WORLD CULTURE WEEK 11

Running Head: CULTURAL ACTIVITY REPORT OGUZ 1

CULTURAL ACTIVITY REPORT 6

Cultural Activity Report

Student Name: Burak Oguz

Cultural Activity Report

Introduction

Bowers Museum is one of the most historically important an art museum situated in California. I attended the event on 29th November, 2017. Upon arrival at the event, I was intrigued by the location and the aesthetic beauty which make the museum quite attractive. The museum has rich collection of artifacts where most of the objects shows the pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, among others (Skinner & Phillipps, 1953).

Description of Objects

The museum has a collection of hundreds of thousands of historical objects including Fijian Human Tooth Necklace and whale tooth necklace which captured my attention in the museum.

Fijian Human Tooth Necklace

The artifact is a sculpture made of 138 teeth constructed in a cross-woven pattern.   The teeth include mainly incisors and canines with some molars. Judging from arrangement of teeth, it is possible the teeth were extracted from different victims and contains varied cavities.  The necklace was made by having the cord pass through the perforations on the teeth. The origin of such necklaces include; Fiji, Kiribati and New Zealand. The measured; the length not including cord: 12.5", and Width 1.25". Additionally, the Fijian Human Tooth Necklace was an historical object reflecting on the happening of the past. The object was made in mid-19th century and copy righted by Tribalmania (Skinner & Phillipps, 1953). It shows its distinctive features as shown in Fig I below.

Figure I: Fijian Human Tooth Necklace

Fijian Whale Tooth Necklace

Unlike the Fijian Human Tooth Necklace, this necklace was made of 20 Sperm Whale teeth with each carved into a sharply pointed tusk-like form. The necklace was made by use of fiber rope for stringing the whale teeth. The necklace was an historical object symbolizing honor, wealth and power and were only worn by few individuals with higher social status in the society. They were received as a gift and as a sign of loyalty to a political class as well as showing solidarity. The origin of such necklaces included: Pacific Islands of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The object dates 18th-19th centuries. The artists include; Don and Barbara. Dimension of the object was approximately; 13.5" by length and 1.6" width (Skinner & Phillipps, 1953).

Figure 2: Fijian Whale Tooth Necklace

Summary and Personal Reflection

The visit to the Bowers Museum was one of the most exciting experience. The museum has large collections of artifacts from different parts of the world making one of the best study site. The event involved visiting the different sections of different artifacts while taking photographs and noting down important information. We were able to access different handouts and pamphlets containing vital information with regard to the two artifacts we had chosen. The event culminated into accumulation historical information.

From the analysis of the two artifacts, I realized that they have historical significance as far as past history of their respective areas of origin are concerned. The Fijian Human Teeth Necklace probably reminded inhabitants of Fiji, Kiribati and New Zealand of their historical conquering of enemies as well as their ancestral lineage. All subdued victims had their teeth extracted to make the necklaces. On the other hand, the Fiji Whale Teeth Necklace also had significance contributions especially with regard to history of some leaders, government and political groups who received the necklaces as a show of appreciation and loyalty by their subjects (Gosden & Marshall, 1999).

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References

Gosden, C., & Marshall, Y. (1999). The Cultural biography of objects. World archaelogy, 31(2), 169-178.

Skinner, H. D., & Phillipps, W. J. (1953). Necklace pendants, and amulets from the Chatham Islands and New Zealand. The Journal of the polynesian Society, 62(2), 169-195.