
foothills behind the Asmat swamp. When burned it turns into the red colors. Black

comes from crushed charcoal. All colors have magical qualities and represent different aspects of the
Asmat world, both seen and unseen. Red is the color of beauty and power. The Asmat say that red painted
around the eyes "imitates the color around the eyes of a black king cockatoo when angry and gives a man a
fearsome look."
Figure 4: Asmat war shield collected on the Braza River, Irian Jaya,
Indonesia. The design is probably a fish pattern, enam. (Area D)
The Asmat Shields
Traditionally, shields were carved prior to a headhunting reprisal raid, which
was organized to avenge the death of the ancestor for whom the shield was
named. A shield always represents an ancestor. It is named after him and the
ancestor's spirit is believed to be present in the shield and make the owner
fierce, powerful and invincible. Shields are considered so powerful that it may
control the owner. Shields also provide spiritual help to the owner in hunting
regular prey for food.
A shield is carved out of the lightweight flattened (or plank) buttress root of a
mangrove tree-- the root is planed to half an inch thick, except for a
protrusion left on one side for a handle. The front of the shield is carved in
high relief. They include symbols of wild boar tusks or bones, flying foxes,
the tails of tree kangaroos, whirlpools. Some symbols are believed to be so
powerful that just by seeing these symbols, the enemy will flee in terror or be
immobilized in fear. But such powerful symbols require strict rituals of
appeasement. A special feast, the yamas pokumbu is held to call upon the
ancestor's spirit to enter the war shields.