New materials
Glass spear point, western Australia
This example was made in the 19th century.
|
Islanders welcomed new materials such as metal, wool, glass and glass beads and used them in traditional objects.
One example of this can be seen in our collection of glass spear points
from Western Australia. In the 16th century, glass bottles
began to drift onto the northwest shores of Australia from Portuguese
trading posts in Indonesia. Aboriginal Australians used their stone-working
skills to make spear points out of bottle glass. They 're-cycled'
the glass into fine blades and traded them over long distances.
Iron adze, 19th century
|
Islanders also began to use metal tools. Woodcarvers could
carve traditional sculptures more quickly using metal adzes (a woodcarving
tool shaped like an axe but with the blade fixed onto it at a different
angle) like this one seen here. This adze was also made in the 19th
century.
In this section
Oceania homepage |
Back to the top
|
